WFME published the revised WFME Global Standards for Quality Improvement of Medical Education: Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in 2025. The release of the revised CPD Standards marked a significant milestone in the WFME Standards Programme. Notably, the CPD Standards are the last in the WFME Trilogy of Standards to transition from a prescriptive format to a principles-based approach. The Trilogy includes standards for basic medical education, postgraduate medical education, and CPD.

CPD, also known as Continuing Medical Education (CME), includes all activities that doctors who have completed their training and are in independent practice undertake, formally and informally, in order to maintain, update, develop, and enhance their knowledge, skills, and behaviours in response to the needs of their patients. Independence also is implied, CPD activities being characterised by self-directed learning, only rarely involving supervised training for any extended period of time. Engaging in CPD is a professional obligation but also a prerequisite for enhancing the quality of health care.

Approaches to CPD vary widely worldwide. Some countries have well-developed systems, while others have none. In some regions, CPD is mandatory, whereas in others it is voluntary. Rather than prescribing a single model for CPD, these standards aim to guide the purpose and process of CPD in ways that are appropriate to different contexts and stages of development. The revised CPD standards are the result of a consensus among experts from multiple countries and all world regions. The core writing team was chaired by Professor Janet Grant from the United Kingdom.

WFME emphasises that the standards serve as a guide for developing and evaluating medical education across all settings. This principles-based framework enables institutions and individuals to develop contextually appropriate standards tailored to their unique needs. They are not prescriptive or a rulebook but are intended as a flexible framework that can be modified and customised to fit local needs.

CLARIFICATION: The WFME Standards Programme functions independently to the WFME Recognition of Accreditation Programme, each dedicated to specific facets of medical education. Accordingly, the release of a new version or a revision of any set of the WFME Standards does not directly influence any of the WFME Recognition of Accreditation programmes. The recognition programmes operate independently, governed by their unique policies and procedures, and maintain their own set of criteria separate from the WFME standards. Despite their individual scopes, these initiatives collectively align under the overarching mission of enhancing the quality of medical education.