Personal Development Plans
A Personal Development Plan (PDP) helps you set and achieve educational goals during your training.
Developing your skills is a lifelong process that involves self-awareness, planning ahead, and improving over time. Your PDP is a useful tool to identify your learning needs, set goals, and track your progress in your e-portfolio.
👉 Click here for more information on e-portfolios
👉 Click here for more information on CPD
Getting Started with Your PDP
If you’ve never created a PDP before, it might seem overwhelming—but don’t worry! Your supervisor is experienced in PDPs and is there to support you. Together, you’ll develop your own PDP, usually during your first meeting with them.
Top Tip: Make Your PDP “SMART”
A good PDP should follow the SMART framework:
✅ Specific – Clearly define what you want to achieve
✅ Measurable – Make sure you can track your progress
✅ Achievable – Set realistic goals
✅ Relevant – Focus on skills that will benefit your career
✅ Timely – Set a deadline for completion
How to Decide on Your PDP Goals
A great way to start is by checking your specialty curriculum (available on your college’s website) and discussing it with your supervisor.
There’s no required number of goals—just aim for a balance between meeting your educational needs and keeping your workload manageable.
Setting unrealistic goals can lead to stress and burnout. Ideally, your PDP should include a mix of clinical and non-clinical goals.
Preparing for Your Initial Supervisor Meeting
Before your first meeting, ask yourself:
🔹 What are my learning needs?
🔹 How will I address these needs?
🔹 What is a realistic deadline to achieve them?
🔹 How will I provide evidence (usually in my e-portfolio)?
Example PDP Goals
Below are some example Personal Development Plan (PDP) goals.
Your PDP should be personal to you, but these examples include both clinical and non-clinical objectives with realistic timelines.
Personal Development Plan (PDP)
📅 Start Date: August 2024
GOAL 1: Build confidence in managing acutely unwell patients in my specialty
🛠 Steps to Achieve This Goal:
1️⃣ Complete workplace-based assessments (CbDs and Mini CEXs) with supervisors for acutely unwell patients. After achieving agreed learning outcomes, reflect on how this has impacted my practice.
2️⃣ Maintain a reflection log on cases involving acutely unwell patients, focusing on how these experiences will shape my future approach.
3️⃣ Attend a relevant life support course and reflect on how this training has improved my ability to manage acutely unwell patients.
📅 Target Completion Date: August 2025
GOAL 2: Improve understanding of Clinical Governance & maintaining high standards of care
🛠 Steps to Achieve This Goal:
1️⃣ Attend a clinical governance event (e.g., a hospital Morbidity & Mortality (M&M) meeting or a clinical governance update) and reflect on how this learning will influence my practice.
2️⃣ Participate in updating a departmental guideline and reflect on how this process has improved my knowledge of evidence-based medicine and clinical care.
📅 Target Completion Date: February 2025
GOAL 3: Enhance Clinical Skills in my subspecialty
🛠 Steps to Achieve This Goal:
1️⃣ Regularly practice and complete clinical skills assessments, documenting progress in my clinical skills log and completing DOPS assessments.
2️⃣ Attend a clinical skills teaching day, upload the certificate of attendance, and request study leave in advance.
📅 Target Completion Date: August 2025