Professionalism and Professional Standards for Pharmacy Professionals

About this course

Professionalism in pharmacy is visible in hundreds of daily actions: the way a pharmacy professional greets a patient, checks a prescription under pressure, supervises the team, responds to an error, runs the pharmacy as responsible pharmacist, and behaves online. The General Pharmaceutical Council's Standards for pharmacy professionals describe these expectations, and its standards for registered pharmacies and inspection programme set expectations for the pharmacy as a whole.

This course explains what professionalism means for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, the GPhC's role, registration, revalidation and indemnity, the core principles of professional practice, how the nine standards shape daily behaviour, the professional roles of responsible and superintendent pharmacists, registered pharmacy standards and inspections, leadership and delegation, speaking up, boundaries and online conduct, and what happens when standards are breached.

CPD Value and How to Record It:

This course is designed to provide approximately 2 hours of learning, including reading, the reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. In the UK, CPD is generally recorded as the time actually spent learning, so you should record the time you genuinely spend, which may be more or less than the estimate.

How the course fits your revalidation or CPD requirements depends on your regulator. For example, the NMC asks nurses, midwives and nursing associates to record 35 hours of CPD over three years, of which at least 20 must be participatory; self-directed online learning such as this course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others. The GMC expects doctors to reflect on CPD for appraisal and revalidation rather than setting a fixed number of hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and GCC each set their own CPD requirements, so check the current rules that apply to you. Always keep your certificate together with your written reflection.

What you will learn

• Define professionalism in pharmacy and explain why it matters.
• Describe the GPhC's role, registration, revalidation and indemnity requirements.
• Apply the core principles of professionalism in daily practice.
• Explain the responsibilities of responsible and superintendent pharmacists.
• Describe the standards for registered pharmacies and how inspections work.
• Lead, delegate, speak up and maintain boundaries, including online.
• Respond to breaches with insight and evidenced remediation.

Who this course is for

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in community, hospital, primary care, online and non-patient-facing roles, including responsible and superintendent pharmacists and those responding to a concern.

Course content

8 sections · 2 CPD hours · 15 MCQs

Course facts

CPD value

Approximately 2 CPD hours (estimated learning time, including reflection and assessment); suitable as a CPD record for GPhC revalidation

Format

Self-paced reading with pharmacy workplace cases, reflection points and a written reflective account

Standards covered

GPhC Standards for pharmacy professionals; Standards for registered pharmacies and inspection; revalidation; Responsible Pharmacist Regulations; GPhC guidance on raising concerns and social media; fitness to practise

Assessment

15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions; pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%)

Questions about this course