New from CPD Online

The e-learning resource for mental health professionals

CPD Online offers a range of learning modules and podcasts that provide a flexible, interactive way of keeping up to date with progress in mental health. During the pandemic, there will be no limit on eLearning that can be counted for CPD; it will be possible for ALL 50 CREDITS to be obtained in this way. Access to the modules and podcasts is through annual subscription, but we also offer a series of free publications for you to trial first.

For more information, visit the CPD Online website: https://elearning.rcpsych.ac.uk

Recent modules and podcasts

Podcast Self-harm in adolescents

Adolescents who self-harm represent a significant challenge to professionals, with around 1 in 10 young people thought to be engaging in self-harming behaviour. As self-harm is not a diagnosis in itself, to be effective the doctor is required to conduct a thorough assessment and to formulate a psychosocial management plan that will include the mitigation of risk. In this podcast, Dr Alison Wood, Dr Gemma Trainor and Dr Justine Rothwell talk to CPD Online Trainee Editor Dr Jennifer Powell about the ways to approach the assessment and treatment of young people who self-harm. CPD credits: 0.5

Podcast The impact of COVID-19 on maternal mental health

In this podcast, Dr Liz Rose and Dr Mano Manoharan talk to CPDO Trainee Editor Dr Jennifer Powell about the effect the pandemic has had on the mental health of women in the perinatal period, highlighting recent case examples from a busy and diverse perinatal psychiatry service. CPD credits: 0.5

Module Safeguarding children: ensuring safe practice in general adult psychiatry settings

General adult psychiatrists play a central role in the assessment and management of patients, many of whom are parents and others who may also pose a risk to children. This module aims to highlight the type of scenarios the clinician may encounter, where safeguarding children issues may either be obvious or emerge following further assessment informed by a greater knowledge/understanding of this complex area. This module provides advice on how clinicians can effectively manage such scenarios, including advice on where they may access support, what information they should share and with whom. CPD credits: 1.5

Module Station writing for the MRCPsych CASC exam

The RCPsych's Examinations team is always looking for volunteers to author stations for the MRCPsych Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC) exam, which is part of RCPsych's entrance exam, an internationally respected qualification. Although the exam is generally considered to be a reliable test of skills and competencies, there remains controversy as to its validity for testing the more complex understanding of psychiatric practice at a senior level. With this in mind, the RCPsych needs more of its members to write high-quality CASC stations that maintain the reliability of the exam, while increasing its validity. We hope that this module will help you understand the principles (and pitfalls) of writing CASC stations in order to enable you to confidently submit a station of your own. CPD credits: 1 Other recently published CPD Online podcasts (each worth 0.5 CPD credits and freely accessible) include:

• • Are you ignorant about the pandemic?

• • Lost in thought: can intellect save you in a pandemic?

• • The psychology behind mathematical modelling of epidemics

• • Managing alcohol withdrawal in acute in-patient psychiatry

• • Coping with the ‘pointless suffering’ of COVID-19

• • Re-reading Camus's ‘The Plague’ in pandemic times

• • Obedience to authority – lessons from Milgram applied to COVID-19

• • Mental Health Tribunals: response to the COVID-19 emergency

• • How do we lead effectively through the COVID-19 pandemic?

• • Working with patients remotely

• • Ethical considerations arising from COVID-19

• • COVID-19: Isolation and loneliness – is there a ‘social cure’?

• • Psychosocial response to epidemics – lessons from Ebola applied to COVID-19

• • Surviving the trauma: post-traumatic stress disorder in relation to COVID-19

• • The psychology of the virus ‘super-spreader’

• • The psychology of coping with quarantine

• • The psychology and psychiatry of pandemics.