Continuous Professional Development for Public Sector Pharmacists in South Africa: A Case Study of Mapping Competencies in a Pharmacists’ Preceptor Programme

Abstract

Lifelong learning among healthcare practitioners is crucial to keep abreast of advances in therapeutic and service delivery approaches. In South Africa, continuous professional development (CPD) was mandated (2019) for re-registration of pharmacists to illustrate their learning according to the South African Pharmacy Council’s (SAPC) competency standards. This paper uses a preceptor programme linked to the University of the Western Cape School of Pharmacy’s service learning programme to map the competencies employed by pharmacist preceptors in primary care public healthcare facilities in Cape Town in an attempt to encourage completion of their annual CPDs and strengthening the academic-service partnership. Competencies identified were divided into input competencies related to the preceptor’s role in designing and implementing the educational programme in their facilities and assisting students to complete their prescribed learning activities, and output/outcome competencies that emerged from preceptors identifying the facility needs and employing their input competencies. Input competencies pertained to education, leadership, patient counselling, collaborative practice and human resources management. Output competencies related to pharmaceutical infrastructure, quality assurance, professional and health advocacy, primary healthcare, self-management and patient-centred care. The preceptor programme enabled pharmacist preceptors to employ several competencies that are aligned with the SAPC’s competency framework.

Pharmaceutical public health competencies for Thai pharmacists: A scoping review with expert consultation

“…, 14 , 15. , 16 , 85 , 87 , 88 , 97 , 98 Emerging competencies within these frameworks such as health advocacy, 15 , 60 , 86 , 99 , 100 , 101. , 102.…”

“… 44 , 45 Rich landscapes of pharmaceutical public health competency-related studies cover diverse target groups and approaches. These range from sector- or role-specific frameworks tailored to distinct areas 79 , 80 , 86 , 99 , 119 to generic frameworks applicable across various settings. 45 , 84 However, this study's framework offers unique contributions compared with existing generic frameworks in terms of extensive scoping of review-related studies, followed by two rounds of the modified Delphi method with a wide range of Thai expert pharmacists.…”

Organisational development programmes and employees’ career development: the moderating role of gender

“…The significant relationship for CPD programmes with employees' perceptions of organisational importance is consistent with previous findings in the literature. Several research studies report that organisations implementing CPD programmes achieve improved employee work performance, work outcomes, well-being and feelings of empowerment (Mackay, 2017a(Mackay, , 2017bMarshall et al, 2008;Rothwell and Arnold, 2005;van Huyssteen et al, 2020).…”