The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7171 p584
27 October 2001

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The lessons of history
Developing as a professional

The lessons of history

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, the saying goes. Those who wish to recall the past of pharmacy will find it more difficult following the decision by the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to curtail severely the operations of the Society's museum (PJ, 20 October, p579).

Having said recently that the Council seemed to be changing its decision-making behaviour, what we are seeing here is a decision where the Council seems to have learnt none of the lessons of its recent past.

The constitution of the museum, drawn up in consultation with the Council, says that the museum and its collections are to be regarded as being held in trust for future generations. Many of the objects in the collections were donated so they could be enjoyed by the many, not a few. How future generations are to take advantage of this is now unclear.

The Council is in danger of concentrating too hard on its regulatory role, in the face of some short-term difficulties, at the expense of its long-term obligations to its members and the public as a professional body, as correspondents to our letters pages make clear (see pp596–7).

If the decision is implemented, there is a real danger that the museum might never be restored to its current level of support, let alone expanded. The professional activities of the Society are in danger of crumbling away. If the museum is not considered important to the profession, can the Society's excellent library be far behind?

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Developing as a professional

Many pharmacists still need to take continuing professional development more seriously. At the moment there is no mandatory scheme, but it is inevitable that CPD will be a requirement for practice soon. Now is the time for pharmacists who have not already done so to get into the right mindset, start working out what they need to do and then get on with it.

Of course, CPD involves much more than courses, training and formal qualifications, but we offer this week an outline of many of the formal courses that provide a good start (see Broad Spectrum (pp594), Continuing education (PDF* 45K, pp598–9) and Continuing professional development (pp613–23)).

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