CPE Requirements for Pharmacy Professionals
If you are a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, you know that you need to complete specific Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) credits for your licensure renewal, but did you know this wasn’t always the case? From 1972-1974, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and American Pharmacists Association (APhA) convened the Task Force on Continuing Competence in Pharmacy to determine the most efficient method to assure pharmacists’ competency throughout their careers. They recommended that requiring CPE would be the best method for pharmacists to stay proficient in their roles to protect public health. Continuing education for pharmacists was available before this task force convened, and in some states, it was already a requirement, but there was no national oversight of CPE providers.
After the task force concluded in 1974, 2 major developments happened leading to CPE eventually becoming a requirement in all states. NABP passed a resolution supporting mandatory continuing education for license renewal, and APhA tapped Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), which was called American Council on Pharmaceutical Education at the time, to develop a system of accredited CPE providers. In 1975, ACPE released its accreditation standards for CPE providers.
Current CPE Landscape
CPE continues to be an important part of overall education and professional development for pharmacy personnel. All state boards of pharmacy have varying continuing education requirements for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, but they all require specified hours of CPE study. These can include both in-person trainings, live webinars, or home studies. ACPE defines 3 types of CPE activities:
1. Knowledge-based CPE Activity
Each CPE activity in this category must be structured to transmit knowledge (ie, facts) that are based on evidence as accepted in the literature of health care professions.
2. Application-based CPE Activity
CPE activities in this category are structured to apply the information learned in the time allotted. These activities emphasize the transmission of knowledge (ie, facts, content) and assessing the learner’s ability to meet the learning objectives.
3. Certificate Programs
Certificate programs are constructed with didactic and practice experience components to instill, expand, or enhance practice competencies through the systematic achievement of specified knowledge, skills, attitudes, and performance behaviors.
Most boards require a specific number of hours of certain types of content, identified by topic designators. ACPE defines these topic designations into 9 categories:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| 01 Disease State Management/Drug therapy | Activities that address drugs, drug therapy, and/or disease states. |
| 02 HIV/AIDS | Activities that address therapeutic, social, ethical, or psychological issues related to the understanding and treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS. |
| 03 Law Related to Pharmacy Practice | Activities that address federal, state, or local laws and/or regulations affecting the practice of pharmacy. |
| 04 Pharmacy Administration | Activities that address topics relevant to the practice of pharmacy that include the economic, social, administrative, and managerial aspects of pharmacy practice and health care. |
| 05 Patient Safety | Activities that address topics relevant to the prevention of health care errors and the elimination or mitigation of patient injury caused by health care errors. |
| 06 Immunizations | Activities related to the provision of immunizations, ie, recommend immunization schedules, administration procedures, proper storage and disposal, and record keeping. This also includes review for appropriateness or contraindication and identifying and reporting adverse drug events and providing necessary first aid. |
| 07 Compounding | Activities related to sterile, nonsterile, and hazardous drug compounding for humans and animals. This includes best practices and USP quality assurance standards, environmental testing and control, record keeping, error detection and reporting, and continuous quality improvement processes. |
| 08 Pain Management | Activities that address any component regarding the treatment and management of pain, including the prescribing, distribution, and use of opioid medications, and/or the risks, symptoms, and treatment of opioid misuse/addiction. |
| 99 Additional Topic Areas | Activities related to topics relevant to the practice of pharmacy not included in the classifications of the previous topic designators. |
CPE has been proven effective in helping pharmacy personnel gain the knowledge they need to protect patients, especially as the health care landscape changes and adapts to new technologies and new patient needs.
NABP Helps Pharmacists Meet CPE Requirements
NABP provides activities and tools to help pharmacists meet their continuing education requirements. We offer live and home study webinars featuring today’s leading pharmacy experts in many of the topic designations listed above, including free and paid options. Because of our strong relationship with the boards of pharmacy, our team makes sure that our offerings are up to date with current CPE requirements. We often partner with organizations like US Pharmacopeia (USP) and Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) to provide information on current topics affecting the regulation of pharmacy. There are currently over 20 home study webinars to choose from on our website.
In addition to hosting our own webinars, we promote CPE activities offered by other organizations like US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Sign up for our weekly email newsletter and NABP webinar updates, and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X to get the latest updates about CPE activities.
Manage Your Licensure Requirements With CPE Monitor
Alongside offering CPE activities, our CPE tracking tool, CPE Monitor, helps pharmacy personnel organize and track their CPE requirements with ease.
CPE Monitor is the only app that aggregates data from more than 325 ACPE-accredited providers into one convenient digital platform. Working closely with the boards of pharmacy, our team continually tracks the CPE requirements for all states to ensure that CPE Monitor is equipped with the most up-to-date information. The platform is easy to use on desktop and mobile, making it simple for you to track your progress towards meeting your CPE requirements.
Upgrade to the Plus Plan
For only $12 per year, pharmacists can upgrade their CPE Monitor subscription to the Plus plan to help keep track of their licensure requirements. By upgrading to the Plus plan, you can access enhanced features and easily manage CPE requirements no matter how many licenses you have now or may add in the future. The Plus plan offers many benefits, including a breakdown of renewal requirements for all 50 states, CPE cycle deadline alerts, the ability to upload non-ACPE CPE credits, and more. Upgrade to the Plus plan today to get the most out of your CPE Monitor experience.
