A Model for Continuing Pharmacy Education

Objective

To develop and implement a continuing pharmacy education (CPE) program at Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO)

Design

To address the continuing education needs of its diverse pharmacy staff, an internal continuing pharmacy education (CPE) program was developed. The pharmacy department became an accredited provider by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Live, interactive, and evidence-based CPE programs, presented by highly qualified internal staff members, utilized videoconferencing and a Web-based learning management system. Cross-accreditation of medical and pharmacy educational programs was offered to KPCO staff members.

Assessment

Annual needs assessments were conducted to ensure the provision of relevant educational topics and to assess learning needs. To demonstrate outcomes of the CPE programs, 2 methods were utilized: objective effectiveness assessment and knowledge acquisition assessment. This program met the objectives for CPE activities a large majority of the time (usually over 90%), demonstrated statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement in knowledge from before to after the CPE activity in 11 of 13 questions asked, and minimized the cost to acquire CPE credit for both the pharmacy department and its staff members.

Conclusion

The KPCO continuing pharmacy education program has developed a high quality and cost-favorable system that has resulted in significant improvements in attendee knowledge.