McConnell KJ, Delate T, Newlon CL. The sustainability of improvements from continuing professional development in pharmacy practice and learning behaviors. Am J Pharm Educ. 2015;79(3):36.
Using a 3-year posttrial online survey, this study evaluates the long-term sustainability of CPD practices among pharmacists who participated in an unblinded randomized controlled CPD trial. 79% of original study participants completed the survey. To a greater degree than the control group, pharmacists from the original CPD intervention group reported confidence in the perception of their ability to identify learning needs and utilization of CPD concepts (e.g., reflect, plan); however, there was decay in utilization over time. No significant differences between groups were found related to perceptions of pharmacy practice (e.g., applying learning to work, commitment to change, performance). The authors propose that pharmacists may need external motivation to routinely utilize CPD concepts.