The Institute of Pharmacy Management International is to promote the development
of portfolios showing academic competence and practical management experience
as the route to achieving fellowship of the institute.
The IPMI says that its council had been considering the question of fellowship
and the role that the institute should play in management training within pharmacy.
It says that some pharmacists are using membership of the College of Pharmacy
Practice as a path to promotion or higher salaries, but the CPP is more clinically
than managerially orientated.
Fellowship of the IPMI should be awarded in future following the assessment
of a portfolio presented by a member. This would include evidence of formal
academic training, such as a master of business administration degree, and practical
experience, including aspects such as operational or change management, over
a five-year period.
The new route to fellowship is intended to boost the number of fellows and,
the institute hopes, will become seen as “a gold standard of management
capability in pharmacy”.
The IPMI plans to retain an ability to bestow fellowship on members who have
rendered exceptional service to the institute as “an occasional honour”.