College Introduces New Continuing Education Requirements Vol 41 No 1 - March 2016 | Mar. 11, 2016 Continuing Education

College registrants must now include a minimum amount of accredited learning hours every year to maintain registration. The decision, which was approved at the November Board meeting, requires registrants at a minimum to submit 5 accredited hours of their 15 total learning hours.

This decision was brought forward by the Quality Assurance Committee as it had conducted an environmental scan of continuing education requirements across Canada and found that other provinces required that some to all of the submitted hours must be accredited. In addition, the College found in the last year almost 80% of College registrants already complete more than 5 hours of accredited learning in their annual submission.

All College registrants must submit a minimum of 15 hours of professional development every year. Registrants will have a year to transition to the new continuing education requirements depending on their individual registration renewal date (e.g. registrants with a February 2016 start date have until January 31, 2017 to submit a minimum of 5 hours of accredited learning). This requirement is mandatory and is due upon registrant's renewal date.

The College also supports the development and delivery of accredited continuing education through the following providers: Canadian Council for Continuing Education in Pharmacy, UBC Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development, the Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists BC Branch, and more.

For more information on College-supported continuing education programs, please visit the Professional Development section of the College website. The College is also committed to sharing other continuing education opportunities as they become available via ReadLinks and the College Events page on the website.