Profession-specific standards
NAPRA and provincial pharmacy regulators applied to dispensing, advice, conflicts of interest, dispensing-error disclosure, shortages and controlled substances
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians regulated in any Canadian province or territory, including pharmacy managers and those responding to a complaint or investigation.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a college inquiry.
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
Pharmacists are among the most accessible health professionals, often making decisions about dispensing, advice and medication safety without a prescriber present. This course applies the four core principles to Canadian pharmacy practice and explains the regulatory framework: provincial regulators such as the Ontario College of Pharmacists, the Alberta College of Pharmacy, the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia and the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec, with NAPRA's Model Standards and National Drug Schedules at the national level.
It sets out the standards expected of pharmacists and technicians: honest dispensing and advice, confidentiality, competence and safe systems, conflicts of interest and professional boundaries. It then applies them to consent for expanding-scope services, disclosure of dispensing errors, drug shortages and overtreatment, and public-health responsibilities, with worked cases on medication-review targets and a wrong-strength dispensing error, and a checklist for concerns about a prescription.
The final sections cover common breaches, how pharmacy regulators investigate and what outcomes follow, controlled substances as a high-risk area, and how reflection, insight and remediation protect the public and support your growth. It suits pharmacy professionals in community, hospital and other settings, including those responding to a complaint.
7 sections · 27 lessons · 2 hours (estimated) · 10-question final assessment
Final assessment
10scenario-based questions
Certificate of completion
A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your CPD portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
Yes. It is written for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Canada. Pharmacy regulators license both people and premises, so the course also notes that a pharmacist acting as pharmacy manager can be accountable for how the pharmacy operates.
NAPRA is the alliance of Canada's pharmacy regulators. It develops the Model Standards of Practice for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and manages the National Drug Schedules, but it does not license individuals; provincial regulators such as the Ontario College of Pharmacists and the Alberta College of Pharmacy adopt or adapt its standards.
Section 4.2 covers informing the patient, and the prescriber where relevant, promptly; explaining what happened; apologizing sincerely; correcting the error; and reporting and reviewing it. A worked case about a strength dispensed twice as high shows the conversation and follow-up.
Yes. A worked case looks at a weekly target for publicly funded medication reviews and a manager's suggestion to complete short reviews at pick-up, and Section 3.4 covers incentives, targets and manufacturer relationships.
Yes. A dedicated part of Section 5 explains why many serious pharmacy discipline cases involve narcotics and controlled substances, and the record-keeping and security duties under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and its regulations.
Yes. It covers fair, transparent management of shortages, and the ethics of expanding scope, such as prescribing for minor ailments, renewing prescriptions and administering vaccines, including consent for those services. There is also a checklist for when you have concerns about a prescription.
A final assessment of 10 multiple-choice questions with an 80% pass mark, plus a reflective account and a certificate of completion. It takes about 2 hours online and costs CA$95. Your regulator decides what it accepts for continuing competency.
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: provincial and territorial health professions statutes, the regulatory colleges' standards and codes, and federal and provincial privacy law. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
Professional standards for Canadian pharmacists and pharmacy technicians: NAPRA and provincial regulators, self-reporting duties, confidentiality, digital conduct, boundaries and responding to a complaint.
Safe, accountable prescribing for Canadian prescribers, covering assessment, consent, opioids, antimicrobial stewardship, deprescribing, virtual care and how to respond to a prescribing concern.
Being open when care goes wrong: when to disclose, what to say, how apology legislation protects you and how to record it.
