Continuing professional pharmacy development needs assessment of Qatar pharmacists

Maintenance and improvement of knowledge, skills and performance for provision of contemporary patient care is at the core of continuing professional pharmacy development (CPPD). Existing CPPD models worldwide reflect different approaches to lifelong learning. Before implementing the first country-wide CPPD programme in Qatar, pharmacists were surveyed to determine their specific continuing education (CE) needs, preferences and attitudes.

A systematic review of allied-health literature was conducted to help devise an anonymous web-based CPPD needs-assessment survey. Questions were characterized into domains of interest including pharmacist demographics, internet access, frequency and characteristics of past CE activity, preferences for delivery and content, barriers to participation, and plans for future CE activities. All pharmacists in Qatar were invited to participate through e-mail and fax invitations.

After 4 months, 134 of 523 ( approximately 25%) pharmacists had completed the survey. Practice sites (hospital and community) and gender were equally represented. Approximately one-third had no or inadequate internet access in the workplace. In the past 2 years, one-quarter had not attended any live local educational programmes. Major obstacles included poor timing (66%) and excessive workload (56%). Most pharmacists preferred interactive CE programme formats and one-third indicated Arabic as delivery language of choice. The majority expressed high motivation to achieve their CPPD goals and only 12% outrightly opposed mandatory CE for pharmacist re-licensure.

Qatar pharmacists demonstrated support for enhanced CE opportunities. While views and preferences mirror those of colleagues elsewhere, current conditions merit careful consideration of CPPD programme development and delivery, including language and technology capabilities.