Welcome to the IPU Academy Spring Programme

Welcome to the IPU Academy Spring Programme, which follows our successful Autumn Programme, at which over 2,000 attendances were recorded. Using your personal membership login, you can view and book online all the live learning courses in the IPU Academy Spring Programme.

The IPU Academy Spring Programme will deliver Continuing Education (CE) in traditional presentation format, i.e. a two-hour live learning seminar, at a location near you. In addition to the live learning events, we plan to hold a number of national webinars on www.ipuacademy.ie during the Spring Programme.

The five topics in the IPU Academy Spring Programme were selected based on your feedback and, as usual, will be delivered in venues countrywide. The topics are all of current relevance and designed to assist you in developing and delivering services to your patients in your pharmacy.

The format for the live learning remains unchanged; courses will start at 8pm sharp and will last two hours. Coffee and refreshments will be served. 

Please note: We decided to introduce an Express Topic Course into the IPU Academy Spring Programme 2017, which proved very popular. The Insulin Pump Therapy in Children and Type 2 Diabetes – Treatment, Education courses, Services & Supports courses will start at the earlier time of 7.30pm and finish at 9pm. Coffee and refreshments will be available from 7pm, prior to the course starting at 7.30pm, instead of the usual coffee break midway through the course.

The new IIOP system for monitoring our engagement with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) has now come into effect. IPU Academy is here to support your engagement with the new CPD system. There are five stages to the CPD cycle. A copy of the CPD cycle is included in the CPD template which is provided for each topic. You can enter at any stage of the CPD cycle, e.g. by attending an IPU Academy course you will have completed an Action stage of the CPD cycle. You can then download your IPU Academy Attendance Certificate to assist in completing the Document stage of the CPD cycle.

Feedback and suggestions for future topics to be developed by IPU Academy are welcome at ipuacademy@ipu.ie.


Infertility may affect up to 1 in 5 couples. The community pharmacist is often responsible for dispensing medication to aid conception, along with providing counselling around these agents and their administration to their patients. 

The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to infertility and its pharmacological treatment options, along with practice focused information for pharmacists.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland. Simple lifestyle and screening measures can prevent skin cancer. The community pharmacist is ideally placed to offer advice on such measures. 

The aim of this course is to describe the various types of skin cancer and their treatment and provide information for patients on how to prevent and detect potential skin cancers.

Parkinson’s disease belongs to a group of conditions called motor system disorders. There are believed to be approximately 8,000 people suffering from Parkinson’s disease in Ireland. Although it is predominantly a movement disorder, it can cause significant disability and handicap with impaired quality of life for the affected person. Family and carers may also be affected indirectly.

The aim of this course is to gain a greater understanding of the condition, its causes and treatment.

(Express Topic, 7.30pm – 9pm)

Technology is changing diabetes management. Insulin pumps, providing a continuous background delivery of insulin to the body, allows for improved blood sugar control and have demonstrated improved clinical outcomes compared with injection therapy.  

The aim of this course is to provide information on insulin pumps, patients groups that benefit most from these devices and advice on monitoring and maintenance requirements for these pumps.


(Express Topic, 7.30pm – 9pm)

Type 2 Diabetes is a disease that is reaching epidemic proportions in Ireland. Education on day to day lifestyle factors, including diet, physical activity and other self-care components, is the cornerstone of treatment. Integrated care is the recommended way forward to support better treatment and management of this condition, with all health care professionals supporting and empowering the person to learn about the condition, develop their self-care skills and be leaders in their own care.

The aim of this course is to provide an update on current clinically effective lifestyle interventions, available free education courses, diabetes services and supports.