Pharmacy Technicians on the Road to Regulation Focus on ...

spt Q&A
Deanna Yee, R.Ph., BScPhm, MSc
Registration Advisor
QWhy doesn’t the OCP give us the references to
complete each activity in the SPT program?
The Structured Practical Training (SPT) activities are
designed to standardize the studentship or internship
rotation. The experiential nature of the training is structured
by the activities. By completing the activities in a
pharmacy practice site where you will be providing patient
care, you will have opportunities throughout your
rotation to demonstrate the competencies for which you
will be assessed by your preceptor. Finding information
from appropriate references is a competency itself, and
an activity that you will likely repeat throughout your
pharmacy career.
The fourth entry-to-practice competency developed
by NAPRA (the National Association of <strong>Pharmacy</strong>
Regulatory Authorities), Drug, Therapeutic and Practice
Information, states that “Pharmacists assume responsibility
for accessing, retrieving, evaluating and exchanging
relevant information to ensure safe and effective patient
care.” Three of the elements for this competency that
pharmacists are expected to demonstrate at entry-topractice
are the ability to:
4.2 Identify appropriate sources of relevant information,
using evidence-informed approaches where possible.
4.3 Retrieve information from relevant sources.
4.4 Evaluate scientific information.
Providing references to complete the activities would
not allow you to demonstrate to your preceptor or the
OCP your competency in this area.
QSome of the activities in the program seem so
easy. Why?
The SPT activities are designed to provide opportunities
for you to demonstrate to your preceptor all of the
NAPRA entry-to-practice competencies. The SPT
studentship activities and internship activities are the
same for all students and interns, respectively, regardless
of your place of graduation or previous work experience.
Since knowledge and skills differ among students or interns
based on their education and previous training,
the ease with which they complete an activity will also
differ. For this reason a standardized, comprehensive
competency-based assessment is required. For example,
students and interns who have worked extensively as a
pharmacy assistant or as a pharmacist in another country
may be able to demonstrate some of the competency
elements in the Drug Distribution and Management
Knowledge and Skills competencies earlier in the rotation.
The flexibility of scheduling activities within the
SPT studentship or internship program enables the student
or intern to demonstrate the competencies he/she
is familiar with early in the rotation, while placing greater
focus on the remaining competencies for the rest of the
rotation.
QWhat is the purpose of a reflection in the SPT
activities?
Many of the activities require you to complete a task,
develop a process or manage a situation that is likely
to be new to you. Since it is highly unlikely that you
would master an activity after one attempt, considering
what you did well and what you would change the
next time you are faced with a similar activity allows
you to continuously improve your skills. This ability to
critique yourself to discern your strengths and areas
for improvement will be applicable throughout your
pharmacy career as you engage in self-directed learning.
When asked to complete a reflection for an SPT activity,
your documentation should focus on your strengths
and areas for improvement rather than simply summarizing
what you did.
pharmacyconnection • May/June 2010
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