Current and Future Opportunities and Challenges in Continuing Pharmacy Education

Abstract

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) convened a consensus-seeking invitational conference on October 29-30, 2015, in Chicago, Ill. ACPE's desire to have stakeholder guidance on its role in the future of continuing pharmacy education and continuing professional development led to the convening of the conference. The purpose of this article is to summarize the proceedings of the conference, including the recommendations from the stakeholders.

Mandatory continuing education for pharmacists in a developing country: assessment of a three-year cycle

“…The OPL should develop a strategy to motivate and increase the number of enrollments in the CE program by diversifying the topics to serve the interests of all pharmacy sub-specialty areas based on required competencies (particularly selected topics such as clinical topics, preventive medicine, and transferable skills), assessing the overall satisfaction of participants, evaluating the CE program to constantly improve the quality of the sessions presented, offering live sessions in languages other than English or French, offering sessions with various timings to cover all preferences, offering online courses in languages other than English, offering sessions to improve the computer literacy of pharmacists unfamiliar with computer technology, organizing hands-on teaching and workshops instead of theoretical sessions, and developing webinars that can be attended from home or the office to overcome difficulties of attending live conferences. Finally, it is recommended that a survey be conducted to assess the motivation factors among Lebanese pharmacists, and to develop a framework for CE, taking into consideration the recommendations provided by international examples 2,29…”

Maintaining Vitality: Pharmacists’ Continuing Professional Education Decision-Making in the Upper Midwest

“…A statement of general consensus of a large meeting of experts in pharmacy training and development states that CPE hours are insufficient to ensure pharmacists remain current and adapt to scientific advances and changes in population and community needs and marketplace changes [ 15 ]. This, combined with growing evidence that knowledge in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care and medications is poor despite rapidly growing aging populations [ 17 , 18 ], as well as with the findings of the current study, that neither community/population need nor business growth/development are among the most important selection criteria for CPE for pharmacists, does not bode well for maintaining professional or organizational vitality in a rapidly changing health care marketplace or for patient-centered care.…”

“…For U.S. pharmacists, the CPE requirement varies from state to state, but is comprised of credit hours approved by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) approved in a variety of topics and educational activities [ 14 ]. Participants in the 2015 ACPE conference on continuing pharmacy education came to the consensus that as the only formal requirement for continuing education, the current [CPE] system alone may not fully meet the needs of pharmacists in the [changing] future [ 15 ].…”

Pharmacy leadership during emergency preparedness: Insights from the Middle East and South Asia

“…Pharmacy leaderships have a responsibility to promote the learning and development of their staffs. 24 Factors such as cost, geographical distance, understaffing, and work commitment may affect the ability of staff to commit to continuous learning and education. 25 During a pandemic, the need for concurrent knowledge about the ongoing crisis is imperative.…”