Professional growth is not confined to webinars, classrooms, and hotel conference rooms—for pharmacy professionals, those “aha” learning moments often occur in practice. A pharmacist might collaborate with a peer to find a new way to support a patient or a pharmacy technician may step into a new leadership role—these day-to-day scenarios often leave us with the most impactful lessons.
When ACP revamped the Continuing Competence Program (CCP), a key priority was to help regulated members reflect on these practice-based learning opportunities.
“The way the old program was structured, it was missing so much of who a pharmacy professional is and not considering the context in which they were working,” said Pamela Timanson, ACP’s Competence Director.
To develop a more holistic approach, the evolved CCP was structured around the Professionalism Framework, which was developed in 2018 to establish common understandings of professionalism and what it means to be a pharmacy professional, as defined through six core tenets:
- An engaged pharmacy professional is
- person-centred,
- a collaborator,
- a leader, and
- an active learner.
- An engaged pharmacy professional
- uses good judgement, and
- has a strong set of values.
Each tenet contains a set of descriptors that demonstrate what the tenet means through the behaviours, actions, or characteristics that represent it. For the past eight years, this framework has set the expectation for quality pharmacy practice in Alberta.
“We wanted to consider the whole picture of what it means to be a professional and so it just made sense to base the evolved program on the Professionalism Framework because that framework speaks so much to who a pharmacy professional is and how that relates to the work they do across many different settings,” said Pamela.
Throughout the CCP cycle, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can reflect on their practice in alignment with the tenets and descriptors.
“Over the course of the year, many situations will naturally align with the descriptor questions, as your day-to-day work demonstrates the tenets in a wide variety of ways,” said Pamela.
An essential aspect of the shift to reflecting on professional learning and development through the professionalism framework was to involve practising pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the development of the evolved CCP. Jordyn Fenske is a pharmacy technician in Edmonton with over nine years of experience working in community practice and compounding. She had the important role of helping to develop exemplars for other regulated members to use as a reference for knowing how to complete the annual requirements.
“My role was to help translate the tenets and descriptors into real-life situations that pharmacy technicians could relate to in their daily work,” said Jordyn. “Connecting learning activities to the tenets makes the reflection process a bit more meaningful—instead of just completing a requirement, it helps regulated members think about how learning improves their practice and benefits patients and the communities they serve.”
The ability for every regulated member to be able to make their learning meaningful for their unique practice was a top priority in the evolved CCP.
“The evolved program fosters autonomy and empowerment by allowing learners to determine what best fits their practice and choose descriptors that benefit them in their roles,” said Pamela.
For example, a pharmacist who works in an administrative role may reflect on how they demonstrated their strong set of values when they saw a coworker struggling and went above and beyond to help them with their workload and demonstrate compassion and empathy.
A pharmacy technician who works in a compounding pharmacy may reflect on how they demonstrated collaboration when they attended a workshop and found opportunities to problem solve and brainstorm with their peers.
“No matter what type of pharmacy you work in, the CCP is designed so everyone can relate the tenets to their own personal practice,” said Jordyn.
For Jordyn, it isn’t a challenge to come up with examples from her own practice.
“One of the examples that comes to mind for me in my practice is how I applied the leadership tenet. Being involved in teaching students during their pharmacy rotations has been a really meaningful part of my growth,” said Jordyn. “I think it made me realize how far I’ve come in my own practice.”
An important thing for regulated members to keep in mind when they are working on their CCP requirements is to think about what professionalism looks like in your unique role and practice.
“Each of us learns through experiences and those experiences are different for all of us,” said Pamela. “For example, looking at the leadership tenet, you can be a leader in a multitude of different ways. Maybe you work to encourage and inspire your peers, maybe you organize a social committee—you don’t need a formal title to demonstrate leadership.”
Keeping the tenets of professionalism top of mind helps to ensure pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can provide the best care for patients.
“Most people who work in health care choose that field because they really care about helping patients,” said Jordyn. “Keeping the tenets of professionalism top of mind helps regulated members stay grounded in those values to guide safe and effective care.”
At the end of the day, the CCP is one more tool in the toolbox to ensure pharmacy technicians and pharmacists are prepared to meet the healthcare needs of Albertans.
“In pharmacy, our work directly revolves around and impacts patients, so professionalism is essential to support trust, accountability, and quality practice,” said Jordyn. “My advice would be to view the CCP as an opportunity rather than just a requirement—it’s designed to help us continue growing in our professions to support both personal growth and better patient care.”
