Please click the link below to bring you to the appropriate section:
- Program Accreditation
- Minimum Requirements for Registration
- General Documentation Questions
- Special Situations
Program Accreditation
- How do I apply to have a program accredited by the NL Pharmacy Board?
If you are developing a program that you intend to deliver to pharmacists and/or pharmacy technicians in Newfoundland and Labrador, please review the Policy on Accreditation of Professional Development Programs, found on the Professional Development page of the website. Once you have reviewed the policy, please submit a COMPLETED Application for Accreditation of Professional Development Program (also posted on the aforementioned page), including all checklists, forms, and slides, to inforx@nlpb.ca NO LATER THAN ONE WEEK PRIOR to the date of the presentation.For programs intended for delivery outside of the Province, please visit the CCCEP website at: www.cccep.ca
Minimum Requirements for Registration
- What are the Professional Development requirements for registrants in Newfoundland and Labrador?
Registrants are required to participate in a minimum of 15 hours of professional development activities between December 1 and November 30 each year. Of the 15 hours, a minimum of 7.5 hours must be from accredited learning activities with the remaining 7.5 hours being from either accredited or self-assigned learning activities. - When is documentation of professional development activities due?
Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians are required to record all professional development activities in their online Professional Development log no later than November 30th of each year in order to be eligible to renew their registration for the following year. - Can all 15 hours of required learning be from one program?
Yes, there is no restriction against this. While registrants are encouraged to obtain professional development from a variety of sources, it is not mandatory. If you have completed one course or program that fulfills the full requirement you may enter it as such.
General Documentation Questions
- What should I document under take-home messages?
Take home messages should describe what was actually learned from the program. These statements should be specific and reflect the Learning Objectives for a given program. For example, an acceptable statement would be “Because vaccines are sensitive biological products, maintaining and monitoring the proper storage and transportation temperature is very important.” not, “storage of vaccines” - What should I document in the evaluation section?
In the evaluation section, registrants are asked to indicate whether or not the learning was applicable to his or her practice and, if so, how he or she intend to incorporate the learning into
practice. If the registrant feels that the activity was not necessarily applicable to their practice, they are still expected to indicate what benefit was gained by completing the activity. For example, “This program was very relevant was we are planning to implement injection services at our pharmacy in the near future.” Or, “While this program was not particularly relevant to my current practice, it was a great overview and update of this practice area.” - I took a program with several learning modules. Do I need to record each module individually?
It depends of the documentation of completion that you received. If you received a separate record of completion for each module, then yes, you would document each module separately. If you received only one record of completion once all the modules were completed then you can document this as one entry using the following advice:- Rather than listing every Learning Objective for the program (which would likely be extensive), summarize them into 5 or 6 “high level” Learning Objectives that describe what you set out to learn by completing this program. For example: “Understand the rationale and background for immunization” and “Demonstrate understanding of the proper storage, handing and transport of vaccinations”.
- For Take Home Messages, since this information should describe what you actually learned from the program, your messages should reflect the Learning Objectives set out above. For example, “Because vaccines are sensitive biological products, maintaining and monitoring the proper storage and transportation temperature is very important.”
- The last section of the record should indicate whether or not the learning was relevant to your practice and, if so, how you intend to integrate this information into your practice.
- I attended a conference with many different sessions but only received one record of completion. Do I need to record each session individually?
Yes, since at a conference, each session would typically be focused on a separate and distinct topic, the learning gained would also vary from session to session. As such, each one should be documented with its own learning objectives, take home messages and evaluation. - What should I retain for supporting documentation for an accredited program?
Once you have completed an accredited program you should be given or emailed a Record of Participation, Statement of Completion, etc. by the program coordinator or presenter. This is all that you need to retain as supporting documentation for an accredited program. - What should I retain for supporting documentation for non-accredited learning?
This is much more variable depending on the type of learning. For example if it was still a “formal” program, just not an accredited program, then the invitation, agenda or email confirmation would usually suffice. If you are claiming credits for preparation of a presentation or publication of a journal article, then a copy of the presentation or article would typically be expected. For Service as a Preceptor, use of the designated form is expected, as described below.
Special Situations
- How do I document my service as a preceptor?
The Professional Development Requirements for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians allows registrants to self-assign 0.5 credits per week up to a maximum of 6 credits per year for service as a preceptor.Registrants who self-assign credits for acting as a preceptor must document the credits in their online Learning Portfolio and use the form, Documentation of Self-Assigned Credits for Service as a Preceptor (available on the Professional Development page) as supporting documentation in case of audit. A separate entry and form must be used if acting as preceptor to more than one student, intern or technician candidate in a given year.
To record these credits on your online record, proceed as follows:
- After you log in, choose “No” when asked if the learning activity you are documenting is accredited.
- For Learning Activity, enter: “Service as a Preceptor”.
- For Date Completed, enter the ending date of the student or intern’s rotation.
- For Number of credits self-assigned for this activity, document appropriately according to the completed form.
- When asked to give a brief description of the learning activity, enter “Acted as a preceptor to (name of student/intern/technician candidate) from (start date-end date) for a total of (total number of weeks) weeks”.
- When asked to describe what you learned from this activity and/or how you will integrate this learning into your practice, document anything that you learned from this experience as well as how you will integrate the learning into your practice.
- How many credits can I claim for taking a First Aid or CPR course?
In accordance with the Professional Development Requirements for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, a registrant may self-assign 1 credit per year for completion of CPR or First Aid courses. - I wrote the PEBC Qualifying Exam this year. How many credits can I claim and how do I document it on my learning portfolio record?
You may claim 15 credits upon successful completion of Parts I and II, or 5 credits upon successful completion of Part II only. It can be documented as follows:- PD Year: select current PD year
- Is this activity accredited?: click “Yes”
- Click “Next”
- Date: enter date exam was completed
- Program Title: type PEBC Qualifying Exam, Parts I and II or PEBC Qualifying Exam, Part II, as applicable
- Provider: type PEBC
- Speaker/Author: type N/A
- Program Approved By: select “Other” and type PEBC in the blank field
- Number of CEU’s Accredited: type 15 or 5, as applicable
- Accreditation File Number: leave blank
- Learning Objectives: type N/A
- Take Home Messages: type N/A
- Is this program applicable to your practice: click “Yes”
- How will you incorporate the learning into your practice: type N/A
Further information, including good examples of how to document your learning, can be found by visiting the Professional Development page of the website. To view the Professional Development Requirements for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians in their entirety, visit the Professional Development page of the website.