Plan your CPD year in 30 minutes: a method that actually works

Most practitioners scramble for CPD in November. The fix is a 30-minute planning session in January that front-loads category-light activities (RP, MO, peer consultation) and back-loads the easier stuff (EA, journal reading) you'll do anyway. Here's the method.

Step 1: write down your requirements (5 minutes)

For your profession, write down on paper or in PracticaCPD's account:

Total hours required (e.g. 50 for RACGP GPs, 20 for NMBA RNs, varies for others)
Category minimums (EA ≥ 12.5, RP ≥ 5, MO ≥ 5 for RACGP; specific minimums for your Board)
Combined-minimum rules (RP + MO ≥ 25 hrs for RACGP)
Special requirements (CPR per triennium, PLR ≥ 2 activities per area, peer consultation minimum for PsyBA)

If you don't know your Board's current requirements, look them up now. It takes 2 minutes. Don't plan against assumed numbers.

Step 2: book the hardest activities first (10 minutes)

The hardest CPD to organise involves other people — peer consultation, multi-source feedback, case-based discussion, supervised observation. These take weeks to set up, so they always end up rushed.

In your calendar, right now, book:

Q1: one peer-consultation activity. Email a colleague to schedule monthly slots.
Q1: one multi-source feedback (MSF) round, if your Board requires it. Allow 6-8 weeks to run.
Q2: one significant clinical audit (Measuring Outcomes equivalent). 3-5 hours of work in a single block.
Q3: one case-based discussion or peer review.
Q4: buffer for whatever you didn't do.

These five blocks alone often cover 60-70% of the year's harder category requirements.

Step 3: pick your one big audit topic (5 minutes)

For practitioners with a Measuring Outcomes (or equivalent) requirement, plan the audit topic now:

Choose a clinical area where you genuinely don't know your baseline
Pick a benchmark you can find (Therapeutic Guidelines, NPS, RACGP, profession-specific)
Pick a sample size (20-30 patients)
Schedule a 3-hour block in Q2 for the audit work
Schedule a 1-hour block 6 months later for re-audit

PracticaCPD's modules ship with audit templates if you'd rather not pick a topic yourself — every module's audit step is a complete MO activity.

Step 4: identify your PLR/special-requirement targets (5 minutes)

RACGP GPs need ≥ 2 activities per Priority Learning Requirement area (cultural safety, health inequities, professionalism). Other professions have their own special requirements.

In your calendar, name the two activities per area:

"Cultural safety: AMA continuing-development cultural-safety course (Q2) + journal-club discussion on Indigenous health disparities (Q3)"
"Health inequities: RACGP webinar on rural health (Q2) + case discussion on social determinants (Q4)"
"Professionalism / ethics: AHPRA ethics webinar (Q1) + significant event analysis on consent (Q3)"

Naming them ahead of time means you don't forget the second one of each.

Step 5: set up evidence storage (5 minutes)

This is the bit nobody bothers with and the one that causes audit fails.

In PracticaCPD: every activity has an "Evidence" field — upload at the time of activity. Mobile-first means you can photograph a certificate from your phone in the seconds after a conference talk.

If you're not using PracticaCPD: create a folder structure now. CPD/2026/EA/, CPD/2026/RP/, etc. Save into the right folder immediately after every activity. The 30-second discipline at the time of activity saves a Saturday in November.

What 30 minutes of planning gets you

The hard activities (RP, MO, peer consultation, MSF) are booked
The PLR / special-requirement activities have named targets
The audit topic is chosen
Evidence storage is set up

Everything else — passive EA, conference attendance, journal reading — happens naturally during the year. You absorb content; you log it as you go. The category requirements that are hard to backfill are already on the calendar.

How PracticaCPD makes the plan stick

The dashboard shows your hour totals, category split, combined-minimum gap, PLR gap, and triennial CPR status on every visit. You see at a glance whether your plan is on track or slipping — no end-of-year surprise.

Take 30 minutes in January. Don't be the practitioner scrambling in November.