As articulated in its strategic plan, ACCP's 20-30 year vision for the profession is that "pharmacists will be recognized and valued as the preeminent health care professionals responsible for the use of medicines in the prevention and treatment of disease." To achieve this vision, the profession must ensure that there will be an adequate supply of appropriately educated and skilled clinical pharmacists. Among the strategies that will help address this issue is to define and promote the core competencies of a clinical pharmacy practitioner. Hence, the ACCP Board of Regents has established the following objectives:

• publish a definition of clinical pharmacy and the core competencies of a clinical pharmacist;
• provide or endorse mechanisms for individual pharmacists to assess their clinical competencies against the defined core competencies, thereby facilitating their professional development; and
• ensure that ACCP provides educational programs to help develop and maintain the core competencies of a clinical pharmacist.

In August 2003, a workgroup composed of ACCP members and Regents drafted a proposed definition of clinical pharmacy. At its last two meetings, the Board of Regents has engaged in focused discussion leading to refinement of this definition and the development of a separate definition for the clinical pharmacist. The following draft definitions were adopted by the Board of Regents in January 2004 prior to seeking more broad-based input from ACCP members and the profession at-large:

Definition of Clinical Pharmacy (Draft) A health science discipline that embodies the application and development, by pharmacists, of scientific principles of pharmacology, toxicology, therapeutics, clinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacogenomics, and other life sciences for the care of patients.

Definition of Clinical Pharmacist (Draft) A pharmacist who is involved in clinical pharmacy practice, research, and/or education.

The foregoing drafts will soon be circulated to a cross-section of ACCP members for further comment to establish consensus definitions. When finalized, the definitions will be published, together with accompanying background information and explanatory notes. Also, they will provide a foundation for the next step in this process, the creation of a set of core competencies for the clinical pharmacist. A future ACCP committee or task force will be charged with developing and publishing these competencies in 2005.