Pharmaciae (SAPC) | Completion of internship and CPD

Completion of internship and CPD

New entrants into the pharmacy profession are introduced to the concept of continuing professional development (CPD) in their internship year. Adherence to CPD guidelines ensures that professionals always keep abreast with new developments in the profession and acquire new skill sets to better serve patients, an important requirement for staying relevant and competent as the profession evolves.

The pre-registration evaluation for pharmacist interns consists of 365 days of practical training under a tutor, an online pre-registration examination, as well as the online submission of a portfolio of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) entries using the online CPD platform and progress reports. Only interns who have successfully completed all pre-registration requirements are released from internship.

The CPD entries are assessed and moderated according to timelines determined by the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) which are available in the Intern and Tutor Manual. As indicated in a previous Pharmaciae article, interns are required to strictly adhere to these deadlines to ensure that their submissions are assessed timeously. The SAPC cannot conduct random assessments as interns and/or tutors miss deadlines and/or interns are found to not yet be competent ahead of their community service start date.

By now, interns registered in January 2018 and before, must have submitted all their progress reports – all of which must have been favourable, passed the pre-registration examination, submitted at least eight CPD entries and be found competent in at least six of them if they intend starting their Community Service in January 2019. CPD entries submitted after the October 2018 deadline will be assessed and moderated at the end of January 2019 and the results will be released in February 2019.

Interns with outstanding CPD entries and/or who have not been successful in the pre-registration examination must extend their internship with their current employer or seek internship with another employer in order to get guidance from a tutor to assist them in successfully completing their internship in line with the SAPC’s timetable for examinations and CPD entry submissions.