You may have heard the term “continuing professional development” (CPD) and wondered what it means. CPD is an emerging paradigm for professional learning, maintenance of competence and skill development. It focuses on improved outcomes for the professional and, ultimately, the patient. The CPD concept is not unique to pharmacy, but is practiced by pharmacists in the United Kingdom and Ontario.
The process of CPD involves the pharmacist setting professional goals, and developing a plan to achieve those goals, including writing learning outcomes or objectives related to the goals. The pharmacist then works through the plan, evaluates accomplishments and sets new goals. Traditional continuing education is one component that can be incorporated into the process, but other experiences may be included, such as independent study, academic courses and working with a mentor.
The School of Pharmacy will be developing tools and programs for pharmacists to apply CPD to their own careers. You can read more about CPD by downloading What is CPD?-Pfoertner (PDF)and on the websites of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), a European human resources development organization.
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