From our Deputy CEO
Glenys Wilkinson
Deputy CEOWe’ve taken leaps and strides within standard-setting, accreditation and assessment, ensuring our approach remains evidence-based, agile and socially accountable to meet future needs.
APC has continued to deliver, develop and expand our services for assurance of competent and safe practitioners at the point of registration.
Overseas pathway reforms
We’ve seen significant increases in overseas-qualified pharmacists applying to work in Australia. APC was one of many assessing bodies under review this year as Robyn Kruk AO conducted an independent review of overseas health practitioner regulatory settings, recommending key reforms to address urgent health workforce shortages. We welcome these reforms to streamline pathways for internationally trained pharmacists into Australia’s health system. APC has already begun taking steps to act on this as outlined in this report.
Consultations
We’ve been conducting several consultations to develop accreditation standards for Pharmacist Prescriber, Aged Care On-Site Pharmacist, and Medication Management Review education programs. We’ve received significant feedback from various groups that will be contribute to the development of the standards. Our evidence-based accreditation standards ensure that pharmacists undertaking additional training are competent upon completion.
Accreditation
The development of our new accreditation standards for the Dept of Health and Aged care means establishing a new accreditation system. I thank the APC team for working on this on top of a busy accreditation year, to ensure that we can start accepting applications for the Aged Care On-site Pharmacist and Medication Management Review education programs from 1 September 2023. The system will be similar to how we currently accredit education providers delivering pharmacy degree programs or intern training programs.
For the first time an ‘integrated’ program combining the degree and internship was offered in 2023. This is an example of how our education accreditation standards support innovation in pharmacy education and ensure graduates are well prepared for contemporary pharmacy practice.
Intern year assessment tools
We supported intern training program providers to embed the new work workplace-based assessment tools to support intern assessments. The tools support the development of pharmacist competencies for the protection of the public. There has been an impressive up-take of the tools and we grateful for feedback provided on the use of the tools.
Examinations
Under the guidance of our consultant psychometricians, we’ve been working to maintain the integrity of our examinations. We’ve held more face-to-face workshops this year with subject matter experts to review exam questions to ensure fair and robust exams. The team has travelled globally to present their work on an innovation called Pairwise scaling.