The NMC requires 35 hours of CPD over three years, with 20 hours participatory. Here is how to keep a CPD log that makes revalidation straightforward.
If your revalidation date is creeping closer and your CPD evidence is scattered across emails, certificates and memory, you are not alone. The NMC revalidation process is not complicated, but it does assume you have been keeping track all along - and that is where most nurses come unstuck.
What the NMC actually asks for
Over each three-year revalidation period you need:
- 35 hours of CPD, of which at least 20 hours must be participatory - meaning learning with other people, such as workshops, conferences, training sessions or supervised practice
- 450 practice hours (or 900 if revalidating as both a nurse and a midwife)
- 5 pieces of practice-related feedback
- 5 written reflective accounts linked to your CPD or feedback, each mapped to the NMC Code
- A reflective discussion with another NMC registrant
- A confirmation from a manager or another registrant
The CPD hours are the part that benefit most from a running log. Trying to reconstruct three years of learning in the month before revalidation is stressful and error-prone.
Participatory vs non-participatory CPD
This distinction catches people out. Reading a journal article, watching a webinar alone or completing an e-learning module by yourself all count as non-participatory CPD. Attending a study day, joining a workshop, taking part in clinical supervision or sitting in on a live online session with discussion counts as participatory.
Your log needs to show which is which. If you record each activity as it happens with a simple tag - participatory or not - you can see at a glance whether you are on track for the 20-hour minimum, rather than finding out too late that you are short.
What a good CPD log entry looks like
For each activity, record:
- The date and the provider or source
- A short description of what you did
- The number of hours you are claiming
- Whether it was participatory or non-participatory
- Which part of the NMC Code it relates to (prioritise people, practise effectively, preserve safety, or promote professionalism and trust)
- A brief note on how it changed your practice - this makes your reflective accounts far easier to write later
A simple weekly habit beats a yearly scramble
The nurses who find revalidation easy are not doing more CPD - they are just recording it. Logging an activity takes under a minute if you do it when it happens. Doing it from memory eighteen months later takes an evening and a lot of guesswork.
If you want a free, private place to keep it all - with running totals for participatory and non-participatory hours and a PDF export you can attach to your revalidation portfolio - our CPD tracker was built for exactly this. It is free for life for individuals, and your log belongs to you, not your employer.
Read this next
- NMC revalidation: the record you need every three yearsPractice hours, CPD hours, feedback, reflective accounts and a confirmation discussion. Here is the full NMC revalidation record and how to keep it as you go.
- How to write a CPD reflection - with three worked examplesA CPD reflection needs four things: what you did, what you learned, what you changed, and what is next. Here is the structure plus three worked examples.
- Free CPD log template (Excel and PDF): what to include - and its limitsDownload our free CPD log template as Excel or PDF, with the columns that regulators and appraisers expect - plus why a spreadsheet might not be the end of the story.
Or skip the reading and start your free CPD log - free for life for individuals.
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