Personal Development Plans

This is YOUR plan!

Your personal development plan should be exactly what it says - YOUR plan for YOUR personal development. You may have a supervisor who is willing to listen to what you are trying to achieve but you may also have a supervisor with their own agenda.

It can include anything that you want to include but there are some tips/guidelines to try to follow to make it achievable.

1. Try to make each plan over a period of 6-12 months. This gives you adequate time to achieve the goals you are trying to achieve without having to compromise in other areas.

2. Be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, Time-specific

3. Break it down into different sections:

   1. Assessment areas

      1. Do you need to get your CREST form signed?

      2. What assessments do you need to progress your skills/knowledge this year?

      3. Try to focus this into targeted areas of your practice e.g. I would like to have 2x DOPS forms on chest drains by 6 months time or I would like to have 5x CBD forms on cardiology presentations by 6 months time.

   2. Courses

      1. What courses do you need to attend in the next year to support your professional development?

      2. Think about life support courses

      3. Think about courses aligned with your career progression even if this is not in the specialty that you are currently working in.

   3. Teaching

      1. Do you need to attend any teaching in the next year? E.g. grand round teaching, local department teaching, teaching from external sources

      2. Do you plan to deliver any teaching in the next year? Depending on your grade you may be regularly teaching on courses locally, regionally or nationally.

   4. Leadership/Management

      1. If you are more senior are there any areas of leadership/management that you need exposure to?

      2. This may include complaints, serious incident reporting, rota management, induction for new doctors, organising teaching schedules, implementing a new policy/guideline, supporting local faculty group meetings etc.

   5. Other things to consider:

      1. Do you have any other achievements outside of your current job that you are working on?

      2. Do you have any exams that you wish to take?

      3. Are you considering any postgraduate qualifications?

      4. Do you need to complete/be involved with quality improvement in your department?

      5. Do you have any presentations/publications coming up?

4. It can be useful to include a personal achievement as well as professional achievements

   1. This can be anything you want it to be - but remember to keep it SMART

      1. Getting fitter/eating healthier

      2. Learning a new hobby

      3. Learning a new language

      4. Gaining new skills (outside of medicine)

      5. Taking up a new interest

      6. Joining/setting up a club/society

      7. Improving mental health/wellbeing

At the end of the period (either 6 or 12 months) you should sit down and review your plan. Did you achieve your goals? If so, great! If not, why not? Did you set too many? Were they SMART goals? Then arrange a meeting with your supervisor and set your next plan! You can always move a goal into the future or change it if your plans change - the key is it’s about YOU!