Free CPD webinar – Preparing for APC Renewal
Our professional advisors, Kathryn, Maarama, and Damon are joined by our Registrar James to discuss the recertification requirements, including health notifications, what is required for your ongoing continuing professional development, reflective practice, and how to use the professional development plan.
The slides for this webinar are available as a PDF here.
Webinar Q&A:
General
Where are the templates on the webpage?
You can find the recertification templates under the templates section here. Please note that from 1st April 2025, there will be some changes to the templates for the next practising year so please keep an eye out for communications around this.
Is this powerpoint presentation going to be available post webinar? If so, how can it be accessed?
Yes, all of our past webinars are on our website. You can view them here.
Annual Practising Certificate (APC)
I am a Physiotherapist overseas I recently registered with the New Zealand Physiotherapy Board and have an APC.I am still looking for a job placement in New Zealand. My question then is should I change my status to non practicing until I get a job placement in New Zealand or I can renew my APC regardless? In my home country I am currently practicing as well.
To renew an annual practising certificate, you will need to ensure that you can met the mandatory Recertification requirements, including a peer review with a physiotherapist who holds a current APC. An option could be to change your status to non-practising until you are ready to commence work in New Zealand.
Health Declarations
Along the line of health declarations. Would a physical injury where you have needed time off and a GRTW eg. disc herniation and require some work modifications like a standing desk but doesn’t impact your clinical practice need to be declared?
You can view a flow chart here, which helps you to decide whether a health condition should be declared.
If your health condition does not impair your ability to practice physiotherapy, it is not necessary to declare this to the Board | te Poari. However, if you have any doubts then it is worth discussing this with the Registrar.
If one is working within the limits imposed by a medical certificate (ie cleared for that capacity), with appropriate medical oversight and active management, does one still need to declare? (especially if the example is transient/situational and expected to resolve in the short term)
If the health condition (whether it be transient or permanent) could impair your ability to practice as a physiotherapist, then this should be declared, regardless of what medical management is in place. If it becomes resolved, then you can update the Board | te Poari of this. You can read more information regarding health declarations here.
Professional Development Plans
- For some work environments it makes more sense to sit down with a peer that is not a physio for example – if there is no other physio in a specialist area.
- Are we allowed to use a Principal of a school or an OT?
- If you have a role that isn’t a clinical role but have an APC, can your peer reviewer of your PDP plan be a peer who isn’t a physiotherapist or do they need to hold a physio APC?
If you are working in a clinical role, it is expected that the professional peer will be another physiotherapist with a current Annual Practising Certificate (APC).
For physiotherapists who work non-clinically, the professional peer could be another health professional, who holds a current APC in their profession.
If a non-health professional was used as the peer, there would need to be specific reasons to justify this choice and an ability for that person to assess the quality of CPD planned and undertaken.
If you need to discuss your individual situation, please feel free to contact the Board | te Poari.
With PDP plan, how do you go about getting a professional peer review if you work in a clinic alone? Does this have to be a physiotherapist or can it be a osteo or chiropractor?
Where possible, we would recommend that you review your PDP with another physiotherapist. This could be completely remotely, using a physiotherapist from another workplace. If this is not possible then the PDP should be reviewed by a health professional who holds an APC within their profession. If you are unsure, you could contact the Board to ensure that the reviewer would meet the requirements of Recertification.
When studying part or full-time at university, does the academic semester / year course plan become the defacto “Learning Plan” and does passing the course(s) become the “Learning Outcome”?
The university study can certainly be used for your CPD hours and be included in the HOW part of your learning plans in the PDP. The PDP should still be broken up into specific areas of learning that the university course will help you to achieve. When you complete the Learning Outcomes section of the PDP, it can be easier to have smaller learning plans to reflect on, rather than one for a whole university course.
What happens if your work has a different PDP template, can we use that?
For recertification audit, the PDP must be submitted using the Board’s template.
Reflections
Is there an opportunity to standardise the reflection statement template which clearly outlines the assessment requirements?
The way that people choose to reflect is individual and the reflection template is designed in a way that people can have a blank canvas for their reflections. The Recertification Programme Guidelines document has further information about what a reflection could include.
A reflective conversation with a peer can also be used and recorded. From 1st April 2025, there will be some changes coming to the way that the Board | te Poari asks for evidence that your reflections have been completed and this will simplify the process too.
Were the 2 columns on the right in the PDP not considered a reflection?
Yes, the Learning Outcomes section of the PDP is written in a way to encourage reflection. You can connect up your PDP and your three mandatory reflections, but it would be helpful to expand further on the reflections (additional to what is on the PDP) and make sure that they also meet the requirements of the areas of reflection (one reflection specific to Māori culture and how this relates to your practice; and two reflections from two of the following categories: cultural, ethical and professional).
Peer Reviews
- I work with osteopaths (in a MDT clinic). Do I need my peer review to be completed by a physio or can I do this with a registered osteopath?
- Twice in my career I’ve asked a non-physio to complete a peer review. One was an Occ Physician who shared a workplace injury clinic and reviewed my assessment skills. The other was on OT that I wanted to look at my work-tasks analysis from another allied health perspective. Is this suitable?
If the peer review is taking place in a clinical setting (i.e. a direct observation of you with a patient | kiritaki hauora), then the peer reviewer should be a physiotherapist with a current APC. This is because a registered physiotherapist would have the best working knowledge of what the requirements are for physiotherapists working in Aotearoa New Zealand, including the Physiotherapy Standards Framework. The peer reviews completed with a different health professional could still be used as part of your CPD and could be included in your PDP too.
If the peer review is taking place in a non-clinical setting (e.g. review of how you have delivered an inservice training to other health professionals, or a process that you have written for an MDT clinic), it could be appropriate to have this reviewed by the non-physiotherapist peer.
Continued Professional Development
How does physiolog fit into this?
Physiolog is not run by or endorsed by the Physiotherapy Board. For the recertification requirements, you can keep a record of your CPD in any format that you wish.