I just returned from a talk that I did this evening for our students about credentials, postgraduate training, and board certification. Student members of the Northern California College of Clinical Pharmacy chapter asked me to do this for the entire University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy student body. Mostly first-year students attended the talk. I’m not sure if I was the draw or if it was the pizza and extra course credit one professor offered. It doesn’t really matter because I’ll take an overflow crowd any way I can get it. But you can tell who’s genuinely interested when the question and answer time begins. The really “hard-core” students came up after the talk and asked even more questions. I think a lot of them got the idea and maybe even caught the vision I was trying to project. They asked the right questions. But just like in the rest of the pharmacy profession, there are believers and non-believers within the student ranks. Only time will tell who will take this stuff seriously.

I’m sitting here now thinking about the last conversation that I had tonight before leaving campus. A student told me that clinical pharmacists in some places she’s seen are now able to “do the same things as nurse practitioners.” In fact, to her, that seemed a good direction to go. It took me a minute to collect my thoughts and respond. After all, many nurse practitioners do things like prescribe and manage therapy that seem exciting. And that does bring up a good point—as health care continues to evolve, it seems likely that patients will be cared for by teams made up of clinicians who bring specific skills to the table, including pharmacists and nurses. So no, we don’t want to replace anyone, but rather, we see clinical pharmacists as the best-prepared clinicians to manage complex medication issues. We ended the conversation with her asking me how I know clinical pharmacists are the best prepared and should be the ones hired to do medication management. It’s a good question and one that our colleagues in other disciplines are asking. In other words, what are your “credentials”?

This year, ACCP has done a lot to move the conversation along about credentials and certification. We have worked with the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) to expedite the development of new certifications, and working with other organizations as potential co-petitioners, we have asked BPS to explore establishing certifications in critical care and pediatrics. After taking these steps, we hope BPS will consider other new specialties, including cardiology, infectious diseases, and organ transplantation. As evidenced by the recent involvement of the ACCP PRNs in critical care, pain and palliative care, and pediatrics, PRN members will be important participants in this process. We’ll need your expertise in helping with the development of preliminary requests for new specialty consideration to BPS and (if BPS grants these requests) role delineation studies. In fact, we’ll be talking with PRNs about this issue at the upcoming annual meeting in Pittsburgh during the PRN officers meetings, during the PRN business meetings, and in other venues.

We’re also making strides in the area of positioning clinical pharmacists to assume more responsibility for medication management. And we’re addressing this issue on several fronts. This year, our Task Force on Residencies is completing work on a white paper about PGY2 residency training, accreditation standards, and post-residency board certification. Based on the findings noted in the task force’s paper, expect to see the Board of Regents putting some new ideas on the table in the near future with respect to PGY2 training. Our Certification Affairs Committee is writing an editorial that argues why today’s clinical pharmacists should be recognized as credible providers of direct patient care who can optimize complex medication therapy. In this editorial, the authors address the credentials that clinical pharmacists bring to the health care team. Our Publications Committee has also bundled currently available ACCP papers, with appropriate cover letters, to disseminate to external audiences in promoting the roles of today’s clinical pharmacists in health care. These are going to be helpful tools. But we’ve got to do more to avoid preaching to the choir.

This year, ACCP developed and published its 2011–2012 Advocacy and Communications Platform (see http://www.accp.com/docs/about/ACCP%20Advocacy%20Platform%202011-2012.pdf). It’s ambitious, and a major part of the platform involves our interface with external audiences such as physician and payer groups to promote clinical pharmacy. Ed Webb and John McGlew, based in our Washington D.C. office, are leading the charge. In fact, they’ve successfully initiated many of these conversations already. Our Political Action Committee (PAC) is up and running, too. I’d encourage all members to support the PAC—please visit http://accpaction.org for more information. The Advocacy and Communications Platform, together with the PAC, gives us the tools we need to begin meaningful dialogue that will move clinical pharmacy forward. But even these are not enough.

One thing the student said tonight keeps nagging at me. She said, basically, “where’s the proof” that organizations should hire clinical pharmacists as the health professionals to optimize medication management? OK, to an extent, she had me in a corner. There are some data available documenting the value of clinical pharmacy services, but we need more. That’s where the Research Institute comes in. The vision of the RI Board of Trustees is that the Practice-Based Research Network will, in part, generate data documenting the value of clinical pharmacists. There are two ways for ACCP members to help in this effort. You can join the PBRN and get involved in these studies as they are implemented. And if you’re a researcher, you can also access the PBRN to seek its participation in studies of your own that address the value of clinical pharmacists. Finally, don’t forget that you can support the Research Institute through your donations.

So, according to its strategic plan, the College is moving ahead to develop, advance, and position clinical pharmacists. The PRNs play an important role in each of these efforts. However, it will take all ACCP members working together to move our agenda forward. I appreciate all that the ACCP PRNs and members do for the College, and I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in Pittsburgh.