Malaysian Dental Practitioner Personal Experience and Barriers to Attend Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme

The significance of continuing professional development (CPD) among dental practitioners (DPs) is well-recognised by the Malaysian Dental Council (MDC). CPD has become mandatory to all DPs prior to renewal of annual practising certificate (APC) following the enforcement of Dental Act 2018. This study aimed to determine the personal experience of Malaysian DPs in CPD programmes and to identify the barriers to attend CPD activities. This was a cross-sectional study of which a paperbased, self‐administered questionnaire (pre-test, content validated) was administered to all participants (n = 229, response rate = 49.7%) who participated in CPD programmes organised by the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) from April 2017 until November 2017. Almost all respondents (92.1%) acknowledged the importance of undertaking CPD. Some of them (68.9%) agreed that the employer provides adequate support to carry out the CPD activities. Majority of the respondents (62.3%) participated in 1–4 hours of CPD on average per month and most of them (42.1%) attended 5–10 days CPD course in the year 2017. Barriers to CPD participation were current workload, lack of time and lack of financial support. Malaysian DPs are currently engaging in CPD programmes and considered the compulsory CPD to be beneficial to them as professionals even before the compulsory implementation in 2018. This study provides valuable information to assist Malaysian CPD providers in formulating appropriate approaches while planning the CPD courses and as well as to identify the potential barriers in attending the CPD programmes.