Professional recognition, or credentialing, is a quality assured process which recognises a practitioner’s attainment of the required knowledge and skills at a particular level of practice.
Some countries have more developed credentialing system (for example, north America) and this concept, in pharmacy, is gaining credibility among the healthcare community. In medicine, it is a well developed concept, conducted through Royal medical colleges and other medical professional bodies. It is seen as a crucial element of career progression and development.
Crucially, it is a process conducted through professional peer review, and is not connected with a regulatory function. It exists for the purposes of validation of practice by peers, and demonstrates a recognition of practice which has value and merit for the general public and other members of the profession or professional colleagues.
UKCPA has been at the forefront of introducing and developing professional recognition processes in pharmacy in the UK. The UKCPA Critical Care group have developed and tested a model with published results, and now run a Credentialing Day once a year.
Several other specialist pharmacy groups, such as the College of Mental Health Pharmacy and the Faculty of Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacy, have also developed similar models.
For further explanation and details of the concept of professional recognition and how it fits with professional curricula and development frameworks, please see the two papers recently published by the RPS Partners in the Pharmaceutical Journal:
For more information on the Critical Care Credentialing Day, please contact the UKCPA General Manager, Marie Matthews, at mmatthews@ukcpa.com
References:
Facts about professional development in pharmacy
