With the evolution of time, the new scientific discoveries and the technological progress to which all professions are led to adapt, it has become essential, today, for all professionals including pharmacists to continue to update their knowledge on a regular basis and especially to acquire new knowledge. All this is of course possible thanks to continuing education.
A Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program was set up in 2006 to enable all pharmacists, regardless of their profession, to maintain and update their knowledge and skills and improve their practices.
Each self-employed pharmacist chooses the training courses for which he or she may enroll, and for salaried pharmacists, this choice is made in conjunction with the employer.
The FIF-PL covers the costs of training for pharmacists in their profession.
That of employees, assistant pharmacists and dispensing technicians is covered by the OPCA-PL
As a pharmacist and pharmacy professional, you have a wide choice of training courses available to you in relation to your profession, language training and others.
In addition to CPD, there is also your professional training account (CPF) which allows you, as an active professional, whatever your status, to acquire hours to follow a training course at your initiative and according to your choice.
Training can be taken outside of working hours, in which case employees do not need the employer's agreement, or during working hours, but this would require prior agreement, as in this case the hours of training that take place during working hours constitute actual working time and give rise to the maintenance of the employee's pay by the employer.
According to the National Collective Agreement for the pharmacy industry: "The educational costs as well as the related costs (transportation, meals and accommodation) of training courses taken outside of working hours or in whole or in part during working hours are paid for either by the OPCA for the liberal professions (Actalians), in accordance with the rules governing the conditions of its intervention, or by the employer, in pharmacies with at least 10 employees, when the latter has concluded a company agreement based on Article L. 6331-10 of the Labor Code.
Why mention the CPF? Because the profession of pharmacist has evolved a lot over the last decade and new technologies have become indispensable for this profession in order to facilitate the management of products, the flow and to optimize time.
From computer software, LGOs, pharmacy robots, ordering platforms or online sales for some pharmacies with all that this entails in terms of managing deliveries or Click and Collect, IT is everywhere and you have to know how to use it to your advantage. This is why training outside of the medical field can also be useful to a pharmacist, especially knowing that he or she can easily benefit from it.
With all the current environmental and economic issues, training courses to optimize expenses and make one's activity more eco-responsible also exist.
A pharmacist can therefore continue to train, learn and improve whenever he wants and on as many topics as he wants.