Continuous Professional Development

Introduction

Graduation from pharmacy school is a beginning, rather than an ending. As a pharmacist, we must learn independently to maintain professional knowledge and competence in new medications and health information advancements.

If you get 1% better each day for 1 year, you'll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done, and vice versa.

The Power of Tiny Gains



Malaysia

At Pharmacy Board 101th Meeting on 30th September 2013, minimum number of CPD points per year is set at 30 for renewal of Pharmacist Annual Retention.

  • The CPD points can be reported through the myCPD (for government pharmacists), MPS CPD Online Registration System (for private sector pharmacists) or other proof that is certified.
  • Exemption to CPD points is applicable to non-practicing pharmacists (housewives, pensioners, pharmacists practicing overseas). However, if a Type A license is required, the requirement of CPD points is applicable.

NOTE: Compulsory CPD is being practiced by the Ministry of Health for pharmacists in public service since 1998. This is tied in with their performance evaluation, promotion and career advancement. You may learn CPD credit point system for pharmacist and pharmacist assistant here.



Learning

Undeniably, COVID-19 has evolved the method of healthcare professionals having continuous professional development. Never before, online webinar is so common. Nevertheless, I still miss my free lunch, and free pens much.

In my opinion, as we grow in our profession, we are still learning almost constantly.

  • To illustrate, every now and then, I may encounter an off-label indication of medication that I do not know of.
  • Also, we should not dismiss and forget about difficult queries from both colleagues and patients that we do not know the answer to, but instead, we should explore them further.
  • In fact, to have an active learning, I may suggest you to constantly question yourself on why a particular drug is chosen over other alternative medications (due to effectiveness or adverse effects reason?).
  • The day you find there is nothing to learn, it is most probably because you already choose to stop learning. Hence, never stop looking things up.

In psychology, there is an interesting theory named Dunning-Kruger effect.

  • In summary, the Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly estimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to happen because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills.
  • Consequently, not only do people perform poorly, but they are unlikely to learn and grow (since they think they are above average).
  • Meanwhile, I am not telling you that you are not knowing enough, but always stay humble.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

The curse of knowledge is another interesting one.

  • It is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, communicating with other individuals, unknowingly assumes that the others have the background to understand.
  • In simple terms, we wrongly assume that other people know the things that we do.
  • Believe me, common sense is neither common nor sense.



Keep Updated

In your life journey, you may encounter individuals who seems to be more intelligent than you. They appear to know a lot more on medicines than you, including the latest update. So, how can we become just like them?

Well, I think, deep down, you know the answer clearly. There is no real shortcut. All the knowledge that we have in our brain is the result of hard work coupled with life experiences. To know them all, you have to learn them all first. Plus, the efforts should be continuing. However, many of us lack the motivation because we hardly see the need to learn more after working at the same place for few years.

When I embarked on the journey as a provisional registered pharmacist, inhalers such as Respimat and Breezhaler were not available at my hospital. Today, Spiriva Respimat is so commonly prescribed after discontinuation of Spiriva Handihaler.

To keep yourself updated, you may consider:

* It is almost an unspoken truth that sponsored CME are often biased in the medical choice, hence it might be wise to attend multiple CME sponsored by different companies on the same topic.

All in all, Ancora Imparo!



Keep Outdated

Initially, upon graduating from university, I would only keep the latest edition of a reference book or guideline. However, as I gained more experience, I began to appreciate the value of older references and started to keep them as well.

It is becoming increasingly common for certain topics to only be available as electronic chapters in newer medical textbooks, likely due to progress in the medical field resulting in a greater volume of information and experience.

  • Publishers have a responsibility to ensure that physical books are not too heavy to carry (especially those clinical handbooks), so outdated information and section of chapters are often removed or summarized.

Having access to old medical references or guidelines (in digital or hard copy format) instils confidence and adds credibility when discussing outdated treatment practices with newer pharmacists.

  • In year 2017, GOLD began advocating for the use of LAMA or LABA. Today (March 2023), you may face some difficulty in finding the GOLD 2016 Report. Retrieving a 10-year-old guideline might be more challenging.
  • As a developing country, Malaysia may have limited resources and may not be able to fully adopt the latest first-line management strategies.
  • Additionally, new drugs may not be available in Ministry of Health Medicines Formulary yet, hence requiring the provision of medical care using the next-best therapy.
  • As a pharmacist, it is interesting to observe how disease management practices have evolved over time. Have you ever pondered why pharmacists are involved heavily in inventory management within a hospital?



Summary

Stop having the misconception that hospital pharmacists are inherently more clinically knowledgeable than those in community pharmacies.

  • Much of the clinical knowledge I use daily comes from my university education and personal dedication to staying current through independent study.

However, if you lost your passion at pharmacy profession, you may watch this Japanese Drama Series: Unsung Cinderella: Byoin Yakuzaishi no Shohosen.

  • Nonetheless, I understand that there are days when you feel dispassionate and just want to get through the day and go home.

Unsung Cinderella: Byoin Yakuzaishi no Shohosen



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