Pharmacist perceptions of continuing professional development and goal development in a community health-system

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) defines continuing professional development (CPD) as a self-directed, ongoing, systematic, and outcomes-focused approach to lifelong learning that is applied into practice. Hospitals and health systems can use the ACPE CPD framework for performance evaluation and to support staff in developing learning goals.

This was an exploratory study using cross-sectional surveys and pharmacist self-reported CPD data at a community health system in the Southeastern USA. Surveys evaluating perceived value and use of CPD were administered to pharmacists with descriptive statistics calculated for quantitative survey responses qualitative data from open-ended responses analyzed using content analysis. CPD goals within pharmacist CPD records were reviewed and categorized based on relevance to the pharmacist's current practice setting. Survey results and CPD data were compared using an integrative narrative discussion.

Overall, fifty-seven (33.1%) pharmacists and twelve (85.7%) pharmacy managers and directors responded to surveys. A total of 13 (22.8%) respondents strongly agreed and 21 (36.8%) respondents agreed that using CPD goals to advance their practice increased job enjoyment and 13 (22.8%) respondents strongly agreed and 30 (52.6%) respondents agreed that achievement of CPD goals resulted in improved patient care. A total of 3 (23.1%) managers or directors strongly agreed and 6 (46.2%) agreed that pharmacists are more engaged employees when they use a CPD framework to plan and achieve goals. Additionally, 3 (23.1%) strongly agreed and 7 (53.8%) agreed that using a CPD process for staff development contributed to retention. A total of 1353 CPD goals were documented by 148 pharmacists with 86.3% of goals rated as relevant to practice and 204 (15.1%) containing all specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goal components.

The CPD framework may be a useful approach to support pharmacist development in hospital and health system settings and facilitate performance reviews.