Pharmacists' practices and challenges regarding Continuing Professional Development in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

Introduction: The study aimed to assess the extent to which pharmacists in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, voluntarily participated in recording their CPD activities on the CPD online recording system of the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC), and to identify associated challenges. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive study was conducted. Data were collected using Survey Monkey from 578 registered pharmacists over a four month period. Responses were exported to Microsoft Excel and analysed using SPSS version 25. Results: The response rate was 25.4%. Most pharmacists (87%) agreed that CPD was necessary. While 64% participated in CPD activities, only 24.8% recorded these activities voluntarily. Challenges faced with participating in recording activities included recording of CPDs is currently not mandatory (27.3%), lack of information (27.3%), lack of interest (27.3%), time constraints (39.1%) and system/programme issues (26.1%) were also cited as reasons for not recording CPD activities. Conclusion: Improving the ease of accessing the SAPC system (83.7%) was suggested as a way to improve participation in CPD activities and subsequent recording online.