The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7410 p119
22 July 2006

Society summary

New online guide to continuing professional development

A new publication from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is designed to help pharmacists and pharmacy technicians understand continuing professional development and how to record it.

“Continuing professional development: a guide to getting started” is aimed at those who are yet to begin recording their CPD and those who have made a start but need support to continue.

The guide is divided into three main parts. The first, “Making CPD work for you” is intended to help pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to overcome any anxieties they may have about CPD and to better understand its benefits.

The second part, “A journey round the CPD cycle” breaks down each of the four stages of CPD, helping to make the whole process more manageable.

The third part, “Making sense of your CPD record”, explains each question in the Society’s CPD Plan & Record and provides hints on filling in each section. It also takes a look at how pharmacists can review their own CPD entries and compare them to an ‘ideal’ CPD record.

The guide also includes a leaflet giving five completed examples of CPD.

The Society’s CPD manager, Fred Ayling, says: “It is encouraging that around 20,000 practising pharmacists and many pharmacy technicians are already recording their CPD, which is set to become mandatory in spring 2007. This online guide is designed for those who are still at the early stages and is one of a range of CPD support materials that the Society has made available to the profession.”

Graham Phillips, chairman of the Society’s Education Committee, says: “Twenty thousand is a fantastic start. Members’ views from across the entire profession have been taken into account and as a result both the Plan & Record and the website will be updated to make the whole process as user-friendly as possible.”

“Continuing professional development: a guide to getting started” is available to download as a PDF file from the Society’s CPD website (www.uptodate.org.uk). Hard copies of the guide are also available on request. Further information is available from the Society’s CPD team (e-mail cpd@rpsgb.org; tel 020 7572 2540).