Development of Statutory Instrument for pharmacist CPD
The Pharmacy Act 2007 (the Act) confers responsibility on the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) for the education, training and lifelong learning (including continuing professional development - CPD) of pharmacists in the interests of patients and the public. The Act requires the PSI to ensure that all pharmacists are undertaking appropriate CPD, including the acquisition of specialisation.
The Regulation of Retail Pharmacy Businesses Regulations 2008 places a responsibility on the pharmacy owner and the superintendent pharmacist to ensure that ‘he or she is satisfied that all of the pharmacists and other staff, employed or engaged by him or her, or under his or her management, have the requisite knowledge, skills, including language skills, and fitness to perform the work for which they are, or are to be, responsible.’ The responsibility of employers, pharmacy owners and superintendent pharmacists to ensure that pharmacists and other staff under their control have the required level of skills and knowledge, has informed the PSI Council’s design and establishment of the CPD system for pharmacists. In effect, the legislation recognises that employers and pharmacy owners are an integral part of the CPD system and provides a framework by which this responsibility can be discharged. It also provides a platform to ensure that staff, for which the pharmacy owner and superintendent pharmacist are responsible, engage in the CPD system, and the support and controls in place for pharmacist participation in CPD should reinforce their ability to achieve this.
The Act also requires the PSI to draw up codes of conduct for pharmacists. The statutory Code, approved in 2008, requires that ‘A pharmacist must maintain a level of competence sufficient to provide his/her professional services effectively and efficiently.’ The Code further sets out that, in order to fulfil his/her obligations in this regard, a pharmacist should ‘maintain, develop and update competence and knowledge of evidence-based learning, which includes CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and CE (Continuing Education).’ The Code of Conduct applies to all pharmacists, irrespective of context of professional practice. The CPD system is also designed to support the pharmacist in meeting these obligations.
CPD Model for Pharmacists
The PSI commissioned a review of international CPD models in order to establish good practice and recommend an appropriate means and method of establishing a CPD system in Ireland. The final report, ‘Review of International CPD Models’, and its recommendations were approved by the PSI Council at its meeting on 1st June 2010.
The report recommended, inter alia, that the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) model was the most effective model upon which to base the mandatory CPD system for pharmacists in Ireland. Using the OCP model, the design of the PSI’s CPD system is tailored to the current and future needs of the pharmacy profession and the wider healthcare system. The OCP model has existed in Ontario since 1997 and its effectiveness is reflected in its roll out across other healthcare professions in that region. There are also data emerging from the OCP’s experience that demonstrate a clear link between CPD and continued competence and the types of CPD activities that contribute to professional competence. Indeed, the data available from the OCP model and the OCP’s experience with its implementation since 1997 are considered to have contributed to the Ontario Government’s decision in 2011 to expand the scope of practice for pharmacy and also to general pharmacy practice improvements overall for patients and the public in Ontario.
The model focusses on improving patient safety and patient outcomes and ensuring universal competencies of practitioners in the interests of patient health and safety. It has the potential to allow for the professional development of pharmacists as specialist and advanced practitioners, as well as facilitating innovation and development across the profession and in pharmacy services for the benefit of patients and the wider public. Ultimately, the requirement for mandatory CPD should contribute to the improvement of the quality of care for patients, stimulating personal and professional growth for pharmacists and should work towards closing the gap between theory and practice.
This CPD model is an outcomes-based portfolio approach which recognises all types of learning activities across the learning spectrum from formal learning to on-the job learning, with the focus on a pharmacist-driven practice of self-reflective learning. It involves pharmacists reflecting on individual experience to identify their learning needs and/or how they might need to improve their knowledge, skills, behaviours or attitudes and overall competence, as opposed to more traditional systems of CPD points or accumulation of contact hours.
The CPD system for pharmacists in Ireland will provide for formal recognition and evidence of professional development while also assuring the public of the competence of pharmacists. It is peer-led, peer supported and peer-assessed. It should support, in time, the recognition of specialisation and advanced practice roles. The system should assist in the development of pharmacy practice in order to meet evolving evidence-based patient and health service needs. The CPD system should also aim to enhance interprofessional learning and collaboration.
Irish Institute of Pharmacy
In order to provide an appropriate approach to the provision and governance of a CPD system, the overall recommendation coming from the Review of International CPD Models was to commission a service provider to deliver the services of an Institute of Pharmacy on behalf of the PSI. Following a tender process for the service provider, the Irish Institute of Pharmacy (IIOP) was established to oversee the development and management of the CPD system for the pharmacy profession in Ireland. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) was awarded a four year contract to establish and operate the Institute as the managing body on behalf of the PSI. The Institute became operational in August 2013 and its first Executive Director was appointed in March 2014. The Institute’s purpose is to oversee the management and operation of the CPD system. The Institute will also oversee the support mechanisms for pharmacists’ engagement with CPD and the associated quality assurance review processes as well as the commissioning of required education and training programmes and courses in line with national policy and evolving healthcare needs.
Additional information is available in the Education section of the PSI website.