Q: What is a professional portfolio?
A: A professional portfolio consists of the learning records, the implementation record, and supporting documentation that verify a registrant’s participation and completion of CEUs, including the prescribed learning activity. Your professional portfolio must be submitted annually to ACP for each continuing education (CE) cycle. For help with submitting your professional portfolio, please refer to the CCP Manual for pharmacists and CCP Manual for pharmacy technicians.
Q: Who needs to complete and submit a professional portfolio to ACP?
A: Clinical pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians must complete and submit a professional portfolio to ACP to be eligible to renew their practice permit for the following registration year. They must complete a professional portfolio each CE cycle and must submit it to ACP via the CCP portal.
Q: Can I complete a professional portfolio if I am on the associate register?
A: Yes, registrants on the associate register will have access to the Continuing Competence Program through the CCP portal. Registrants on the associate register can complete and submit a professional portfolio voluntarily each CE cycle. Completing a professional portfolio annually will prove beneficial if a registrant decides to return to an active status.
Q: I’m not working in a pharmacy or I’m not working directly with patients. How can I implement learning if I’m not currently working in a pharmacy?
A: All clinical pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians must complete and submit a professional portfolio to ACP to be eligible to renew their practice permit for the following registration year. The Continuing Competence Program was designed to be applicable to registrants practising in different environments, including registrants who are not in direct patient care.
Registrants should be able to meet the requirements of the program even outside of clinical practice or during a maternity leave. What you choose to learn and implement should be based on your personal and professional learning and practice needs.
For registrants who are not in direct patient care, possible outcomes from your implementation may be:
To determine what you can implement, it may help to consider the following:
If you do not have access to patients, potential audiences for your implementation may be the people you work with, other healthcare professionals, or perhaps the general public.
Q: I’m currently on maternity leave, or I’m not living in Alberta right now. Can I be excused from the Continuing Competence Program?
A: Clinical pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians must complete and submit a professional portfolio to ACP to be eligible to renew their practice permit for the following registration year. If you maintain your practice permit, you are responsible for maintaining your competence. Even outside of practice, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should be able to meet the CCP requirements.
If you feel that you cannot complete the requirements of the Continuing Competence Program and are NOT currently practising in Alberta, you may choose to go to the associate register. Please note that when you move into the associate register, you are NOT permitted to practise as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician and no fees will be refunded. When you are ready to return to practice, you would have to reinstate as a clinical pharmacist or registered pharmacy technician and complete requirements per the reinstatement policies.
Q: I’m a new registrant and have only been on the clinical register for a few months. Can I be excused from the Continuing Competence Program?
Pharmacists who register for the first time in Alberta between January 1 and June 30 do not have to complete the Continuing Competence Program before renewing their practice permit for the upcoming registration year (July 1 – June 30).
Pharmacy technicians who register for the first time in Alberta between July 1 and December 31 do not have to complete the Continuing Competence Program before renewing their practice permit for the upcoming registration year (January 1 – December 31).
Q: If I have recently achieved the established standard, or been granted additional prescribing authorization, do I still need to complete and submit a professional portfolio to ACP in the following CE cycle?
A: Yes, clinical pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians are required to complete the Continuing Competence Program each year. However, registrants who have been randomly selected for audit and achieved the established standard within the last five years and pharmacists who have been granted additional prescribing authorization within the last five years will not be selected for random audit. The portfolios for these registrants will only be selected for an audit if there is another reason such as a late or incomplete submission or a request from the registrar.
Q: If I have more than the minimum number of CEUs (15 CEUs) in one CE cycle, can I claim some CEUs in the following CE cycle?
A: No, all CEUs must be claimed and documented on learning records for a current CE cycle.
Q: Can I implement learning that was completed in a previous CE cycle?
A: This is a continuing competence program and we encourage you to continuously build upon your knowledge and skills. You may implement learning that was completed in a previous CE cycle; however, your implementation still needs to be tied to one CEU worth of learning completed during the current CE cycle. Therefore, if you choose to implement learning that was completed in a previous CE cycle, you just need to complete one more CEU in the current CE cycle that is related to your objective.
Q: Can I claim courses that I plan on attending on a learning record and submit them for registration renewal?
A: No, you can only claim courses that you have attended or completed during the current CE cycle.
Q: Can I report First Aid and CPR courses as non-accredited learning?
A: First Aid and CPR can be claimed as non-accredited learning. You can maximize your CEUs by completing more than one learning record. For example, you might do one learning record for the First Aid portion and another for the CPR portion, allowing you to claim up to 16 non-accredited CEUs.
Q: Can I claim learning activities from outside of Canada?
A: Yes, you may claim learning activities from any country if they are relevant to your pharmacy practice.
View information about registrants suspended or cancelled in relation to unprofessional conduct based, in whole or in part, on sexual abuse or sexual misconduct.
Please review our disclaimer regarding information returned by the public register.