Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the mechanism by which pharmacists need to ensure their clinical knowledge is regularly updated. Most of the students who take the APEC Exam often do so with the expectation that it will be the last exam they ever take, however, this is often not the case. As pharmacists become more involved in service provision as technology handles the logistical aspects, pharmacists need new diplomas to upgrade their skill set, this is where CPD comes in.
In Australia, current legislation does not require clinicians to participate in formal professional development programmes. In recent years, however, the renewal of employment contracts in public hospitals, particularly in Western Australia, has required demonstration of participation in education and quality assurance activities and, in some cases, specific college or faculty programmes. For general practitioners, government legislation imposes financial disincentives for non-compliance in that college's professional development programme.
In New Zealand, participation in a recognised programme has become mandatory in order to hold vocational (specialist) registration. The New Zealand Medical Practitioners Act (1995) states that unsatisfactory completion of recertification or competence programmes may result in a pharmacist's registration or practising certificate is subject to conditions or a pharmacist's vocational registration being suspended, in which case the pharmacist will be deemed to hold general registration and therefore will be required to work under supervision.
As such we have teamed up with hubnet.io to offer resources for pharmacists.
Free Pharmacist CPD Tool
For pharmacists, hubnet.io offers free access to their new pharmacist revalidation tool and flu training for pharmacists. Their new packages include an industry leading pharmacist flu vaccine training package in VR!
This package is now available for healthcare professionals registered with the APC. The training includes HD videos of a pharmacist in practice with real patients and the package also comes with a free pharmacy flu PGD.