The RANZCOG CPD program
The RANZCOG continuing professional development (CPD) program supports ongoing maintenance of professional development, at all stages of your career in women’s health.
Joining the program
Who can join?
Check the table below to see if you’re eligible to join the RANZCOG CPD program.
| Category | Who can join? | The College will enrol you into the RANZCOG CPD program… |
|---|---|---|
| RANZCOG Fellow | Doctors who hold the Fellowship of RANZCOG (FRANZCOG) qualification | Automatically, following elevation to Fellowship |
| Associate member of RANZCOG | Registered doctors who are providing unsupervised specialist women’s health services in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific | Following approval of your membership application by the RANZCOG Board |
| Specialist international medical graduate (SIMG) | International doctors who: – have been assessed as partially or substantially comparable and – are required to enrol in the RANZCOG CPD program as part of this assessment | Following completion of your SIMG assessment |
| Advanced Diplomates, Diplomates and Certificants | Doctors who hold the Advanced Diploma of RANZCOG (DRANZCOG Adv), Diploma of RANZCOG (DRANZCOG) and/or Certificate of Women’s Health (CWH) qualifications | Following opt-in at annual renewal To learn more or express your interest — CLICK HERE |
| CPD affiliate in Australia | Doctors registered in Australia with an interest in women’s health and RANZCOG prevocational affiliates Please note that you can nominate RANZCOG as your CPD Home from 1st January 2024 | Following completion and approval of your application To learn more or express your interest — CLICK HERE |
| CPD affiliate in Aotearoa New Zealand | Vocationally registered doctors in Aotearoa New Zealand who hold a postgraduate O&G qualification Doctors who are provisionally registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) and require evidence of participation in a CPD program | Following completion and approval of your application To learn more or apply now —CLICK HERE |
What to expect from your CPD Home
The RANZCOG CPD program offers a robust, monitored and evaluated CPD program that:
supports your individual learning needs
gives you access to a CPD portal with tools to record and track your CPD progress
sets out a CPD framework to help you meet your annual CPD requirements
provides guidance and support around meeting your CPD requirements for:
culturally safe practice
addressing health inequities
professionalism
ethical practice
connects you with further support and guidance via the RANZCOG CPD team
Please note that all doctors in Australia with a formal CPD requirement must nominate a CPD Home by January 2024.
About the program
RANZCOG is an accredited CPD Home that provides a CPD program to support the ongoing maintenance of professional development for obstetrician and gynaecological (O&G) practitioners, as per the requirements of:
the Medical Board of Australia — Registration Standard: Continuing Professional Development
the Medical Council of New Zealand — Strengthened Recertification Requirements
The focus of the CPD program is on regular performance feedback, collaboration with peers, self-reflection and reviewing patient outcomes. A reflective approach to learning allows development in areas relevant to cultural safety, health inequities, professionalism and ethics, which leads to improvements in patient care.
Please follow the link below to view a summary of the RANZCOG CPD program requirements for 2023.
Changes to the CPD program
Any required changes to the CPD program will not be implemented during a current cycle.
Six months’ notice of any changes, ie no later than 30 June, will be communicated before the start of the next annual cycle.
The RANZCOG CPD program 2023
Our CPD program has moved to an annual cycle, with key dates as follows:
| Dates | Objective | |
|---|---|---|
| Transitional cycle (18 months) | 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2023 | To enable understanding of the new CPD requirements and meet new mandatory CPD requirements |
| Annual cycle | 1 January to 31 December each year (commencing in 2024) | To bring the CPD program into a calendar-year cycle |
This transition will bring the program into alignment with changes to CPD Registration Standards in Australia (MBA), and Recertification Requirements in Aotearoa New Zealand (MCNZ).
Please follow the links below for more information on the latest MBA and MCNZ requirements.
CPD hours and domains
Each CPD cycle, you’re required to record a minimum of 50 CPD hours across three domains, as outlined in the table below.
| Domain | Description | Minimum hours |
|---|---|---|
| Educational Activities (EA) | Includes structured learning, self-directed learning, education events, involvement in leadership roles, RANZCOG activities | 13 |
| Outcome Measurement (OM) | Includes measurement of outcomes of care, benchmarking of performance with peers, reflecting on patient outcomes Can also include clinical audits, writing guidelines/statements, publishing articles, assessing incident reports, research | 5 |
| Performance Review (PR) | Includes reviewing and reflecting on actual work processes and can include feedback from peers, colleagues and patients, peer review and discussions Can also include reflecting on an activity, including contributions to personal development and improvements to scope of practice | 5 |
| Remaining hours across OM/PR | 16 | |
| Remaining hours across any domain (EA/OM/PR) | 11 | |
| Total hours | 50 |
If you join the RANZCOG CPD program mid-cycle, your adjusted number of total CPD hours will be reflected on your CPD dashboard in your online Integrate CPD portal.
CPD framework of activities
The RANZCOG CPD framework identifies activities that:
support ongoing learning and development
are based on your actual work and workplace setting
foster cultural safety, professionalism, and ethics
Explore the framework
Please click and expand the headings below to explore the types of activities that fall under each domain (or alternatively, download the RANZCOG CPD Framework).
Educational Activities (EA)
EA domain: includes participation in structured learning, self-directed learning, education events, involvement in leadership roles and RANZCOG activities.
Committees, working parties and project groups
External medical committees, working parties, project groups
Organising committees (e.g. conference)
RANZCOG committees, working parties, project groups
Regional, government or national policy advisory bodies
Formal presentations at committees, working, parties or project groups
Conferences, workshops and courses
Attendance at conferences, workshops or courses
Convening and/or formal presentation at conferences, workshops or state/national/international meetings
Journal clubs
Research
Developing surveys
Clinical research projects
Author or reviewer of grant applications
Research or clinical projects related to further formal education (e.g. Masters, PhD)
Publishing research
Individual learning activities
Online learning
Reading, viewing, listening to educational materials
Teaching, supervising, mentoring and examining
Examiner for non-RANZCOG exams (e.g. university, hospital, Diploma of Diagnostic Ultrasound)
Teaching (e.g. registrars, medical students, in-hospital)
Supervision, formal programs
Mentoring (e.g. trainee, SIMG, or other O&G mentee)
RANZCOG examiner (e.g. Subspecialty, FRANZCOG, DRANZCOG)
RANZCOG assessor or interviewer
RANZCOG training supervision (e.g. Subspecialty, FRANZCOG, DRANZCOG)
Research supervisor
RANZCOG programs
PROMPT program (NZ)
Train-the-trainer (T3) course
Cervical Quality Improvement Program (C-QuIP)
Colposcopy online learning program (COLP) or Colposcopy course (face to face or virtual)
Fetal Surveillance Education Program (FSEP)
Full-day workshop
Refresher program
Online (OFSEP)
RANZCOG cultural competency programs
Intercultural competency (Australia)
Application of Hui Process/Meihana Model to Clinical Practice (Aotearoa New Zealand)
RANZCOG accreditation site visits
Pre-visit activities
RANZCOG practice visits
Visiting Fellow
Health and wellbeing activities
Bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment training programs
Employer Speak up for Safety, Respect at Work programs
Outcome Measurement (OM)
OM domain: includes measurement of outcomes of care, benchmarking of performance with peers, and reflecting on patient outcomes; can also include clinical audits, writing guidelines/statements, publishing articles, assessing incident reports, and research.
Audits and data reviews
Quality-improvement projects
Clinical audits
Comparing processes or health outcomes with best practice
Analyses of patient outcomes (e.g. mortality and morbidity meetings)
Surgical audits
Pre/post-operation/procedure audits
UGSA Pelvic Floor Database audits
Root cause analyses
Clinical case reviews
Cervical Quality Improvement Program (C-QuIP) — self-managed audit
Resources
(where contribution is based on review of data/measurement outcomes)
Developing or reviewing educational resources (e.g. RANZCOG, university, hospitals)
Guidelines, protocols, statements (e.g. RANZCOG, hospital, regional)
Writing examination questions
Publications
(where contribution is based on review of data/measurement outcomes)
Writing or reviewing:
Chapters and/or books
Scientific journals/medical publications
Writing, reviewing or named investigator on:
Papers in scientific peer-reviewed journals (e.g. ANZJOG)
Scientific meeting abstracts
Reports
(where contribution is based on review of data/measurement outcomes)
Assessing incident reports
Leading, analysing and writing reports on healthcare outcomes
Co-reporting ultrasound examinations
Quality programs
(where contribution is based on review of data/measurement outcomes)
Cervical Quality Improvement Program (C-QuIP)
Australian National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR)
National Screening Unit (NSU) audit report
Nuchal Translucency (NT) program
Annual audit and software renewal
Fetal Surveillance Education Program (FSEP)
Pre/post-audit
Research
Research projects/activities analysing and reflecting on outcomes
Report writing
Medico-legal work (e.g. reports, expert witness activities)
Assessing incident reports
Reports on healthcare outcomes
RANZCOG accreditation site visits
Site visits
Post-visit reports
Progress report reviews
Post-visit report updates
RANZCOG practice visits
Visiting Fellow final written reports
Other activities
A list of suggested OM activities and resources is provided below for Fellows who are: in private or non-clinical practice; in semi-retirement or approaching retirement; regional practitioners; or practising on a part-time basis.
Case-based discussions (e.g. setting up group meetings with colleagues/peers to discuss cases)
Audits (e.g. practice audits, or looking at types of cases at different practices)
Performance Review (PR)
PR domain: includes reviewing and reflecting on actual work processes and can include feedback from peers, colleagues and patients, peer review and discussions; can also include reflecting on an activity, including contributions to personal development and improvements to scope of practice.
Please note that this category does NOT apply to observing the performance of others (e.g. work-based assessment).
Clinical meetings
Case review meetings
Mortality and morbidity meetings
Pathology audits/clinicopathological meetings
Multidisciplinary team meetings
(mandatory requirement for CGO subspecialists)
Self-evaluation and reflection
Self-evaluation and reflection for any activity
Operations and procedures
Operations or procedures with a peer
Pre/post-operation/procedure review and reflection
Direct observations of practice
Peer review, feedback and self-reflection
Undertaking an annual conversation (2 hours per year)
Creating and maintaining a professional development plan (3 hours per year)
Peer review/feedback (e.g. own performance)
Undertaking 360-degree multi-source feedback (MSF) as a participant
Workplace performance appraisals
Mentoring (e.g. review of own performance)
Joint review of cases
Peer support groups/network groups
Teaching (e.g. review of feedback from medical students/registrars)
Training supervision (e.g. review of feedback from trainees)
Examiners (e.g. review of feedback from peers and/or candidates)
Assessors/interviewers
Articles for journals (e.g. peer review/feedback)
Surgical feedback from a peer
PROMT (e.g. receiving feedback on performance)
RANZCOG practice visits
Visited Fellow performance feedback and reflection
Visiting Fellow performance feedback and reflection
Visited Fellow review of all aspects of practice
Other activities
A list of suggested PR activities and resources is provided below for Fellows who are: in private or non-clinical practice; in semi-retirement or approaching retirement; regional practitioners; or practising on a part-time basis.
Reflecting on learnings and providing feedback to locum sites
Assisting with surgery and peer review
Please follow the link below for further information about all activities listed in the RANZCOG CPD Framework, including ideas and documentation for collating evidence.
Mandatory CPD requirements
Please click and expand the headings below to explore mandatory requirements for the RANZCOG CPD program.
Professional development plan (PDP)
Who and when?
All CPD program participants (including those in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) must complete a PDP, under the Performance Review (PR) domain, every CPD cycle.
What?
The PDP is a plan of your development requirements based on reflection of your practice and assessment of your skills, knowledge and educational needs.
Annual structured conversation
Who and when?
All CPD program participants in Aotearoa New Zealand must complete an annual structured conversation, every CPD cycle.
Program participants in Australia may also choose to complete an annual structured conversation; however, this is not a mandatory requirement.
What?
The annual structured conversation is a reflective practice activity that provides an opportunity for you to:
reflect on your development needs
set goals and performance targets for learning and professional activities
receive constructive feedback and share best practice
explore satisfaction, self-care, and health and wellbeing issues
make practice adjustments and consider the longer-term
Subspecialist requirements
Who?
All subspecialist CPD program participants (including those in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand).
What?
At least 35 of your 50 CPD hours must be specific to your subspecialist scope of practice.
Additional CPD revisions according to subspecialty include:
Gynaecological Oncology (CGO) —participation in at least 20 hours of multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings each cycle.
Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (CREI) and Urogynaecology (CU) — inclusion of at least one goal in your professional development plan (PDP)* from one of the following areas:
Education and Training
Leadership
Governance
*Please note that you cannot select the same goal within a three-year period.
Program-level CPD requirements
Program-level requirements are activities that facilitate professional development across the breadth of medical practice.
When preparing your professional development plan (PDP), consider how you can engage in activities for:
cultural safety practice
addressing health inequities
professionalism
ethical practice
Your engagement in these activities should include opportunities for reflection on your own biases and attitudes, to help you understand how these can impact patient care.
Find out more
Click the buttons below — these pages for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand provide:
information on how the College is involved in advocacy and engagement in the above areas
guidance to assist you in planning your CPD activities
Specialist high-level CPD requirements
Specialist medical colleges accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) can propose additional ‘high-level CPD requirements’. These requirements are specialty-specific and must be offered by the different CPD Homes. All Fellows and other CPD participants who hold specialist registration in Australia must meet any relevant specialist high-level CPD requirements.
Please note that RANZCOG has not specified any specialist high-level CPD requirements for the 2023 and 2024 CPD cycles.
For a full list of high-level requirements according to specialty, please visit the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) website.
Approved activities
Are you an education provider?
Please follow the link below if you’re seeking RANZCOG approval for a CPD activity.
Participation and compliance
Please click the button below to browse our policies, procedures and guidance on a range of CPD topics, including:
Changes in circumstance
(e.g. if you require a CPD exemption or more time to complete your CPD requirements)
CPD verification checks
Overdue CPD requirements
Failure to meet requirements
Evidence of CPD enrolment and completion
Re-entry to practice and retraining
Working as an overseas Fellow
Retirement and reinstatement
CPD support and resources
Contacting the CPD team
Email:
For any queries and/or support relating to your CPD program, and/or support with activities, please contact the CPD team at: cpd@ranzcog.edu.au.
Please provide as much detail in your email as possible along with your RANZCOG ID number.
If you’re experiencing issues with the CPD portal (Integrate), please lodge an IT ticket via: it@ranzcog.edu.au.
Phone:
If you wish to speak to a member of the CPD team, please phone: +61 3 9417 1699.
If your call cannot be answered at the time, please leave a detailed message and a team member will call you back.
Remediation:
If your request is for support and guidance for remediation, please email the CPD team with your request, at:cpd@ranzcog.edu.au.
Please note that your request will be referred to the Chair of the CPD Committee.
Re-entry to practice and re-training support
The RANZCOG Re-entry to practice, Re-training and Reinstatement Policy has been developed to support RANZCOG Fellows who require:
reinstatement to Fellowship within 12 months of removal
a re-entry pathway for return to active practice following an extended absence
guidance to develop a re-training plan for Fellows who have self-identified or have been identified by a Health Board or Regulatory Body as requiring retraining
Resources
Logging your CPD hours
All activities are to be logged into the online Integrate CPD portal.
The portal enables you to monitor your CPD progress, and to access a collection of worksheets and templates for documenting your CPD activities — upon logging in, click the menu button in the top left corner and select ‘Resources’.
For platform support, please contact: cpditsupport@ranzcog.edu.au.
If you’re experiencing issues with Integrate, please consult the RANZCOG CPD Portal User Guide, or lodge an IT ticket via: it@ranzcog.edu.au.
Fees
Please note: ‘all other participants’ refers to: associate members, educational affiliates, and CPD affiliates (non-members) in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.