BCACP Clinical Session — It’s Not Just a Phase: Managing Menopause as a Multisystem Condition

Menopause is often approached as a collection of isolated symptoms—hot flashes, sleep disturbance, or mood changes—rather than recognized as a systemic physiologic transition with wide-ranging health consequences. Emerging evidence demonstrates that fluctuations and decline in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone affect nearly every organ system, influencing cardiovascular, skeletal, metabolic, cognitive, genitourinary, and musculoskeletal health. Failure to address these changes comprehensively contributes to fragmented care and missed opportunities for prevention.

This session reframes menopause as a multisystem health transition, using real-world patient cases to illustrate how hormonal changes present across body systems in ambulatory care. Through a case-based format, participants will explore how menopause intersects with chronic disease risk, quality-of-life concerns, and medication management challenges commonly encountered by interprofessional teams.

Attendees will review current evidence-based management strategies, including appropriate use of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone therapy, as well as nonhormonal pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic options. Particular attention will be paid to patient selection, risk stratification, formulation considerations, and monitoring strategies, informed by contemporary re-evaluations of landmark studies such as the Women’s Health Initiative and updated clinical guidelines.

The session will also directly address persistent misinformation and clinician hesitancy surrounding menopausal hormone therapy. Participants will gain practical tools to provide accurate, consistent, and patient-centered education, supporting shared decision-making and improved adherence.

Emphasis will be placed on the complementary roles of physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and pharmacists in screening, counseling, therapy optimization, and longitudinal follow-up.

By the end of this session, participants will be better equipped to deliver coordinated, evidence-based menopause care that moves beyond symptom control toward long-term health optimization, empowering both clinicians and patients during this critical life transition.

This activity is approved for Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacy (BCACP) recertification credit.

The BCACP Clinical Sessions are part of the professional development program for the recertification of board-certified Ambulatory Care pharmacists by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties and jointly provided by ACCP and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). In order to earn the BCACP recertification credit, participants must attend the session, claim the continuing pharmacy education credit, and pass the associated posttest. Access to the Clinical Sessions posttests will be available on December 16, 2026, at www.accp.com/myaccount to anyone who has purchased access to the BCACP posttests. For participants who have not purchased access to the posttests, access can be purchased until 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20, at the ACCP Registration Desk. The deadline to submit posttests for these sessions will be December 14, 2027.  

	Speaker: Ellen Jones, Pharm.D., BCACP Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice​ Harding University College of Pharmacy​ Searcy, Arkansas   View Biography
	Speaker: Shannon W. Finks, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCCP, BCPS, MSCP Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science, University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy President, ZüpMedical Services, LLC, Memphis, Tennessee   View Biography
	Speaker: Kristi W. Kelley, Pharm.D., B.S.Pharm, FCCP, BCACP, BCPS, BC-ADM, CDCES Clinical Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy; Clinical Pharmacist, Baptist Health Foundation Center for Medical and Surgical Care, Baptist Health - Princeton Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama   View Biography