Journal Club: Characterising the health and social care segment of the BCS membership and their continuing professional development needs

Join Sharon Levy and Wendy Dearing from the Universities of Edinburgh and  Wales Trinity Saint David in discussion with co-author Katie MacLure (BCS Health & Care Scotland) for our next live BCS BMJ HCI Journal Club hosted by Digital Health.

Synopsis

This journal club is based on a paper entitled, ‘Characterising the health and social care segment of the BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT) membership and their continuing professional development needs’

The British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT, has a long and distinguished history since it was established in 1957 with a membership over 60 000 across 150 countries. The royal charter made the BCS a charity ‘responsible for raising the standards of IT education, professionalism, ethics and practice’ while ‘making IT good for society’.

The authors present this paper, thought to be the first to characterise the health and social care membership of an IT focused professional body and to start to determine their CPD needs. BCS has a responsibility to its’ membership to provide CPD content that is relevant to their career path and aspirations. To date, BCS has not been able to target the health and social care segment of the membership. This study has identified and characterised that segment who self-identified, have indicated their CPD needs, and ongoing interest, in being recognised by BCS as health and social care professionals with BCS membership. Further research is planned with the participants who volunteered to be part of ongoing research designing future CPD content and delivery.