CPD Group 2: Dispensing Nicotine Vaping Products in a Medical Framework
This online CPD learning module strengthens the applicability of current recommendations for using nicotine vaping products (NVPs) to treat smoking cessation, and it provides the most recent data to keep pharmacists abreast of evolving clinical practices.
This online CPD learning module strengthens the applicability of current recommendations for using nicotine vaping products (NVPs) to treat smoking cessation, and it provides the most recent data to keep pharmacists abreast of evolving clinical practices.
Why is this important?
Smoking remains a public health emergency in Australia, with 2.8m smokers (11.2%) and globally with an estimated 1 billion smokers. Recent successes in driving numbers down are increasingly attributable to prevention rather than cessation. The number of vapers in Australia has doubled from 520k in 2018 to an estimated 1.1m, raising the prospect that nicotine use is increasing in Australia for the first time in decades, and this problem is not unique to Australia.
Around the world, a new generation of users are being introduced to nicotine addiction through the use of vaping products, principally through consumer frameworks that fail to regulate access or teach responsible use of what is effectively a product of dependence.
The Australian Government implemented its new medical access framework (MAF) for NVPs on 1 October 2021 to:
- Curtail youth and non-smoker access; and
- Close the black market; while
- Allow access under medical supervision for smokers with a history of failed quit attempts.
The MAF constitutes a globally unique approach to NVP regulation that is both precautionary and pragmatic, and it is supported by the RACGP’s updated Smoking Cessation Guidelines (2021). Doctors may use NVPs as a second-line treatment for those patients motivated to stop smoking and who have failed to achieve abstinence with existing licensed therapies.
This activity was created to educate pharmacists about NVPs, including how they can be accessed under the new MAF, which patients are eligible to be prescribed NVPs and to provide guidance on how pharmacists can better understand how to help and counsel patients with respect to responsible use of NVPs for smoking cessation.
What is your role?
To ensure that your patients who have been prescribed NVPs receive the best possible care in accordance with the regulatory framework and current practice standards.
What’s in it for you?
This CPD module will (i) expand your knowledge of this clinical topic and allow you to earn up to 2 CPD group 2 credits, (ii) recognise the current recommendations for appropriate management of NVP use for smoking cessation and (iii) learn how you can make a difference in the lives of patients with a history of failed quit attempts.
How can I access the answers to the assessment questions?
On completion of the CPD module, participants will be asked to undertake an assessment comprising five (5) multiple choice questions (MCQs).
Participants will need to successfully answer at least 75% of the MCQs in order to have passed the course. In the event a participant fails to meet the 75% threshold, they will be informed which questions they answered incorrectly and allowed a second attempt at the MCQs. Answers to each question will be provided after the second attempt, irrespective of whether the participant has met the required pass mark.
Failure to pass the MCQ assessment will mean that the participant will be awarded one (1) CPD group 1 credit point for completion of the CPD module.
As authorised by the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC), the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd (PSA) has accredited this CPD activity for pharmacists for recognition of continuing competence.
CPD Credits
Accreditation number: CX22067 Group 1: 1.00 Group 2: 2.00
This activity has been accredited for 1 hour of Group 1 CPD (or 1 CPD credits) suitable for inclusion in an individual pharmacist’s CPD plan, which can be converted to 1 hour of Group 2 CPD (or 2 CPD credits) upon successful completion of relevant assessment activities.
Competency Standards (2016): 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.6