Author(s):
Batista, Jorge ; Torre, Carla ; Sousa Lobo, José Manuel ; Sepodes, Bruno
Date: 2022
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/147862
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Subject(s): Accreditation; Continuous Professional Development; Pharmacists; Pharmacy; Pharmacy education; LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education; RS Pharmacy and materia medica; Public Administration; Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Pharmacology (medical); SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being; SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Description
Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the work developed by the Council for Qualification & Admission: Ana Cabral, Carla Gomes, Francisco Batel Marques, Hugo Valente, Isabel Cunha, Laura Ribeiro, Luíza Granadeiro, Nuno Barros, Paula Campos, Paulo Cruz, Perpétua Gomes, Ricardo Lima, Rui Pinto, Liliana Ribeiro, Diana Costa, and the invaluable support of Fernanda Silva. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the President of the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Ana Paula Martins, and the National Board. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
Background: The Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (PPS) implemented a system of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for pharmacists in 2004. This system has evolved throughout the years, and currently all active pharmacists in Portugal are required to participate in the CPD program. Each CPD cycle takes 5 years. In each cycle, pharmacists must collect 15 CPD points, through participation in educational activities. The PPS accreditation process is managed via an online platform, where education/training providers, as well as pharmacists themselves, can submit educational activities for accreditation. Pharmacists may access their CPD status and assess their development at any point. The objective of this study was to analyze and review the educational activities submitted by providers over a 11-year period (2009–2019). Methods: Data from activities were retrieved from the PPS CPD online platform. All educational activities were labeled according to the area of pharmaceutical professional focus, type of promoter, and activity type. Results: During the study 3685 activities were analyzed. Over the last decade, submitted activities for accreditation increased in 52.6%. A significantly high proportion (98.9%) of these activities has been accredited. Promoters of activities were mostly pharmacies sectoral associations (29.6%), consultancy/training companies (19.6%), the PPS (18.5%), pharmaceutical industry (17.7%) and wholesalers’ consortia (9.0%). Academia represented only 2.3% of the total amount of educational activities. The most frequent topics were related to “pharmacology & pharmacotherapy” (9.9%), followed by “counselling” (9.8%) and “management & administration” (7.2%). The most accredited type of activities was face-to-face (68.9%) and e-learning trainings (13.1%). Conclusions: This study shows increasing interest in submitting CPD activities for accreditation between 2009 and 2019, but it also demonstrates that Academia could play a more interventive role in the lifelong learning education of Portuguese pharmacists.
