The Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) has released the final report of the role delineation study of ambulatory care pharmacists. BPS is the agency established to recognize pharmacy specialties and certify pharmacists' knowledge and skills at the specialty practice level.
As part of its ongoing strategic planning effort, the BPS Board has concentrated on its first Critical Issue: "How does BPS develop and implement a board certification structure that best meets the needs of patients?" After considering the contemporary pharmacy practice environment, holding focus groups, and consulting with experts across the pharmacy profession, the Board believes that a new specialty, focused in the area of ambulatory or primary care pharmacy practice might be an appropriate addition to the five specialty certifications offered by BPS. BPS contracted with the Professional Examination Service (PES), an experienced and respected testing consultant, to conduct a practice analysis to further define this practice. The resulting role delineation can be used as part of a petition to BPS for the establishment of such a specialty, in accordance with BPS policy, detailed in its Petitioner's Guide.
During 2006, PES convened a ten-member Practice Analysis Task Force, and worked with other representatives of the profession to develop domains, task and knowledge statements to characterize ambulatory care pharmacy. A comprehensive web-based survey was developed and sent to several thousand pharmacist members of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, The American Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Click here to view the full Role Delineation report.
Upon release of this final report, BPS will disassociate itself from the process, until such time as a petition may be received. At that point, review of the petition and other pertinent information will be conducted by BPS and the profession. Then a decision will be made by BPS as to whether this practice qualifies for specialty certification. That process will require a minimum of several months.
The Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) was founded by the American Pharmaceutical Association (now the American Pharmacists Association, APhA) in January 1976 to recognize specialties and certify pharmacists in specialized areas of pharmacy practice. Five specialties are currently recognized by BPS: 1) nuclear pharmacy, since 1978; 2) nutrition support pharmacy, since 1988; 3) pharmacotherapy, since 1988; 4) psychiatric pharmacy, since 1992; and 5) oncology pharmacy, since 1996. Nearly 6,000 pharmacist specialists are currently certified by BPS.
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