In the September 27 issue of The Link, we mentioned that pharmacy technicians would be submitting their continuing competence portfolios for the first time after going through a practice run last year with the pilot program.
To clarify, last year pharmacy technicians were required to submit their continuing competence portfolios. This was mandatory as part of the registration process. The part that was a practice run/pilot was the audit of those professional portfolios.
Whenever a program rolls out for the first time, there is a pilot period that goes with it. In 2015, we ran a pilot of the CCP program and tutorial with 30 pharmacy technicians who volunteered to be part of it. In 2016, when all pharmacy technicians were required to submit their professional portfolios, we ran a pilot audit of the portfolios.
After the CCP requirements were rolled out to all pharmacy technicians, it was important to have a thorough review of the portfolios to ensure the program requirements – determined by a working group of pharmacy technicians in 2015 – were suitable for pharmacy technicians and aligned with the overall philosophy and guiding principles of our continuing competence programs. This review also helped us to evaluate the audit process and identify areas we needed to change or revise (i.e., removing the Peer Verification form) to support pharmacy technicians with meeting the program requirements.
Following the pilot audit, our assessors provided general feedback to all pharmacy technicians to help with future portfolios submissions. This feedback was provided through an email sent on July 31, 2017, and in the July 19, 2017, issue of The Link.
In our communications leading up to the first submission, the emphasis was on the CCP program requirements and how to submit your professional portfolio online. Our priority was to ensure pharmacy technicians understood the program and were comfortable with the submission process.
We apologize for any confusion that our September 27 article might have caused. The rest of the article has some good advice for technicians finalizing their professional portfolios and we encourage you to read it.
November 30 is a big day and we look forward to seeing the professional learning you have been engaged in!
