The competence of a practitioner refers to the overarching capacity of that individual to perform. From the shared perspectives of patients, civil society and employers, competence suggests an expectation of effective, persistent behaviour of that healthcare professional.

A competence (plural competences) is a deconstructed item or functional task relating to the job of the healthcare professional. Collectively, competences represent the functional, the what, of a particular professional’s work. The following may be considered to be competence standards:

A competency (plural competencies) represents the individual qualities or attributes of professional activity, the how of performance. These are learned behaviours, and are thus able to be effectively incorporated into developmental programmes that require practitioners to apply learned behaviours. Since competency standards are developed with a focus on performance, they facilitate identification of the aspects of performance in the workplace and provide the best means to deduce professional competence.

Competency is a broad concept that includes all aspects of practice, including:

4.1        Moving from competence to competency

Competency standards provide a clear statement of what is considered to be important for ongoing competent performance in a profession. Behavioural competency is therefore a typical behaviour observed when effective performers apply motives, traits or skills to job relevant tasks. It is, therefore, implied that competences are acquired during the early training of an individual in gaining the knowledge and skills to undertake tasks.

Behavioural competency relies on learned behaviours. It incorporates the inherent components of knowledge and skills and embraces attitudes and values; attributes that are necessary for the successful performance of tasks of the profession. Monitoring of behavioural competency permits identification of strengths and weaknesses and is useful for personal development and continuing education. It is, therefore, the basis for identification of appropriate CPD for the pharmacist. The differences between competence and competency are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: Difference between competence and competency