- Fall Newsletter Now Available
- Continuing Competency Matters
- Reminder: Off-Site Vaccine Notices
- Consultation on Changes to the Joint Practice Direction: Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions Reminder
- Professional Development Opportunities & Upcoming Events
Fall Newsletter Now Available
Discover the latest insights and developments with the release of the Fall 2025 Newsletter from the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba (CPhM).
This edition highlights a Safety IQ feature about understanding the role of Safety Self-Assessment in pharmacy practice and a feature article on the CPhM’s transition under The Regulated Health Professions Act and introduction webinar for the Regulatory Reform Project. Click here to read: https://cphm.ca/newsletter/fall-2025-newsletter/
To stay informed on vital pharmacy topics, read the latest issue of the CPhM Newsletter. We value your input and welcome any feedback or inquiries. Please direct your comments to Communications at communications@cphm.ca.
Continuing Competency Matters
As addressed in earlier Continuing Competency Matters, the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba (CPhM) has a regulatory requirement to have “a continuing competency program in place to maintain the competence of the members and to enhance the practice of the regulated health profession” (RHPA). [(1)]
There are two components of this requirement in the Continuing Competency Program (CCP):
- To maintain the competence of pharmacists; and
- To enhance the practice of pharmacists.
Historically, both components were addressed through Continuing Education (CE) requirements based on the idea that if health professionals maintained their competence, they would incorporate changes into their practice. This would, therefore, enhance the practice of the regulated health profession.
However, developments in the conception of ‘competence’ and ‘performance’ have led to competence being associated with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities of individual practitioners, while performance encompasses both practitioner competence and the impact of the practice environment, health-care system, payment structures etc [(i)]. This understanding recognizes the many factors that affect a competent practitioner’s ability to practice to their full capability.
With this perspective, maintaining competence has become associated with an individual practitioner’s maintenance of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for practice. Enhancing practice has become associated with Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), which considers both the individual practitioner’s competence and the system within which they practice.
Quality indicators are the basis for CQI, measuring both the outcomes of quality health care (e.g. health outcomes, patient-reported experiences, and practitioner well-being) and the processes of quality health care (e.g. care that is effective, safe, person-centred, accessible, and equitable).
As discussed in previous Continuing Competency Matters (Friday Five Sept 12, 2025), (Friday Five Oct 24, 2025), best practices in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) align with CQI by having practitioners use their performance on quality indicators to identify areas for improvement, analyze strategies for change, and measure the impact of improvement initiatives. As also discussed, in other health professions, practitioners have routine access to their performance on quality indicators as measured by health quality organizations, regulatory authorities and/or health authorities.
However, in pharmacy, performance information on quality outcome and process indicators is not available from similar organizations. As a result, CPD has not yet evolved to best practices and CQI has been isolated to focus on the single health quality process indicator of medication safety via medication incident management. In fact, within pharmacy, the term CQI has become synonymous with medication incident management.
New pharmacy quality indicators are being developed and validated, however, like the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professional’s Patient-reported-experience Measures (PREM) for community pharmacy, and peer/non-pharmacy colleague feedback for hospital pharmacists. Ontario and Quebec have evaluated the use of administrative health data, including records of dispensing and pharmacist professional services provision, to create and report performance on selected community pharmacy quality measures [(ii, iii, iv)].
Expanding this work to Manitoba would allow the integration of these quality measures and pharmacy CQI programs, aligning with the broader CQI programs in other health professions. Doing so would emphasize that quality in pharmacists’ practice goes beyond medication incident management.
Integrating additional quality measures with medication safety measures would also clarify the relationships among CPD, Continuing Competence (CC), CQI, and medication incident management, with the goal of minimizing duplication of regulatory expectations and maximizing value for practicing pharmacists.
Applying best practice principles of audit and feedback across quality indicators within the CQI program would include coaching to help pharmacists interpret performance feedback, analyze errors, and develop strategies for improvement.
Practising pharmacists provided their perspectives and feedback on the CCP revisions being considered by CPhM at a Focus Group on October 28th. Their insights are invaluable and have been incorporated into ongoing discussions by CPhM. Many thanks to those practising pharmacists who contributed via the Focus Group.
1. Current regulations include requirement for specific number of hours of CEU. The new legislation does not have this requirement. i. Rethans JJ, Norcini JJ, Baron-Maldonado M et al. The relationship between competence and performance: implications for assessing practice performance. Med Educ 2002;36(10):901-9. i.i Winslade N, Taylor L, Shi S et al. Monitoring community pharmacist’s quality of care: a feasibility study of using pharmacy claims data to assess performance. BMC Health Services Research 2011;11(12) (Winslade et al 2011) iii. Winslade N, Eguale T, Tamblyn R. Optimising the changing role of the community pharmacist: a randomized trial of the impact of audit and feedback. BMJ Open 2016;6:3010865 (Winslade et al 2016). iv. Torabi A, Chu C, Aziz Y et al. Evaluating regional and temporal variations in quality indicators for opioid initiation and pharmacy medication reviews in Ontario: A population-based repeated cross-sectional study. Can Pharm J 2025;158(5):294-301 (Torabi et al 2025).
Reminder: Off-Site Vaccine Notices
The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba (CPhM) has received several notices from pharmacies about providing off-site vaccination clinics for flu and COVID-19. Please note that these notices do not need to be sent to CPhM.
Pharmacists administering vaccines at off-site vaccination clinics must be authorized to administer drugs by injection, comply with the Practice Direction-Administration of Drugs Including Vaccines and follow any additional requirements from Manitoba Health.
Please refer to Manitoba Health’s Influenza and COVID-19 Immunization Program Plan for Health Care Professionals – 2025/26 Season for more information on off-site vaccination clinic requirements: https://www.gov.mb.ca/health/flu/programplan/index.html.
Consultation on Changes to the Joint Practice Direction: Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions Reminder
The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba (CPhM) is currently seeking your feedback on the proposed changes to the Joint Practice Direction: Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions. As part of our commitment to transparency and accountability, CPhM Council has initiated a 30-day consultation period, concluding on December 4, 2025.
To participate, we encourage you to explore the detailed documents and rationale for the proposed changes on the dedicated Consultation webpage.
Take advantage of this opportunity to contribute to the continuous enhancement of pharmacy practices in Manitoba by sharing your feedback and comments via email to feedback@cphm.ca before the December 4, 2025, deadline.
Professional Development Opportunities Upcoming Events
Optimizing Prescription Writing: Essentials and Updates in 30 Minutes
- Click here to access the prerecorded webinar
- 1.0 CEU
Targeting Social Isolation and Loneliness
- To register for the self-paced e-modules and for further information click here.
- 2.0 CEU
Manitoba Immunization Program New Training Module – Immunizing Young Children – Best Practices
- Non-accredited
- Access the training module via Manitoba Health’s Online Training for Pharmacists: Immunizations or under Section 8: Immunization Training of the Manitoba Immunization Program Manual | Health | Province of Manitoba.
- Email PPHTraining@gov.mb.ca if you need assistance with access.