Practising to full scope in today’s healthcare landscape sees pharmacy professionals demonstrating leadership, good judgement, a strong set of values, collaboration, person-centredness, and active learning. These six tenets of a pharmacy professional make up the professionalism framework.
ACP’s evolved Continuing Competence Program (CCP) empowers pharmacy professionals to reflect on how these tenets are purposefully incorporated and demonstrated in their professional practice.
“In the past, the CCP focused exclusively on learning and the implementation of that learning into practice, but learning and its application to practice are only one part of being a pharmacy professional,” said Pamela Timanson, ACP’s Competence Director.
The six tenets of professionalism offer a more holistic view of what it means to be an engaged pharmacy professional in today’s pharmacy practice.
“ACP modernized the competence program to focus on the whole professional as characterized in the professionalism framework, which encompasses those essential aspects of what it means to be truly competent as a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician,” said Patrick Zachar, ACP Council’s president.
Patrick was ACP’s Council president when the evolved CCP was reviewed and approved by Council in 2024. Revamping the CCP was an important priority for Council and it was an exciting step to modernize the program to align with the professionalism framework.
“Shifting the focus of the program to foster development of the whole professional was a big step forward for ACP,” said Patrick. “The program was also modernized and enhanced in other ways to make it more streamlined and impactful—there have been a number of improvements.”
The evolved program launched in 2025 for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. It is comprised of three components:
- Professional development and learning, which is completed by all regulated members on an annual basis. The CCP now takes a more holistic approach to reflect the tenets of professionalism.
- Competence assessment, which is completed by a subset of regulated members. This process will now incorporate more meaningful peer assessment and feedback. Competence assessments are directed when the Competence Committee is concerned that a regulated member may not be consistently meeting the standards in their professional practice or as a measurement to help determine if a regulated member has improved their professional practice in a certain area.
- The Practice Improvement Program (PIP), which is an individualized approach for regulated members who demonstrate competence deficiencies. These regulated members are identified and referred to the PIP via other ACP programs. This program provides a personalized approach to support regulated members in changing practice behaviours to consistently meet the standards of practice.
Regulated members complete and manage the program through Academy, ACP’s online learning management system that is designed to enhance and track professional development and learning.
In this issue of Full Scale, we’re taking a closer look at the evolved CCP and how it will benefit all regulated members in any practice setting. You will learn about
- what changed and why,
- what to consider when you’re choosing your learning priorities,
- how the tenets of professionalism shaped the evolved CCP,
- the value of prescribed learning, and
- the shift to incorporating peer assessment and feedback.
As you read through these articles, you will notice a common theme—the evolved CCP helps pharmacy technicians and pharmacists thrive in their roles.
“I am really excited for my pharmacy peers to experience the evolved CCP,” said Patrick. “We all want to provide the best care to patients and this program supports professional growth and development for every regulated member in any practice setting.”
