Board of Pharmacy Specialties® Issues call for Petition in Solid Organ Transplantation
May 19, 2017
Washington, D.C. – The Board of Pharmacy Specialties® (BPS), the post-licensure certification organization serving the pharmacy profession, has issued a call for petition in Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy Practice. If approved, Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy Practice will become the twelfth specialty offered by BPS.
The BPS Board of Directors reviewed the role delineation study conducted in Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy during the Board’s May 2017 meeting and found the results supportive of further consideration.
According to BPS Chairman, Harold N. Godwin, MS, Professor Emeritus at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy in Kansas City, “While the earliest published reports regarding the role of the pharmacist on the multidisciplinary transplant team date back to the 1970’s, the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) bylaws and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accreditation standards for transplant centers formally identified pharmacists as part of the transplant team and have identified specific roles for the past decade. This call for petition by BPS to formally recognize Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy Practice is another step in the evolution of our profession to provide needed pharmacotherapy services to patients.”
BPS Executive Director William M. Ellis, MS stated, “I want to thank the members of the Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacist Role Delineation Study Taskforce for their tremendous commitment and the contribution of their time and subject matter expertise to this process as well as the contributions of the Role Delineation Study Review Panel and those pharmacists who participated in the validation survey. Clearly the role of the transplant pharmacist as a clinical and translational scientist is evolving and the traditional role of the transplant pharmacist in medication adherence, infectious diseases, adverse event management and care transitions are as important as ever; BPS looks forward to receiving a petition to evaluate solid organ transplantation as a pharmacy specialty.”
In order for a new specialty to be recognized by BPS, the petition must address in detail each of the criteria deemed necessary: need; demand; number/time; specialized knowledge; specialized functions; education and training; and transmission of knowledge.
Once BPS receives the petition to recognize Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy as a BPS specialty, the Board will complete its review and render a decision within six months. If approved a Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy Specialty Council will be established to work with BPS and its highly qualified psychometric staff to establish eligibility criteria and develop a bank of test items for the certification examination.
ABOUT THE BOARD OF PHARMACY SPECIALTIES®
The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) was established in 1976 as an autonomous division of the American 9Pharmacists Association (APhA). The mission of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties is to improve patient care and increase awareness of the need for BPS Board Certified Pharmacists as integral members of multidisciplinary healthcare teams through recognition and promotion of specialized training, knowledge, and skills in pharmacy and specialty board certification and recertification of pharmacists throughout the world.
Board Certification through BPS has become recognized as the gold standard for determining which pharmacists are qualified to contribute at advanced practice levels as a result of the rigorous standards mandated by BPS board certification and recertification. Today over 30,000 pharmacists worldwide hold BPS certification.
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