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Annual Registration and Pharmacy Licence Renewals

The deadline to renew your registration or pharmacy license is November 30, 2024. Late renewals will be charged an additional fee; for more information, please refer to the 2025 Schedule of Fees.

Renewals are not complete until full payment has been received. If paying by cheque, the cheque must be received by November 30, 2024. Due to the Canada Post strike, those paying by cheque may wish to make alternative delivery arrangements to ensure payment is received by the deadline. Please note, if using a courier, staff will not be available to accept the delivery after 4:30 pm on Friday, November 29, 2024.

 

The online renewal process can be saved after each step and you can return for completion later. For security purposes, the system will automatically log out of your account after 30 minutes of inactivity. Please note, you must click the Save or Save & Continue buttons every 30 minutes to ensure your progress is successfully saved.

Once you have completed the online renewal process, you can print your receipt by clicking the Invoices & Receipts link in the side menu and clicking the Review button next to the appropriate invoice. The updated registration and pharmacy licence certificates will be available for download on January 1, 2025.

 

Registration Renewal: To renew your pharmacist or pharmacy technician registration, log on to the Registrant Portal and select the Registration Renewal option in the side menu.

Prepare for renewals by reviewing the Before You Renew Your Registration section.

Please refer to the Registrant Portal User Guide – Renewing Your Registration for instructions on renewing your registration in the online Registrant Portal.

 

BEFORE YOU RENEW YOUR REGISTRATION

  • Pay all outstanding invoices.
  • Document your required 15 CEUs in the online Registrant Portal.
  • Confirm you have worked a minimum of 420 practice hours in the past two calendar years.
  • Save a digital copy of all required documentation, including your professional liability insurance policy certificate and first aid & CPR certification (if applicable)

 

Documenting Learning Activities

All registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are required to complete 15 CEUs between December 1, 2023 and November 30, 2024 to be eligible to renew their annual registration for 2025. A minimum of 7.5 CEUs must be accredited and the remaining may be either accredited or self-assigned.

For additional information on professional development requirements, please refer to the following:

All documentation for each learning activity must be entered in the online Registrant Portal prior to renewing your registration. Once submitted, the records will no longer be able to be edited.

Please refer to the Registrant Portal User Guide – Adding Professional Development Activities for instructions and tips on entering professional development in the online Registrant Portal.

 

Required Documents

Professional Liability Insurance

All registered pharmacy professionals are required to maintain professional liability insurance (PLI) in a form and amount satisfactory to CPNL and to ensure a current copy of their professional liability insurance is uploaded to the Registrant Portal within 30 days of the policy renewal or start date.

For more information, please refer to the Professional Liability Insurance Requirements for Registration Interpretation Guide.

As part of the online renewal process, you must review your insurance documentation to ensure it is current. Please check the PLI certificate on file to confirm it is accurate and up to date. If your policy has expired, you are required to update both the policy details and the certificate on file.

Please refer to the Registrant Portal User Guide – Adding & Updating Professional Liability Insurance for instructions and tips on entering professional liability insurance in the online Registrant Portal.

 

First Aid & CPR Certification

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who are authorized to administer drug therapy by inhalation or injection must upload proof of current first aid and CPR certification.

 

Pharmacy Licence Renewal: To renew the pharmacy licence, pharmacists-in-charge must log on to the Pharmacy Portal and select the Licence Applications & Renewal option in the side menu. Please note that pharmacists-in-charge must log into the Pharmacy Portal using the same login credentials as they use to access the Registrant Portal.

Prepare for renewals by reviewing the Before You Renew The Pharmacy Licence section.

For instructions on renewing the pharmacy licence in the NLPB online Pharmacy Portal, please refer to the NLPB Pharmacy Portal User Guide – Renewing the Pharmacy Licence.

 

BEFORE YOU RENEW THE PHARMACY LICENCE

  • Pharmacists in charge must renew their personal registration before renewing the pharmacy licence.
  • Confirm the method of payment with the owner to ensure sufficient time is allotted to receive the payment from the owner and send it to CPNL prior to the renewal deadline.
  • Information you will need to renew the pharmacy licence:

 

 

MedSTEP NL Implementation Deadline

The full implementation deadline for MedSTEP NL was July 1, 2024. As of that date, all community pharmacies were expected to actively participate in continuous quality improvement and report medication incidents and near-misses to the National Institute Data Repository (NIDR).

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) refers to the structured processes used within the pharmacy, which allows for continual review and improvement of all aspects of the medication dispensing process, to improve patient safety. CQI meetings are an opportunity to educate on medication safety and encourage open dialogue with all pharmacy team members to foster a culture of safety and a team-based approach to CQI and medication incident reporting (MIR). CQI meetings are a mandatory requirement of MedSTEP NL.

At this time, CPNL would like to remind pharmacy professionals that as per the CQI and MIR implementation plan for community pharmacies, within six months (that is, by December 31, 2024) of MedSTEP NL program implementation, the pharmacist-in-charge or CQI coordinator of a community pharmacy should hold and document a formal CQI meeting. Details regarding what these meetings should entail can be found at MedSTEP NL – Continuous Quality Improvement.

 

 

Pharmacy Technician Bridging Program Policy

In the Summer 2024 issue of The Apothecary and August 2024 issue of The PostScript, CPNL communicated that the board of directors had given direction to develop a policy to allow for and guide the approval of pharmacy technician bridging education programs to meet the education requirements for being registered as a pharmacy technician.

This policy was prepared and approved by the board at their September 27, 2024 meeting. Subsequent to this approval, Eastern College was considered and approved as acceptable under the policy.

Please visit the Register as a Pharmacy Technician page of our website for more information.

 

 

Expedited Pathway to Registration as  Pharmacist Approved for International Applicants in Certain Countries

The current Canadian health workforce shortage has given regulators reason to consider the balance of the risks to safety and quality of care resulting from the shortage against their obligation to ensure that they register qualified health professionals.

Under the authority granted in the Pharmacy Act, 2024, CPNL may waive certain initial registration requirements in the public interest. In considering the situations where it would do so, the board of CPNL recognized work that had already been conducted by the Nova Scotia College of Pharmacists (NSCP) and approved revisions to the CPNL Registration Policy – Registration as a Pharmacist (IEP) to allow for an expedited pathway to registration for those international applicants who are currently registered and practicing pharmacy in an approved jurisdiction. These jurisdictions currently include Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States of America.

Please visit the Register as a Pharmacist page of our website for more information.

 

IAC Seeking Applications for Public Representatives for NLPB Board and Disciplinary Panel

If you are aware of any person who would be interested in either of the positions listed below, we encourage you to share this information.

The Independent Appointments Commission is seeking interested public members to serve as public representatives with the College of Pharmacy of Newfoundland and Labrador (formerly, Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board) on its Disciplinary Panel and Board of Directors.

These positions cannot be held by pharmacists or pharmacy technicians but rather by individuals with diverse backgrounds and skill sets who can bring patient and other perspectives. These skill sets and areas of experience include but are not limited to governance, human rights, legal expertise, ethics, conflict resolution, business or public administration, human resources, finance, or human resources.

For more information regarding the three vacant positions on the Disciplinary Panel, visit https://www.exec-abc.gov.nl.ca/public/agency/detail/?id=635

For more information regarding the vacant position on the Board of Directors, visit https://www.exec-abc.gov.nl.ca/public/agency/detail/?id=636

 

 

 

 

Regular reminders

  • Scheduling Appointments with Staff – CPNL staff are here to assist and support you. If you wish to meet with a staff member in person, please call to schedule an appointment before visiting our office. Having details regarding your inquiry will help us appropriately prioritize and prepare to answer your question if we need to collect additional information before calling you back or meeting with you. If you are unable to reach the staff person by phone, please leave a detailed message. Voicemails are regularly checked, and staff members get email alerts when a message is left on their phone line.
  • Registrant Contact Information – Registrants are responsible for ensuring that the contact information on their registrant profile, including email address and practice site, is accurate at all times. CPNL primarily uses email communication to send newsletters, renewal reminders, practice site assessment information, professional development audit information, calls for interest for committees, and other alerts. If the email address on file is incorrect, important information may be missed and/or disclosed to the wrong person. If your contact information changes, please update your information on file by logging into the Registrant Portal.

This e-newsletter contains information on a wide variety of topics intended to enhance the practice of pharmacy in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As it is published and circulated to all registrants on a monthly basis, it is the expectation of CPNL that all registrants are aware of the matters contained therein.

©2024 Newfoundland & Labrador Pharmacy Board