ICHP Position Statement - Continuing Professional Development

The Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists (ICHP) recognizes pharmacy as a profession. Pharmacists are obligated to maintain their professional competence by keeping their knowledge and skill set current.  With the everchanging world of health care delivery and increasing demands of patients, pharmacists must commit to maintaining professional competence through lifelong learning or continuing professional development”.

According to Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), Continuing Professional Development is a "self-directed, ongoing, systematic and outcomes-focused approach to lifelong learning that is applied into practice.  It involves the process of active participation in formal and informal learning activities that assist in developing and maintaining competence, enhancing professional practice, and supporting achievement of career goals"1

ICHP recognizes that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have an obligation to maintain and enhance their competence through continuing professional development and continuing pharmacy education which can be achieved through a myriad of means. Therefore, ICHP encourages pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to develop and maintain skills necessary in their current roles as well as those that develop over time.

1. Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Guidance on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for the Profession of Pharmacy.  ACPE Board of Directors, January 2015.
https://www.acpe-accredit.org/pdf/CPDGuidance%20ProfessionPharmacyJan2015.pdf
 
Revised by Educational Affairs 10/16/2016; reviewed & approved 2/2019,
 

Reviewed 10/21