May 2008 www.thecolumn.eu.com The Column Incognito Continuing Professional Development — Not Very Continuous and Not Very Professional! So what is the similarity between the following professions — pharmacy, medicine, nursing, dentistry, teaching, chiropody and psychology? Well the answer is that they all require the practitioner to undertake some degree of continuing professional development (CPD) to maintain their professional registration. I have encountered several situations lately that have caused me to question whether this statutory requirement should also be applied to the profession of the analytical chemist. My main concern lies in what might be called “basic laboratory skills” as well as our grasp of basic chemical and chromatographic concepts. The recent events to which I refer have demonstrated to me that we appear to be neglecting our duty within industry to continue to develop these skills from the basics that are taught in our undergraduate and, in some instances, our postgraduate courses. Let me give some examples to try and highlight the problems that are causing me such consternation. During at least 50% of courses that I deliver, we need to address the concept of “polarity” in the context of basic chromatographic theory and the interactions between analyte and stationary phase. I offer a “polarity amnesty” — whereby delegates can elect to confess that they don’t really feel ready to enter into a discussion on fundamental chemical interactions without first having a refresher on the concept of polarity. Ciaran Griffin/Getty Images Author: Incognito E-mail: incognito@thecolumn.eu.com 17
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - May 2008