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Letters to the Editor
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Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE)
Why not a hard copy version?
From Mr P. Melnick, MRPharmS
I write to express my annoyance and frustration at the Centre for Pharmacy
Postgraduate Education’s decision to issue an exclusively e-learning
pack on the subject of pharmacogenetics.
This is a rapidly expanding topic about which I know almost nothing.
Sure, I have heard of fast and slow acetylators. Certainly, I am aware
of cytochrome P450 enzyme systems with confusingly similar and instantly
forgettable names that would not look out of place in a space observatory.
I can think of no subject more likely to bring the most profound changes
in the ways in which we think about and use drugs in the near future.
Without doubt it has the potential to change the working lives of the
next generation of pharmacists. Here was a real opportunity to put them
all in context.
And yet the CPPE chooses to exclude luddites such as me from accessing
its expertise.
Surely there are many of us who would experience great difficulty using
e-learning during the working day, which would not be the case with hard
copy. Similarly, when I am stuck in traffic, or at home, or in bed, I
prefer to read printed text. It is what I have always done and it remains
the most accessible and practical of choices by far.
I accept that it is cheaper for the CPPE to use an electronic format
and they could argue that the information could be downloaded, but they
can take it from me that a collection of any unspecified number of papers
is just not the same. The subject is far too important for this exclusive
treatment and I wonder if the CPPE directors might be prevailed upon
to reconsider their decision.
Perry Melnick
Ilford, Essex
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CHRISTOPHER CUTTS, director, and PAULA HIGGINSON,
senior pharmacist learning development, both from the Centre for Pharmacy
Postgraduate
Education, respond:
We are pleased that Mr Melnick recognises the potential
importance of pharmacogenetics as a subject area for future generations
of pharmacists. This is one element of a portfolio of over 100 learning
programmes that are currently available from CPPE. And, overall, we
offer a balanced portfolio of approaches through workshops, print-based
open learning, computer-based and now
e-learning.
This meets the range of formats that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
choose to use as they learn. Increasingly we find that the newer generations
of pharmacists,
accustomed to blended learning approaches through their undergraduate programmes,
expect that their postgraduate support will be available through similar routes.
Pharmacogenetics is a relatively new concept in learning and is currently changing
rapidly. Any print-based programme would become dated quickly. We made the
deliberate decision to build pharmacogenetics as an e-learning programme.
We can easily maintain the currency of the learning programme and include small
addenda to the programme as developments occur.
We recognise that there are challenges in practice for many who wish to access
e-learning programmes, understanding that some of the multiple pharmacies actively
prevent their employees from accessing the internet during their work hours.
However, the most recent OfCom report states that over 50 per cent of homes
now have broadband internet access, local libraries and gyms offer access and
there
continues to be a growth in internet cafes.
In summary, the CPPE will continue to develop e-learning programmes alongside
our traditional approaches. We appreciate the concerns that Mr Melnick has
raised and will continue to seek ways to meet the differing needs of all of
our users.
However, pharmacogenetics is a rapidly changing and developing area of practice.
It does not make sense for us, as a learning provider, to offer a print-based
resource for this topic. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal