Standardized Assessment of Pharmacists' Patient Care Competencies:

Assessing the ongoing competence of practicing health care professionals requires regulators to balance complex demands of governments and the public, as well as interests and concerns of practitioners. A proliferation of models has evolved across professions and jurisdictions. In this article, we report on a model utilizing standardized assessment using best-practice measurement techniques and methods for evaluation of ongoing (i.e., post-registration) clinical competencies in the profession of pharmacy in Ontario, Canada. This model involves categorization of the profession into an active patient-facing and non patient-facing register, implementation of a learning portfolio requirement to replace mandatory continuing education credit accumulation, and the use of standardized assessment techniques, such as a multiple-choice test of clinical knowledge and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) of clinical reasoning and interpersonal skills. Lessons learned from the development, implementation and retrospective analysis of almost two decades of data from this program can provide regulators in diverse professions and different jurisdictions with tools for standardized assessment of patient care competencies.

The Characteristics of Continuing Professional Education Systems in the Health Professions in Canada

Mandatory continuing education (MCE) has become widely accepted across many professions and jurisdictions in Canada as a re-credentialing mechanism. MCE is defined as continuing professional education (CPE) courses and/or programs, beyond the entry-level educational requirements, required by a licensure board, professional organization, or the workplace in order to maintain competence or retain licensure, certification, and/or employment. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the nature and characteristics of the CPE systems of the major health care professions in Canada. Overall, mandatory systems of CPE are increasing among allied health professional groups in Canada. This introduces significant opportunities for providers of CPE for the health professions. Important trends appear to include an increase in distance education formats, an increase in collaborative arrangements between providers, and an increase in the use of CPE to regulate practice.