The American Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) recently changed some of their standards, which will effect the way we offer our educational programs. The two changes which effect us most are: 1) continuing education (CE) presentations cannot be given while the participants are eating a meal and 2) presentations should have a different set of questions for pharmacists and technicians. To address the first change, WMSHP's Board will be surveying the membership some time in the next couple months to determine the importance of ACPE-accredited CE (Michigan Board of Pharmacy's CE standards have not changed yet), the importance of offering dinner, and reasonable meeting times. To address the second change, the Board decided to accredit our own CE credits for our technician members. Not only will this solve the issue of separate questions, but it will also save the organization some money, as we currently pay $5 per credit hour of ACPE-accredited CE per person.
Speaking of technician CE, did you know that any pharmacist can approve continuing education (CE) credits for Certified Pharmacy Technicians (CPhTs)? The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) will allow CPhTs to obtain up to 10 CE credits per licensure period for participating in inservices and other education activities. To obtain credit, a pharmacist must complete PTCB's Universal Continuing Education form, which can be found at their website, www.ptcb.org (click on "CE Credits" under the "CPhT Services" menu).
It is election season again. WMSHP's board has the following open positions: president-elect, treasurer, board member (4), and technician member. You will be receiving a ballot in the U.S. Mail in the next couple days. Please take the time to fill it out and return it to us. You may return the completed ballot via U.S. Mail, give it to any Board member, or take it to the November meeting. The results will be tallied and announced at the November meeting.
The November meeting will be held on November 8th at the Food Dance Cafe in Kalamazoo. Dennis Parker, Jr., Pharm.D. from Detroit Receiving Hospital will be giving a presentation on the Management of Intracerebral Hemorrhage. Due to space constraints, the meeting will be limited to the first 40 individuals who RSVP. Please be sure to select your dinner preference when you RSVP.
