Reviewing Competence in Practice: Reform of Continuing Professional Development for Irish Pharmacists

A qualitative study investigating Stakeholders' perspectives on a professional body of pharmacy

Background

With the advent of “shared regulation” over a decade ago in healthcare to allow for greater public input, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) shed its professional leadership role. Since then there has been no unified voice for the profession of pharmacy in Ireland, which is in stark contrast to other jurisdictions and allied healthcare professions, where both public and practitioner are catered for in separate entities. This is an issue which has received little academic scrutiny thus far, and therefore this study provides a unique opportunity for stakeholders to submit their views.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders working in representative bodies in Ireland using purposive and snowball sampling. Each interview was audio-video recorded and transcribed accordingly for six phase thematic analysis.

Results

Interviews were conducted with thirteen participants working in diverse sectors relevant to professional representation. There was a consensus regarding the existing void in the pharmacy profession, and how this has had a detrimental impact on the development of the profession and pharmacists' position in the Irish healthcare system. Different structural models were proposed by participants and potential financial and logistical hurdles for the profession to overcome were considered.

Conclusion

The study provides a unique review of stakeholders' perspectives who had clear desires for change. The manner in which such change will occur is a consideration for the profession and policy makers going forward.

Building Veterinarians beyond Veterinary School: Challenges and Opportunities for Continuing Professional Development in Veterinary Medicine

Continuing professional development (CPD) is an important mechanism for veterinarians to acquire, maintain, and enhance their capability to perform competently in their chosen practice area over their career. Although most licensing bodies require veterinarians to complete a minimum number of CPD hours each registration cycle, there are known issues with verifying that these activities are having the desired effects of ensuring professional competence and improving outcomes for patients, owners, and veterinarians. In this review, we summarize the literature across different health care professions to highlight three key challenges for veterinary CPD programs. These are (a) defining what it means to be professionally competent across different career stages from graduation to retirement, (b) delivering CPD activities that are effective in promoting evidence-based medicine and behavioral change in practice, and (c) developing reliable and sustainable systems to formally assess the continued professional competence of veterinarians. A common theme across all challenges was the importance of interacting with colleagues as an opportunity to receive external feedback on their professional strengths and weaknesses and to develop stronger support networks for managing common stressors in clinical practice. There was also a recognized need to develop more transparent outlines of the available and acceptable options for managing different animal health concerns as a first step toward identifying new opportunities for the veterinary profession to elevate the level of care provided. Based on these findings, we propose a new framework for defining, delivering, and evaluating CPD that promotes stronger collaboration between veterinarians to improve professional and personal well-being.

THE INTERNAL AUDITORS OF PHARMACEUTICAL QUALITY SYSTEMS COMPETENCE IMPROVING

The importance of internal audits for the pharmaceutical company, which is indicated in the guidelines for good practices in pharmacy (in particular, GMP, GDP). The issue of selection, training, grading, certification and continuous improvement of the auditor’s competence at pharmaceutical companies are relevant and important both for domestic ones, and for foreign enterprises. The aim of the study was to determine the competence of the pharmacy quality system internal auditors’ and the areas of its development. Materials and methods. The object of the study was the competence of internal auditors of pharmaceutical quality systems. Empirical and theoretical research methods were used, in particular the method of comparative analysis of scientific literature in the field of research, the method of structural and logical modeling. The information basis was the provisions of regulations and materials published in the open professional scientific literature. Results. The competence of quality management system auditors in general and pharmaceutical quality system in particular consists of personal qualities, professional knowledge and skills. The ISO 19011 standard highlights the importance of evaluating and continuous development of auditors’ competence. Such an assessment should take into account the needs of the audit program and its objectives. Areas of development of auditors' competence should be determined by the specifics of industry activities. This provision of the standard should be considered relevant for pharmaceutical companies. Conclusions. We studied the requirements for the competence of QMS internal auditors of international and industry standards. A review of the regulatory framework showed a lack of information on the chosen area of the research. Defined requirements for the competence of the PQM audits staff assists the selection of specialists to the audit team so that the overall competence of the audit team is sufficient to achieve the objectives of the audit.

Perspectives on Continuing Education Programs for Foundation-Level Drugstore Pharmacists in Japan

Background: Continuing education (CE) is important for developing and updating pharmacists’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes. CE programs should be developed according to social requirements but also based on personal requirements depending on the sectors the pharmacists work in. This research aims to explore perspectives on CE programs for foundation-level drugstore pharmacists in Japan. Method: Foundation-level drugstore pharmacists were asked what CE programs or training they needed to develop patient care or customer satisfaction. Results: We obtained 417 opinions (multiple answers were allowed) in 280 responses from 460 pharmacists (male: 245 and female: 215). The products and goods about which drugstore pharmacists wanted to learn covered a wide range. They wanted to learn about taping skills, tests, and products and devices related to care of the elderly. Taping skill would be quite unique for drugstore pharmacists. For special populations, they wanted knowledge and skills related to pregnancy tests and the safe use of medication by pregnant or lactating women. Conclusion: Drugstore pharmacists in Japan have different CE and continuing professional development (CPD) requirements from community pharmacists. The benefits of CE programs meeting pharmacists’ requirements should be evaluated in future research.

Practices, preferences, and opinions of New Zealand veterinarians towards continuing professional development

Aims: To describe the current practices and preferences of New Zealand veterinarians towards continuing professional development (CPD), explore factors acting as perceived barriers to CPD engagement, and identify opportunities for reforming the current CPD regulations. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of all veterinarians registered with the Veterinary Council of New Zealand (VCNZ) was conducted in October 2019. Descriptive statistics were provided for all quantitative study variables and thematic analysis was performed on the free-text survey comments to identify key issues regarding the current CPD regulations in New Zealand. Results: Complete survey responses were provided by 222/3,484 (6.4%) registered veterinarians. Most respondents (153/222; 68.9%) were satisfied with the amount of CPD completed and spent a mean of $2,511 (median $2,000; min $0; max $20,000) on CPD activities each year. The most popular CPD formats were those involving collegial interaction including conference and skills training workshops. The choice of CPD activities was most commonly influenced by interest in the topics and the desire to become more competent in their work while the main barriers were difficulties fitting CPD around work and family commitments. There were 164 (73.9%) respondents who cited at least one occasion in the previous 12 months where participating in CPD caused them to modify their existing practices. Thematic analysis of the free-text comments revealed several major themes related to the administrative burden of recording CPD activities under the current regulatory framework, and the need to develop CPD plans tailored towards the unique circumstances and goals of individual veterinarians. Respondents also expressed concerns over the reliability of using CPD record audits for evaluating professional competency. Factors identified as being the most helpful for improving the current CPD framework were simplifying the CPD points categories and developing a mechanism to record and share CPD activities in real-time. Conclusions: While most respondents felt there was significant value in completing CPD, the current regulatory framework was perceived to be administratively burdensome and inflexible in allowing them to tailor CPD activities to match their unique employment situation, learning style and professional goals. Clinical relevance: Providing resources that could assist veterinarians to design and implement tailored CPD programmes may improve professional and personal outcomes. However, further research is needed to develop more effective mechanisms for identifying veterinarians who are not performing competently without placing excessive administrative burdens on those who are.

Design and Implementation of an Integrated Competency-Focused Pharmacy Programme: A Case Report

This paper describes the design and implementation of elements of an integrated competency-focused pharmacy programme in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SoPPS), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland. Following a national review of pharmacy education and training in Ireland in 2010, and subsequent publication of legislation in 2014, the School has implemented a five-year integrated programme of pharmacy education and training, leading to the award of a Master's degree in Pharmacy (M. Pharm.). Curricular integration has been achieved by underpinning the new programme with a national competency framework for pharmacists and through the utilisation of curricular integration themes. Programme integration also encompasses embedded experiential learning placements in Years 2, 4 and 5 of the five-year programme. The new five-year integrated pharmacy programme, which commenced in 2015, replaced the 4 + 1 model of education and training where a four-year Bachelor's degree was followed by a one-year internship, which was a distinct and separate element of the students' training.