A commitment to active learning empowers pharmacy professionals to deliver quality person-centred care. However, not all educational resources are created equal. How can you ensure you’re accessing high-quality, unbiased learning activities?
One method is to seek out accredited learning. ACP’s Continuing Competence Program (CCP) provides the opportunity for pharmacy technicians and pharmacists to accrue the annual minimum of 15 continuing education units (CEUs) from accredited or non-accredited learning activities. However, there are a number of advantages to prioritizing accredited learning activities.
What is accredited learning?
Accredited learning activities or programs have gone through an expert review process to ensure that they
- have current, evidence-based, and unbiased content;
- are relevant to pharmacists/pharmacy technicians; and
- provide a quality adult learning experience.
For pharmacy technicians and pharmacists in Alberta and across Canada, the Canadian Council on Continuing Education in Pharmacy (CCCEP) is the primary organization that accredits continuing education programs. Learning activities may also be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, other provincial regulatory authorities, University of British Columbia Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development, USask Continuing Pharmacy Education, or Dalhousie University Continuing Pharmacy Education.
Why does accreditation matter?
High-quality continuing education enables improved learning and supports the delivery of quality patient care. CCCEP further explains that, when learning is accredited, there is quality assurance, a minimization of commercial influence and bias, and an expert review to ensure the learning activity is based on current evidence and best practice and aligns with adult learning principles.
ACP’s competence director, Pamela Timanson, discussed how quality accredited learning benefits regulated members.
“Having a learning activity that is relevant to your professional work creates opportunity for you to interact with the content or with other learners and provides opportunities to check understandings or ponder on how the content could be used in practice, which is extremely valuable to adult learners,” she said. “Pharmacy technicians and pharmacists are very busy, so having this assurance for a learning activity supports them in selecting a learning activity.”
Where can I find accredited learning?
One of the changes made to ACP’s evolved CCP is to widen the scope of accredited learning options for both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. When the CCP was evaluated, ACP heard from pharmacy technicians that it was difficult for them to find a variety of accredited learning activities. Pharmacists also reported that it could be difficult to find accredited learning activities and that they wanted to take learning activities that were accredited for other healthcare professions.
With that feedback in mind, ACP widened the accredited learning that could be documented for the CCP starting in the 2025-26 CCP cycle. Pharmacists, who started the 2025-26 CCP cycle in July 2025, can now claim CEUs that have been accredited for physicians and nurses along with those accredited for pharmacists. Starting in January 2026 when pharmacy technicians’ next CCP cycle in the redesigned CCP begins, they will be able to claim CEUs for accredited learning activities accredited for pharmacists along with those accredited for pharmacy technicians. Within Academy, the accrediting bodies for pharmacy, physicians, and nurses have been provided to make the selection and documentation process for accredited learning activities efficient.
The CCP manual provides more information about accredited and non-accredited learning options.
