Pharmacy Continuing Education

Levels of required pharmacist continuing education continue to expand and there is good reason to expect the training loads and intensity of training to continue to increase in coming years.

In 2015 I earned 243 hours (24.3CEU). This work was completed on-line with about half as materials that were read and half as "live" courses. I also worked on improving knowledge of Spanish and studied the top 200 drugs sold in the U.S.A. I aimed at completing certification in several areas and plan to finalize the certification processes for each of these during the first half of 2016 in the following priority order:

1. Medication Therapy Management certification (done!)

2. Infectious Diseases & Immunizations

  • completed 31 hours of training
  • purchased and reading the CDC's Pink Book: Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases.
  • Registered to complete APhA immunization CE and certification in March but would be happy to complete this sooner if that is possible.

3. Pharmaceutical Regulation

  • completed 13 hours
  • working toward completion of certificate from University of Florida on-line. This is on hold until the above is completed.

4. Pain & Opiate Management

  • completed 17 hours
  • may or may not complete the certificate program depending on availability in Eugene area or at professional meetings.

Additional Training & Experience

  • Human Research Subjects Training, National Institute of Health, 2014 (and served on the University of Hawai'i Committee on Human Subjects for about 5 years)
  • CPR Adult and Children Training, American Red Cross, 2014
  • Alternative Medicines – herbal products, homeopathic, and other cultural traditions (Polynesian, Chinese). I have been fortunate to work with traditional healthcare practitioners from a number of cultures, learning about the plants they use and their diagnostic techniques. I am a critical advocate of plant-based medicines and have regularly worked with community members and scientists seeking to understand safety and efficacy of “herbal products.” I am comfortable speaking with patients about these products but would not characterize myself as an expert on herbal medicine.
  • From 1998 to 2005 I was an active team member of the Natural Products Research Program of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii. We worked on advanced development of new therapies, mostly following leads from marine natural products resulting in isolation and in-vitro testing of anti-tumor compounds.
  • Vaccinations. This comment is a bit of a stretch, but because of my work I have required a wide array of vaccines and have survived several tropical illnesses. A list can be provided if this is of interest or useful for a specialized practice setting.