A bit more than 15 years ago, I was involved in a national project to look at the use of continuing education (CE) versus continuing professional development (CPD) for US pharmacists. For this discussion the difference was that continuing education was directed by others and continuing professional development was directed by the learner. Also, instead of tracking hours attended, learners maintained a portfolio that included both formal and information learning. Here is an image of continuing professional development by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE, 2014).
Today I checked back on the association that oversees continuing education for pharmacists. There is a new set of resources listed, dated March 2, 2021. This list provides information about CPD use outside of the US. This blog about pharmacists in Ontario reports the results of a study by Austin et. al. (2003), "the results show 86% of pharmacists were able to self-direct their learning versus 14% requiring guidance."
As someone who served as a continuing education director for many years and who had to enforce time in the seat at continuing education events, a butt in a seat has little value. To me formal learning - through participation in a synchronous event, doesn't seem necessary. While we can make someone attend a synchronous program to get credit and maintain their license. We can't make them pay attention.
Through our readings we have read about the self-directed nature of professional learning. This made me consider the title of professional development versus professional learning. Perhaps the movement should not be from cotinuing education to continuing professional development. It should be to continuing professional learning.
A quick literature search focused on CPD suggests development is the dominate word. This makes me think that CPL would likely have a long journey of its own.
What do you think, do you want health care providers to completed continuing education, continuing professional development, or continuing professsional learning?
Austin Z, Croteau D, Marini A, Violato C. Continuous Professional Development: The Ontario Experience in Professional Self-Regulation through Quality Assurance and Peer Review. Amer J Phar Educ (2003); 67 (2): Article 56. http://ajpe.org/aj6702/aj670256/aj670256.pdf
I remember reading this on my phone, but didn't have the time to respond then. I absolutely agree that it should be CPD. In fact, I'm thinking of using that language instead of CEUs on a project, although CEUs is what most are familiar with. Professional development implies that they already have the education and are developing beyond that foundation, maintaining currency in the field, etc.
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