CPD in Taiwan

Here we explore how CPD (Continuing Professional Development) in Taiwan has progressed through the years and look at some of the key current policies and challenges.

History of CPD in Taiwan:

The national health insurance was launched in Taiwan in 1995. The Bureau of NHI required institutional pharmacists to fulfil 48 hours of CE every two years for reimbursement of pharmacy service.

In 2009, Department of Health increased the CE requirement to 150 credit hours in six years for all healthcare professionals.

In 2015 the Ministry of welfare and health changed it to 120 credit hours in six years. On the surface this seems like a reduction, but there were also additional requirements regarding education about infectious control, gender issues, and quality assurance or ethics or law and regulation. Lastly there it is also required to have 96 to 108 credit hours in pharmacy practice.

There are three associations authorized to accredit a provider for the Continuing Professional Development in Taiwan:

• Taiwan Society of health system pharmacist
• The pharmaceutical Society of Taiwan
• Taiwan Pharmacists Association

CE credits can be achieved by taking part in different forms of CE, including:

• Lectures (virtual or in-person)
• Journal publication and reading
• Conference poster
• Self-directed study plans

The Ministry of Health and Welfare collate CE credits using a central online system. However, some challenges remain unresolved:

• Fulfilling CE requirement does not equate to pharmacist learning what the program expects.
• CE programs are mainly didactic.
• An individual can fulfil the total CE credit in a very short time period, with limited absorption of the material.

There is also a postgraduate two-year training program which aims to provide new pharmacy graduates with an intensive training program. The participant may not be a resident at the hospital where the program take place. The Ministry of Health and Welfare provide a basic program structure and each hospital designs its own training program. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will send experts to review the program annually.

However, there are some issues with this system. The participants may not end up working at the hospital so there is little incentive for the hospital themselves to support the training. Funding is also going to be pulled soon due to stress on the NHI Funds.