SOP’s Continuing Education Program Earns Six Year Reaccreditation

Program helps pharmacists enhance their competence to effectively engage in contemporary pharmacy practice

By Becky Ceraul
March 6, 2012

The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s continuing education (CE) program has earned a six-year reaccreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), allowing it to continue to offer activities for pharmacists who must have 30 hours of continuing education credits every two years for license renewal.

“CE activities offered by the School of Pharmacy and our co-sponsors provide new knowledge and skills development to help pharmacists enhance their practice,” says Jason Noel, PharmD, associate professor of pharmacy practice and science and director of the CE Program.

CE providers undergo a rigorous review process to ensure that the programming it offers meets ACPE’s educational standards. CE activities developed and approved by the School of Pharmacy have been reviewed to ensure that they meet the educational needs of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, use sound educational and assessment methodology, and are free of commercial bias.

“This process allows state boards of pharmacy to know that pharmacists participating in approved CE activities are getting high quality education to maintain their ability to practice pharmacy with skill and safety,” says Noel.

As a provider of continuing education, the School of Pharmacy offered 165 accredited activities in 2011 for a total of more than 220 accredited hours. In addition to activities focused on drug therapeutics in disease states, the School sponsored programming on topics such as medication safety, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and provision of professional consultation services in assisted living facilities. The School also hosts offerings of certificate training programs licensed from the American Pharmacists Association on immunizations, mediation therapy management services, and management of diabetes that are taught by the School’s faculty. The School offers internally developed CE activities but also works with outside organizations to serve as an approved provider of CE activities.

One area highlighted by ACPE in extending the program’s accreditation is the involvement of School of Pharmacy faculty. “Our program’s greatest asset is our faculty,” says Noel. “Our program is well recognized externally by the quality and broad expertise of our faculty who often serve as educators in our activities.”

The CE program’s future plans include increasing the use of technology to make operations more efficient and to broaden the program’s reach. “We are exploring platforms for webinars and recorded home study activities to allow pharmacists and technicians throughout the region to access educational programming in ways that are convenient for them,” says Noel. “In addition to providing programming to our own practitioners and alumni, we are reaching out to local employers and professional associations to provide onsite programming and co-sponsored educational sessions.”

For organizations wishing to have the School of Pharmacy serve as their CE provider, it offers access to state-of-the-art resources on both its Baltimore and Shady Grove campuses and expertise in educational activity development. It assists in all areas of developing an education session, including promotion, registration, event planning, and processing of CE credits.

“The staff and faculty in our CE program have worked hard and demonstrated they can simultaneously expand CE program quality and quantity,” says Richard Dalby, PhD, associate dean in the Office of Academic Affairs, which is responsible for the CE program. “They have worked tirelessly to make a diverse range of CE offerings available to in and out of state pharmacists, while adhering to the accreditation guidelines. The expansion of our CE program offerings in the past few years clearly shows the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy is a great place for organizations to have a program accredited or for a pharmacist to earn CE credits.”

For more information on current CE activities available or to make arrangements for a CE activity, visit http://www.pharmacy.umaryland.edu/ce/.