The end of summer coincides with the wrapping up of a tremendous amount of work accomplished by the talented and dedicated members of ACCP’s committees and task forces. Each year, the Board of Regents (BOR) develops and finalizes charges for the committees and task forces that address specific strategic objectives and update existing ACCP publications. Although this year’s charges were extensive and challenging, the appointed chairs and vice chairs, members, and BOR liaisons boldly accepted their responsibility and have done a superb job in completing their tasks. Below is a brief summary of some of the key deliverables that ACCP members can expect to hear more about over the coming months.
The Certification Affairs Committee is finalizing an update of the 2008 “Clinical Pharmacist Competencies” white paper. This revision will consider key developments related to contemporary board certification, residency training, Pharm.D. education, and other relevant work. Moreover, the modified competencies have been aligned with the structural domains and components of the competencies articulated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Of importance, the Certification Affairs Committee has worked very closely with the Clinical Practice Affairs Committee, which has also been updating another 2008 ACCP publication—"Template for the Evaluation of a Clinical Pharmacist." This tool includes the essential tasks of contemporary clinical pharmacy specialists that may be used by employers or clinical pharmacist supervisors to assess performance. The template contains suggested examples of data that may be used for performance assessment as well as sample criteria that define successful performance. We believe these two companion papers will be extremely useful for health care organizations that provide clinical pharmacy services in the United States and internationally.
The Educational Affairs Committee has done an outstanding job of updating the 2009 Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit. The committee revised the tier definitions for the toolkit’s recommendations and addressed the 2016 standards of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. The 2016 toolkit, to be released soon, contains 275 diseases and content topics that may be used to guide curricular change. I strongly believe that pharmacy educators will find the new toolkit a highly valuable resource.
The Member Relations Committee has provided the BOR with thoughtful and practical recommendations to assist ACCP members who are clinician-educators in balancing clinical practice, education, and scholarly expectations. The BOR is strongly considering the development of a mentoring program for clinician-educators that will be similar in structure to the existing ACCP mentoring program for pharmacy residents and fellows. The committee has done an excellent job of stating program goals and mentor/mentee responsibilities. Look for more information on this topic in 2017.
The Public and Professional Relations Committee creatively attacked its charge of generating a prioritized list of potential “TED-like” talks that should be developed by ACCP. I believe this committee may have had the most entertaining charge of all the committees and task forces. However, it also involved a daunting amount of work! The suggested topics address key themes like comprehensive medication management, team-based practices, and research and scholarly activity. The proposed scripts target several possible audiences. In short, the BOR has some excellent ideas and storyboards to consider and is very much looking forward to producing these, beginning in 2017.
The Publications Committee is completing its draft of a new white paper on natural products that will replace a 2000 ACCP publication on herbal products. This paper is very comprehensive and well written, and I am confident that it will be used by many, if not most, ACCP members.
The Research Affairs Committee has worked very hard to pen an ACCP commentary titled “The Importance of Research and Scholarly Activity in Pharmacy Training.” The BOR believes this paper effectively states the benefits of providing opportunities for students and residents to engage in meaningful scholarship. The paper cogently argues for supporting research and scholarship within our professional degree and training programs.
The Task Force on Collaborative Research Opportunities has developed a proposal to the BOR for a program that is designed to foster collaborative research. The program will target clinicians with less research experience and/or limited time dedicated to research. Ideally, the program will provide attendees with practical strategies to collaborate with others in conducting successful research projects.
Finally, I want to specifically acknowledge the fantastic output from the leaders and members of the National Student Network Advisory and Resident Advisory committees. They have completed an impressive volume and quality of work and have done so while maintaining their busy “day jobs” as students and residents. I thank them for applying the dedication and persistence necessary to accomplish their charges!
As you can see, the year since the 2015 ACCP Global Conference on Clinical Pharmacy in San Francisco has been busy and productive for ACCP committees and task forces! On behalf of ACCP members and the BOR, I congratulate and thank all who have volunteered their time to the benefit of the College. I particularly want to thank those who worked tirelessly on committees that have annual—but necessary—charges, such as the Annual Program committees (2016 and 2017), Credentials: Fellowship (FCCP) Committee, Credentials: Membership Committee, Awards Committee, and Nominations Committee. Their work is critically important to the support of ACCP members, yet they are often under-recognized for their important contributions and accomplishments. I also want to sincerely thank the ACCP staff for the incredibly valuable support they have provided to our committee members and chairs. Each year at this time, I am reminded that ACCP is a unique organization—with a unique professional culture—that greatly contributes to the pharmacy profession and to society. It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve as your president this year. Thank you again for all you do!