| Holiday Office Hours |
| The College of Pharmacy of Newfoundland and Labrador office will be closed from Tuesday, December 24, 2024, to Wednesday, January 1, 2025, for the holiday season. Regular office hours will resume on Thursday, January 2, 2025. |
2025 Registration and Pharmacy License Certificates
Registered pharmacy professionals who have completed the 2025 renewal can now download their updated registration certificate by logging into the CPNL Registrant Portal, clicking the Certificate of Registration link in the side menu, and clicking the Download/Print Certificate button next to the appropriate registration.
Pharmacists-in-charge who have renewed their pharmacy for 2025 can now download their updated pharmacy license by logging into the CPNL Pharmacy Portal, clicking the Certificates link in the side menu, and clicking the Download Certificate button.
Checking Pharmacy Staff 2025 Renewal Status
Pharmacists-in-charge (PICs) are responsible for ensuring that all regulated pharmacy staff are registered with the College of Pharmacy of Newfoundland and Labrador (CPNL) before working in the pharmacy in 2025.
PICs can check the renewal status of regulated staff members by visiting CPNL’s Public Register and checking the staff member’s Registration Expiry Date. Registered pharmacy professionals who have successfully renewed their registration for 2025 will have an expiry date of December 31, 2025.
Updated Professional Development Requirements
In September, the board of directors approved an updated interpretation guide detailing changes to the professional development requirements which will be implemented for the upcoming professional development cycle. This follows several months of background research including literature searches, a jurisdictional scan obtaining information regarding continuing competence requirements from other healthcare regulators, and a survey that was distributed to pharmacy professionals in May 2024 to obtain feedback on professional development requirements.
Key changes made during this revision include:
| Decreasing the minimum number of hours of accredited learning from 7.5 to 5
While the jurisdictional scan showed little consistency across provinces in this area and survey respondents were divided on this issue, it was noted that reducing the minimum number of hours of accredited learning would allow pharmacy professionals in non-traditional roles to utilize more activities that are better aligned with their learning needs toward their professional development requirement and does not disadvantage those who wish to continue to utilize accredited learning. |
| Changes to learning portfolio documentation
Both the jurisdictional scan and survey results supported eliminating several fields that do not provide value and relabeling other fields to be more explanatory. This includes eliminating the requirement to document learning objectives and take-home messages. Pharmacy professionals will instead be asked to provide a very brief description of how the learning activity will benefit the practice of the pharmacist or pharmacy technician. |
| Elimination of qualitative audit
Previous professional development requirements stated that a percentage of registered pharmacy professionals would be subject to a qualitative audit each year. This audit involved the Professional Development Review Committee examining the documentation of those registrants selected for audit to assess the completeness and quality of the documentation. Both the jurisdictional scan and the survey results supported eliminating this form of audit. As a result, future professional development audits will be conducted by CPNL staff and be administrative in nature with the goal of ensuring that minimum requirements are met and that information recorded on the learning record is consistent with supporting documents. |
The updated Interpretation Guide – Professional Development Requirements is now available on the CPNL website. However, in order to implement these changes on the CPNL Registrant Portal, a black-out period will be in place until the end of January. Registered pharmacy professionals will be notified when this black-out period is lifted, and they are able to access the learning portfolio section of the portal.
Updated Leave and Reinstatement Requirements
The new Pharmacy Act, 2024 extends the period that previously registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians may be unregistered before they must complete additional requirements if they later seek reinstatement of their registration.
During the reinstatement process, applicants will be required to declare that, during the previous three years, they were engaged in the practice of pharmacy (as defined in the Pharmacy Act, 2024) to the extent necessary to maintain competence in any practice areas in which they may participate. This practice experience may have occurred in either Newfoundland and Labrador or another Canadian jurisdiction.
If the applicant is unable to make that declaration – that is, they did not engage in the practice of pharmacy in the previous three years at all or did practice, but not to the extent necessary to maintain competence – they will be required to meet additional requirements before being permitted to reinstate their registration. These include:
- registering as an Intern; then successfully completing one month of supervised practical training for each year or part year that they have been out of practice, to a maximum of eight months; and
- successfully writing the CPNL Registration Examination.
If it has been more than six years since they have engaged in the practice of pharmacy in NL or another Canadian jurisdiction, they will also be required to complete both parts (MCQ and OSCE/OSPE) of the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) Qualifying Exam.
Please see the Leave & Reinstatement page of our website for more information on these changes.
New Registration Classes: Pharmacy Technician Students and Interns
The new Pharmacy Act, 2024 creates new registration categories for pharmacy technician students and pharmacy technician interns. These categories will allow students enrolled in pharmacy technician education programs and recent graduates to register with CPNL and enable them to identify themselves as Pharmacy Technician Students and Pharmacy Technician Interns when interacting with the public and also to practice within the scope of a Pharmacy Technician when under the appropriate supervision of a Pharmacy Technician or Pharmacist.
More information on these categories including associated registration requirements and application processes will be available and communicated early in 2025. Those who are currently “pre-registered” with CPNL will be contacted directly and information will also be posted to the new CPNL website.
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.
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
Opioid Prescribing Program – Atlantic Mentorship Network-NL
The Atlantic Mentorship Network – Newfoundland and Labrador (AMN-NL) is pleased to offer the Effective Prescribing of Opioids for Chronic Pain (EPOCH). Presented by PainBC, the course is evidence-based, free of industry conflicts of interest, and available to physicians, nurse practitioners, and medical residents who prescribe opioids.
PROGRAM GOALS
The Program assists physicians, medical residents, and nurse practitioners in acquiring knowledge and learning new skills in chronic pain management and opioid prescribing. Through engaging discussions and practical activities, EPOCH’s three webinars and capstone workshop ensure that health care providers have the most up-to-date skills to effectively support people who live with pain and are prescribed opioids.
LIVE WEBINAR SERIES (7:00PM-9:00PM NST)
- FEBRUARY 4, 2025: Assessing and Managing Complex Chronic Pain
- MARCH 6, 2025: Prescribing Opioids in Chronic Pain
- APRIL 14, 2025: Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care
This 2 credit-per-hour activity has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for up to 13.5 Mainpro+ Certified Activity credits.
IN-PERSON WORKSHOP (8:30AM-4:30PM NDT)
Saturday, May 24, 2025 – St. John’s
This 3 credit-per-hour activity has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for up to 20.25 Mainpro+ Certified Activity credits.
NOTE: Sessions are NOT recorded. Participants are required to attend all three webinars and the full-day in-person workshop. Those who fail to attend a webinar will not be permitted to proceed in the course.
| Participant’s costs will be as follows
Physicians: $500 Nurse Practitioners/Pharmacists: $250 Residents: $200 24 seats available |
For more information contact shelley.ledrew@nshealth.ca.
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.
- Keeping Contact Information Up to Date –Registered pharmacy professionals 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.
