Translating research into a relevant education activity to fulfil pharmacists' continuing professional development requirements

Abstract

Background: In New Zealand (NZ), provision of culturally safe care by pharmacists is mandated, including an expectation of understanding issues relevant to Māori, the Indigenous people of NZ, yet there are few pharmacy-specific resources to support attainment. Objectives: To: i) test whether a research-informed education activity (short video summarising research findings plus reflective exercises) meets NZ pharmacists' annual continuing professional development requirements including those relating to culturally safe care ii) identify suggested improvements to the education activity; and iii) identify individual pharmacists' proposed actions in response to reflection prompted by the education activity. Methods: Previous research was utilised to develop an education activity (short, animated research summary video and reflective questions). Participants (NZ-registered pharmacists or intern pharmacists) were asked to watch the video and respond to questions online related to perceived relevance and usefulness of the video to informing practice and meeting CPD requirements. Simple descriptive analysis (quantitative data) and general inductive thematic analysis (qualitative data) were applied to the research data. Results: Thirty-three people participated from Nov-Dec 2022. Most participants said the video was relevant/very relevant to practice (91%), that the reflective exercise was very or extremely useful (100%) and that it met their CPD requirements as relevant to cultural safety (100%). Conclusion: The education activity appeared to be an appropriate and relevant for CPD and was seen to be concise and exposed ideas in a logical and succinct manner with the potential to benefit the populations receiving care from these providers.

Keywords

• Culturally safe practice
• Continuing professional development
• Indigenous health