Transition, training, and continuing professional development in the community pharmacy sector in NI: a community of practice perspective

The study is embedded within sociocultural learning theory, using the frameworks of communities (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and landscapes of practice (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015) to support the interpretation of pharmacist learning as participation and identity construction within the practices of the sector and the wider profession.

The participants were 33 community pharmacists of varying experience and types of employment within the sector in NI. A qualitative research design was employed using semi-structured interviews to elicit participant experiences as they transitioned from novices to fuller membership of their communities of practice (COP). The study applies Rogoff’s Three Planes of Analysis (1995, 2008) - apprenticeship, guided participation and participatory appropriation - as an interpretive lens to guide the thematic analysis of the data, and to support participants’ accounts of the cultural, interpersonal and intrapersonal influences on their experiences.<br><br>The data highlighted that approaches to CPD within NI community pharmacy are limited in enabling participation in the types of professional learning activity that would fulfil the requirement that pharmacists are reflective, lifelong learners.