Objectives. To develop, pilot test, and evaluate a continuous professional development (CPD) process for first-year pharmacy (P1) students. Design. Students and faculty members were introduced to the important elements of the CPD process via a live training program. Students completed the year-long 4-step CPD cycle by identifying a learning objective, creating a plan, completing the learning activity, evaluating their learning outcome, documenting each step, and meeting with their faculty advisor for feedback and advice. Assessment. Seventy-five first-year students (100%) successfully completed the CPD process during the 2009-2010 academic year. The students spent an average of 7 hours (range 2 to 20 hours) on the CPD process. The majority of faculty members (83%) completing the survey instrument found the process valuable for the students and would like to see the program continued. Conclusion. Integrating a CPD requirement for students in a college or school of pharmacy is feasible and valuable to students' developing life-long learning skills. Effective and frequent training of faculty members and students is a key element in the CPD process.

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Experiential programs need input and feedback from the practice community in order to keep the student learning outcomes optimized. A proactive combined effort between practice and academia makes sense and assists the students in transition from school to practice. Understanding some basic accreditation concepts can help the practicing pharmacist align student learning experiences with the expected outcomes. This article highlights some basic accreditation concepts from the Accreditation Council on Pharmacy Education's 2007 standards that apply to experiential training in the pharmacy profession.

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