Various Pharmacy Continuing Education Courses Available
Very often, we tend to think of pharmacy continuing education as it relates to medicine preparation and dispersion, but there are many other related subjects.
Free Courses
This may surprise some people, but there are some pharmacy continuing education courses that you can take online for free. You can study about pharmacy management, interacting with the community, chronic pain management, dealing with Medicare Part D, and even contact lens issues – to name only a few.
As a side note, for those classes you do have to pay for, keep records of the costs associated with them; they are a legitimate business expense and can be deducted from your taxes.
Politically Charged Issues
These days, even a pharmacist can become embroiled in troubles of the day. Some people object to abortion on moral grounds, and thus they feel that the so-called morning after pill – used to abort a pregnancy – is morally wrong. As a pharmacist, you may be called upon to dispense such drugs. Some pharmacy continuing education courses are designed to help you deal with this issue – deciding whether or not to give out the medication, and dealing with the potential law suits should you refuse to sell it.
Finding the Right Program
The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education is an excellent place to turn to in order to find proper pharmacy continuing education programs; their website is acpe.accredit.org. They list each of the states in the country, and what they require in terms of a pharmacist’s mandated education. The council has their Pharmacists’ Learning Assistance Network, which lists all of the programs that can satisfy the pharmacy continuing education requirements. As the requirements vary from state to state, sometimes online courses are enough to fulfil the pharmacy continuing education, and other states – like New York – require you to attend live classes.