The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) has approved role delineation studies in sterile compounding, solid organ transplantation, and emergency medicine. These role delineation studies will take place during the next 12–24 months and will not be conducted concurrently.

“Because BPS strongly supports residency training and we believe that consideration of new pharmacy specialties should be consistent with, but not necessarily exclusive to, the evolution of ASHP-accredited PGY2 programs, conducting role delineation studies in organ transplantation and emergency medicine is a logical next step,” explained BPS Executive Director, William Ellis, RPh, M.S. “Both Solid Organ Transplantation and Emergency Medicine rank in the top 10 as far as the number of PGY2 residency programs and have grown by 29% and 40%, respectively, during the past year.”

“The issues surrounding sterile compounding have been well chronicled in the lay and professional media and represent an important public safety issue which was the impetus for the BPS Board of Directors exploring this as a possible specialty,” said Immediate Past BPS Chair Sharon Durfee, RPh, BCNSP. “Sterile compounding may represent a specialty that is more technical because there is most likely a smaller component of direct patient care when compared to other BPS specialties; however, the impact on patient safety and outcomes is significant.”

Conducting a role delineation study is a critical first step in determining whether BPS will issue a call for petition in a proposed specialty. One purpose of the role delineation study is to determine whether a practice area is based on specialized knowledge of the pharmaceutical sciences, as well as specialized functions routinely performed by practitioners in the proposed specialty. If the role delineation studies in any of these three areas yield information suggesting that sterile compounding, solid organ transplantation, and/or emergency medicine should be recognized as a pharmacy specialty, BPS will issue a call for petition following the criteria outlined in the BPS Petitioner’s Guide for Recognition of a Pharmacy Practice Specialty.

BPS recently issued a call for petition in both Cardiology and Infectious Diseases because of the results of previously conducted role delineation studies; if they are approved as specialties, they will be the 9th and 10th specialties to be recognized by BPS.