CPD Requirements for Paramedics in Australia (2026 Guide)

Paramedicine became a nationally regulated health profession under AHPRA in 2018 — making Australian paramedics one of the newer entrants to the mandatory CPD framework that governs health practitioner registration.

If you're a registered paramedic, whether you're working for a state ambulance service, in retrieval, in emergency departments, or in an independent role, you need to meet the Paramedicine Board of Australia's CPD requirements every year.

Here's what you need to know in 2026.

How Many CPD Hours Do Paramedics Need?

Registered paramedics in Australia must complete a minimum of 30 hours of CPD per year.

This is an annual requirement that applies to all paramedics holding general registration, regardless of their employment context. At AHPRA registration renewal, you'll be asked to confirm CPD compliance for the preceding year.

The 30 hours must reflect genuine professional learning — not simply time spent working. Employment as a paramedic does not itself count as CPD.

Who Needs to Complete CPD?

All paramedics holding general registration with AHPRA under the Paramedicine Board of Australia must meet the annual CPD requirement.

This includes:

• Paramedics employed by state and territory ambulance services
• Paramedics working in aeromedical or retrieval services
• Paramedics working in hospital-based emergency or transport roles
• Paramedics in industrial, remote, or resource sector roles
• Paramedics in education, research, or management roles
• Independently practising paramedics

As with other AHPRA-registered professions, the CPD requirement applies to your registration status, not your employment status. If you hold general registration and are not on approved leave from practice, you are expected to complete CPD.

What Counts as CPD for Paramedics?

The Paramedicine Board recognises a broad range of learning activities. Activities should be relevant to your scope of practice and contribute to your professional knowledge and skills.

Structured Learning

Formal activities with defined learning objectives:

• Completing clinical skills competency assessments or recertifications (ACLS, paediatric advanced life support, etc.)
• Attending paramedicine conferences, seminars, or workshops
• Online learning modules or clinical update programs
• Postgraduate study in paramedicine, emergency medicine, or a related field
• Simulation training and scenario-based learning
• Courses in trauma, critical care, pharmacology, or other clinical topics

Reflective Practice

Activities that involve reviewing your own practice:

• Case review or debrief (including structured post-incident review)
• Reflective journaling about clinical encounters
• Reading clinical guidelines, research articles, or professional publications
• Participating in quality improvement reviews or clinical audits
• Reviewing outcomes data or clinical performance metrics
• Seeking and reviewing peer feedback

Teaching and Supervisory Activities

Contributing to the education of others:

• Supervising or mentoring student paramedics on clinical placement
• Delivering training or education to colleagues
• Contributing to clinical education programs
• Presenting at conferences or internal education sessions

Research and Professional Development

• Participating in clinical research or quality improvement projects
• Membership or active contribution to professional committees or working groups
• Authoring or contributing to clinical guidelines or publications

Paramedicine CPD and Your Employer

Most paramedics employed by state ambulance services participate in mandatory training programs delivered by their employer — Advanced Life Support recertifications, clinical skill competency assessments, mandatory online modules, and so on.

Many of these employer-required activities count toward your CPD hours, but they need to be logged and documented by you in your personal CPD record. Your employer's training records belong to your employer; your CPD record belongs to you.

This is a critical distinction. If you're audited by AHPRA, you'll need to produce your own documentation — you can't simply point an auditor to your ambulance service's training system.

Whenever you complete an employer-required training activity that meets the Paramedicine Board's CPD criteria, log it in your personal CPD record with:

• The activity name and provider
• The date and duration
• A brief note on relevance to your practice
• Evidence (certificate, completion confirmation, training record)

What Counts as Evidence?

During a CPD audit, the Paramedicine Board will ask for documentation to verify your activities. Accepted evidence typically includes:

• Certificates of completion from accredited courses, modules, or recertifications
• Attendance confirmation from conferences or workshops (registration receipts, name badges with a program)
• Employment training records signed by your supervisor or training coordinator
• Personal notes or journal entries for reflective activities, with dates and topics noted
• Correspondence documenting peer discussions, case reviews, or supervision sessions
• Research or publication records for academic activities

As with all AHPRA professions, the stronger your contemporaneous records — kept throughout the year as you complete activities — the easier an audit becomes.

The Challenge of CPD for Paramedics

Paramedicine has a unique CPD challenge that many other AHPRA professions don't face to the same degree: a large proportion of learning happens on the job, but on-the-job work experience does not itself count as CPD.

Responding to callouts, managing complex presentations, and practising under operational pressure is where paramedic learning happens. But to satisfy AHPRA's requirements, that experiential learning needs to be captured and reflected upon to become CPD.

This means:

• Debriefs and post-case discussions with colleagues need to be logged
• Time spent reading updated clinical protocols or guidelines needs to be recorded
• Attendance at internal education sessions needs to be documented
• Skills competency sessions need evidence retained

Many paramedics complete far more than 30 hours of genuine professional development each year — they just don't document it. When audit comes, they scramble to reconstruct a record.

The Paramedicine Board and Audits

The Paramedicine Board has been conducting random CPD audits since registration requirements came into full force. If selected, you'll typically have a short window to produce your CPD records.

Audit selection is random and independent of any concerns about your practice — being audited does not mean you've done anything wrong. But failing to produce adequate records during an audit can result in:

• Conditions placed on your registration
• Referral for formal investigation
• In serious cases, suspension or cancellation of registration

The safest approach is to maintain a contemporaneous CPD log throughout the year and retain evidence as you go, so audit preparation takes hours rather than weeks.

How Paramedics Commonly Track CPD

Employer Training Systems

Most ambulance services maintain their own training and compliance management systems (TMS, ELMO, or equivalent). These capture mandatory training completions but typically don't cover self-directed learning, peer activities, or CPD done outside the service.

Relying solely on your employer's system leaves gaps in your AHPRA-required personal CPD record.

Spreadsheets or Notebooks

Manual logs work for organised practitioners. The downsides are familiar: no reminders, no automatic totals, evidence stored separately, and risk of data loss.

CPDKeep

CPDKeep is a dedicated CPD tracking platform built specifically for Australian AHPRA-registered health professionals. It's designed to capture the full range of CPD activity types — structured and reflective, employer-delivered and independent.

For paramedics, CPDKeep is particularly useful because:

• You can quickly log activities from multiple sources (ambulance service training, external courses, conference attendance, peer discussions) in one place
• It tracks your running total against the 30-hour target and notifies you when you're falling behind
• At any point, you can generate a clean, audit-ready PDF report showing all activities, hours, and evidence references
• The free tier covers unlimited activity logging — no cost to start

Start tracking your CPD free at CPDKeep

Internal Links for Paramedicine Practitioners

• What counts as CPD in Australia? — activity types and evidence standards across all AHPRA professions
• Free CPD log template — a structured template for building and maintaining your personal CPD record
• How to prepare for a CPD audit — step-by-step guide to audit readiness
• AHPRA registration renewal deadlines 2026 — key dates for maintaining your registration

Key Facts Summary

Detail	Requirement
CPD hours required	30 hours per year
Registration board	Paramedicine Board of Australia
Regulator	AHPRA
CPD year	Aligned with registration renewal (typically 30 November)
Activity types	Structured learning, reflective practice, teaching/supervision, research
Audit	Random selection; evidence required

Frequently Asked Questions

How many CPD hours do paramedics need in Australia?

Registered paramedics must complete a minimum of 30 CPD hours per year under the Paramedicine Board of Australia's requirements.

Does my ambulance service's mandatory training count as CPD?

Yes, mandatory employer training can count toward your AHPRA CPD requirement — provided the activities meet the Board's CPD criteria and you document them in your personal CPD record. Employer training records are not a substitute for your own contemporaneous log.

Can I count on-road experience as CPD?

Clinical work experience on the road does not itself count as CPD. However, structured debrief, case reflection, peer discussion about clinical encounters, and review of related clinical guidelines arising from your work all count — if documented.

What if I've been on extended leave from paramedicine?

If you hold an approved leave of absence from practice (approved by the Paramedicine Board), you may be exempt from CPD requirements during that period. If you don't have formal approval and still hold general registration, the CPD obligation applies. Contact AHPRA if your situation is unclear.

Do overseas paramedics moving to Australia need to complete CPD?

Paramedics who obtain AHPRA registration are subject to the same CPD requirements as all other registered practitioners from their first registration period. If you're newly registered, check whether a pro-rated requirement applies for your first year.

Does CPDKeep work for paramedics?

Yes. CPDKeep supports all AHPRA-registered health professions including paramedicine. You can log structured learning, reflective activities, teaching hours, and research — all in one place — and track progress toward your 30-hour annual target.

What's the difference between CPD and mandatory competency training?

Mandatory competency training (such as ALS recertification) is required by your employer or professional body to maintain clinical privileges. This training can also count as CPD for AHPRA purposes if it meets the Board's criteria — but you need to document it in your personal CPD record, not rely solely on your employer's records.

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Requirements can change. Always verify current CPD obligations with the Paramedicine Board of Australia via AHPRA, and check with your employer's education team for guidance on which employer-delivered training qualifies.