The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7371 p493
15 October 2005

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The 2005 British Pharmaceutical Conference and Exhibition “A common vision for health: linking science and practice” took place at Manchester International Convention Centre from 26–28 September

BPC 2005 summary

In a session on continuing professional development CPD facilitators shared some of the barriers to CPD and the misconceptions they have come across as well as their tips for CPD improvement. Lin-Nam Wang (on the staff of The Journal) reports

Nearly 50 per cent of pharmacists could be making records of their CPD

Some 16,000 pharmacists have started recording their continuing professional development online, Fred Ayling, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society CPD officer reported. Adding an anecdotal number of pharmacists who are keeping their records on paper or on desktop to this figure indicates that up to 50 per cent of pharmacists are recording their CPD, Mr Ayling said. Mr Ayling compared pharmacy with other professions, where the percentage of people recording their CPD before it became mandatory was in single figures. However, Mr Ayling’s assertion contrasts with the experience of Jonathan Wood, professional training manager, Lloyds Pharmacy, who reported that at a recent meeting of 40 pharmacists in Somerset, 27 had not started making CPD records.

Mr Wood said that he thought that pharmacists needed to go back to basics, adding that there is still a perception among community pharmacists that CPD is about doing 30 hours of learning. The advantage of CPD is it allows you to be more selective but the difficulty, it seems is that reflection does not come naturally to many pharmacists. Mr Wood thinks that this aspect is difficult because few of them take time to think about what they need to learn.

Another possible barrier to recording is the large number of competencies listed on the CPD website (www.uptodate.org.uk). Pharmacists recording their CPD online encounter a series of drop-down menus containing various competencies, which can be selected as applying to the CPD being recorded. Mr Wood compared these menus to hydra: “Cut off one head and another appears,” he explained. He went on to say that some pharmacists give up at this stage. Other difficulties include lack of time, first to carry out CPD and then to record it. “With the new contract and medication use reviews, there are lots of pressures on our time,” Mr Wood said. He believes although most pharmacists spend time doing CPD, some do not record it.

Mr Wood suggested how pharmacists might make CPD easier. His tips included:

· Spend 30 minutes each month considering your learning needs

· Form a study group — small study groups can help in meeting the CPD agenda, particularly for community pharmacists, who can go for days without talking to their peers

· Have a strategy for meeting your learning needs

· Be concise and specific in your aims, for example, instead of a huge subject, such as asthma, choose one topic within that

· Overcome the barrier — make a start and complete that first entry

· Take time to make an entry after a meeting — do not just walk away with a certificate

· Keep your records in context

· Just remember the 12 records per year figure (Mr Wood suggested that two of these should be of unscheduled learning and 10 of scheduled learning)

· Use the help available

Mr Ayling pointed out that the help available from the Society includes appendix six in “Plan and record” (which lists the things a reviewer looks for in a CPD profile), e-tutorials and genuine case studies covering the CPD of pharmacists in many different roles. “We are continuing to add things in terms of the support available,” he said. The proposal is that everyone who has their records reviewed will receive feedback so it is a genuinely informative process, he added.

Mr Ayling also reported that since July 2004, 132 branch meetings had been run by the Society’s CPD facilitators and that funding had recently been granted to allow the Society’s facilitators to continue in their roles until December 2005. According to Mr Ayling, the challenge is to keep people motivated, but he admitted that there is also the issue of what to do for people who have not made a start at making records.

Easy in hospital, hard for locums and a dilemma for young pharmacists

Some people find the questions in “Plan and record” restrictive, said Aamer Safdar, principal pharmacist lead for education and development at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, as he shared his experiences of CPD. Mr Safdar, who took part in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s CPD pilot, said that another issue is that the competencies have changed. However, he also outlined benefits for hospital pharmacists. Hospital pharmacists can use CPD to link into the knowledge and skills framework. “They can use CPD to support development reviews because there is some overlap with personal development plans,” he said. The knowledge and skills framework has its own set of competencies and Mr Safdar said that thought would have to be given as to how the two sets would be used together. Some hospitals have given pharmacists protected time for CPD and Mr Safdar has been able to use “Plan and record” to support his study leave requests because it prompts him to reflect on why the study leave is needed.

In contrast, Martin Jenkins, a locum pharmacist based in Newcastle upon Tyne, voiced concern about the help available for locums. He reported that locum colleagues are unaware of training packages and can encounter difficulty locating them. “There is a need for locums to have access to resources,” he said. Jonathan Wood, professional training manager, Lloyds Pharmacy, recommended the primary care organisation pharmacy adviser as a point of contact for locum pharmacists and suggested locums get themselves on PCT mailing lists.

For young pharmacists, it is the question of what to record that could pose a problem. “I find the most off putting thing about CPD is that, for someone at the start of their career, there is so much to write down,” said Emma Turner, a preregistration trainee.