Continuing professional development training program among pharmacist preceptors and nonpreceptors.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Continuing Professional Development
• Pharmacist Training

Background:

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is crucial for pharmacists to maintain and enhance their expertise.
• Effective and efficient training methods are needed to deliver CPD to a diverse pharmacy workforce.
• Community pharmacy preceptors and nonpreceptors require accessible training to support their professional growth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a condensed CPD training program for community chain pharmacy preceptors and nonpreceptors in North Carolina.
• To assess knowledge, familiarity, and implementation perceptions regarding CPD after the training.

Main Methods:

• A 5-hour condensed CPD program (home study and live components) was administered to 120 community pharmacy preceptors and nonpreceptors.
• Pre- and post-intervention surveys were used to measure outcomes.
• Key outcome measures included changes in CPD knowledge, familiarity, program effectiveness, and implementation intentions.

Main Results:

• Over 90% of participants achieved program objectives, with 100% reporting enhanced knowledge and skills.
• 87% of participants were familiar with CPD post-training, and 83% intended to implement it in their practice.
• Participant demographics showed differences between preceptors and nonpreceptors in gender and prior learning activity completion.

Conclusions:

• A condensed CPD program is an efficient and effective method for training community pharmacy preceptors and nonpreceptors.
• The majority of trained pharmacists expressed intent to implement CPD, suggesting successful knowledge transfer and application.
• This training model can be a valuable tool for enhancing the CPD competency of the pharmacy workforce.