Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
BMC Med Educ. 2022 Apr 29;22(1):332. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03341-7.
Microcredentials (MCs) are short courses that certify/recognise an individual's achievement of specific skills or knowledge. Schools of pharmacy could be well-placed to contribute to the continuing professional development (CPD) of pharmacists through the inclusion of MCs training in their programs. This study aimed to explore pharmacy professionals' views on the need and viability of MC courses globally.
Eleven semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with pharmacy practitioners, policymakers, and academics across seven countries. The participants were selected using purposive sampling to explore information from varying pharmacy disciplines. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using a general inductive approach.
Participants regarded MCs in pharmacy as an innovative idea, well-suited to the increasingly technology-driven world. They believe MCs provide easily accessible means of skills and knowledge acquisition that fulfils the needs of the pharmacy profession. MCs were also perceived as an alternative pathway of meeting the requirements of traditional CPD programmes. Many participants believe universities are well-suited to provide MCs; however, numerous challenges such as recognition, time and resources have been identified as potential barriers to enrolment and implementation.
This study provides an insight into the views of pharmacy practitioners and academics on MCs, and their potential utility in pharmacy education and practice. The findings should help in the development of MCs that could be utilised by pharmacy practitioners around the world for CPD purposes. This study comes at a time when alternative models of teaching and learning are being explored as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
微证书（MCs）是一种短期课程，可证明/认可个人在特定技能或知识方面的成就。药学学校可以通过在其课程中纳入 MC 培训，为药剂师的持续专业发展（CPD）做出贡献。本研究旨在探讨全球范围内药学专业人员对 MC 课程的需求和可行性的看法。
在七个国家/地区，对 11 名药学从业者、政策制定者和学者进行了 11 次半结构式电话访谈。参与者是通过目的性抽样选择的，以从不同的药学学科中探索信息。采访以音频形式记录，逐字转录，并使用一般归纳方法进行分析。
参与者认为药学中的 MC 是一个创新的想法，非常适合日益以技术为驱动的世界。他们认为 MC 提供了易于获取技能和知识的手段，满足了药学专业的需求。MC 也被认为是满足传统 CPD 计划要求的替代途径。许多参与者认为大学非常适合提供 MC，但也发现了许多挑战，例如认可度、时间和资源，这些都是注册和实施的潜在障碍。
本研究深入了解了药学从业者和学者对 MC 的看法，以及它们在药学教育和实践中的潜在用途。研究结果有助于开发 MC，以便世界各地的药学从业者可以将其用于 CPD 目的。本研究恰逢 COVID-19 大流行之际，正在探索替代的教学和学习模式。
