OCP announces changes to registration and more for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians

Registration and quality assurance processes for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be changing this fall, the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) has announced. They will come into place on October 1 and include the following shifts: Pharmacy studentsWhen the changes happen, pharmacy students will no longer be required to register with the OCP. They won’t be listed on the public register or have a certificate of registration as a student. The college will also not ask them to have personal professional liability insurance, though employers or schools may require it. They will continue to be required to register as pharmacy interns after graduating. Pharmacy was the only healthcare group in Ontario where students registered with a regulatory body, the OCP pointed out. It said the changes would “reduce the regulatory and administrative burden for students.” In addition, before submitting an application to be registered as a pharmacist, people must show that their education is current. That includes having language proficiency, the Jurisprudence, Ethics and Professionalism exam and a practice-based assessment within two years of submitting the application. In addition, either the education requirements or the PEBC Qualifying Examination must have been completed within two years. (The PEBC Qualifying Examination is mandatory either way, but the timing isn’t if the education is recent.) Pharmacy techniciansThere will be a new two-part register for pharmacy technicians, one for those who provide patient care (Part A) and another for those who don’t (Part B). These mirror the current Part A and Part B categories for pharmacists. Pharmacy technician graduates will need to register in a new intern technician class before they complete their entry-to-practice requirements. One requirement for this is that they have technician-level personal professional liability coverage. Part A pharmacy technicians will be required to participate in the OCP’s Quality Assurance Program, and they will have risk-based selection criteria for their practice assessments. The change will also remove the need for these technicians to practice 600 hours within three years. Instead, they’ll be required to declare that they have maintained competence to practice every year, and some will be selected to do an assessment of competence. Like pharmacists, pharmacy technicians will now also be required to show that their education is current, with the same two-year requirements, before submitting an application to be registered as a pharmacy technician.

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