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Professional Development and Assessment Program (PDAP)

To ensure that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians provide optimal patient care throughout their careers as healthcare professionals, they must maintain their competency through ongoing professional development activities as determined by a Quality Assurance Program. In BC, this program is called the Professional Development and Assessment Program (PDAP).

As determined by legislation [HPA Bylaw 55(2)], PDAP consists of a Continuing Education (CE) component which utilizes the CE-Plus tool, and an Assessment component which utilizes the Knowledge Assessment (KA) Exam tool as outlined in the diagram below.

 

 *The selection of registrants for the first cycle (calendar year 2012) of the Assessment Component will be on a voluntary basis in order to test the technical delivery of the Knowledge Assessment (KA) exam using a computerized format.

 

Continuing Education (CE) Component – CE-Plus

The Continuing Education (CE) component of PDAP utilizes the CE-Plus tool which consists of an annual submission of a minimum of 15 hours of learning documented on a minimum of 6 Learning Records. The CE component is mandatory for all registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and is due upon individual registrants’ renewal dates. This means that registrants, starting with those who renew their registration in August 2011, will receive notification at that time that they have the next 12 months to complete their CE requirement which must be submitted to the College with their annual renewal in August 2012. Similarly, September 2011 renewals will be notified that their CE is due in September 2012 and so on and so on.

The CE-Plus tool is completed online and begins with a simple yet effective Self-Assessment which assists registrants in identifying specific learning needs so their professional development can be tailored to practice. The individual learning that is then undertaken is recorded on an easy to use online form called a Learning Record. Ultimately, it is these Learning Records which must be submitted to the College annually prior to registration renewal.

The College appreciates that registrants practice in various settings and that people learn in different ways which is why CE-Plus has been designed to recognize all types of learning. Whether a registrant chooses to participate in a traditional course or seminar that has been accredited, or engages in learning through a focused dialogue with a colleague, it is all valid as long as it is appropriately documented on the required Learning Record. 

Assessment Component – Knowledge Assessment (KA) Exam

The Assessment component requires all registrants, once every 10 years with approximately 10% or registrants randomly selected each year, to sit a Knowledge Assessment (KA) Exam that for the first time will be delivered utilizing a ‘computerized’ format rather than a ‘paper’ format.

Given that this technology is new, the College will be using the first cycle (2012) of the Assessment component to test the computerized delivery of the exam to ensure that everything is running smoothly. Because of this, rather than randomly selecting 10% of registrants to sit the KA exam in the calendar year of 2012, the College will instead be calling for volunteers to participate in this first cycle of PDAP’s Assessment component.

The Assessment component, during this first cycle (2012), will run as originally planned with a number of exam dates and sites scheduled throughout the year. The difference is that following each exam sitting the College will incorporate feedback solicited from the volunteer participants with respect to any challenges they may have encountered format of the exam. By using this first cycle of the Assessment component as a test for this new technology, the College will ensure that the transition from a ‘paper’ to a ‘computerized’ exam will be as seamless as possible for participants who will be randomly selected for the 2013 cycle.