by Todd Canada, PharmD, BCNSP, BCCCP, FASHP, FTSHP, FASPEN
2024 Chair, BPS Nutrition Support Pharmacy Specialty Council
Pharmacist board certification is not a secret with more than 60,000 active Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) credentials across 15 specialty areas in 2024. I think back to how many active credentials existed when I first became board-certified in nutrition support pharmacy: approximately 2000 across 5 specialties in the mid-1990s1. Much has changed in the profession of pharmacy to promote the opportunities for pharmacists in a variety of practice settings and to solidify the pharmacist’s role in patient care. At the end of each residency year at my institution, I share my own story of obtaining board certification, following my PharmD degree and post-graduate training, emphasizing how much more widely recognized and respected board certification is today in comparison to when I obtained my certification.
Now, as a clinical pharmacy manager, I leverage my two board certifications to motivate our staff of critical care pharmacists to enhance their professional credibility by pursuing board certification. I make a point of sharing with pharmacists on our team that BPS board certification highlights their specialized expertise to other healthcare professionals and elevates their individual practices.
As a preceptor of student pharmacists and pharmacy residents, I also share how board certification can impact areas of a pharmacist’s career that may not be fully understood early on. The long-term impact of board certification includes opportunities for professional speaking, professional writing and peer-reviewing, and giving back to the pharmacy profession. While these opportunities may not be priorities early in all pharmacists’ careers, they offer access to a greater network of highly qualified pharmacists and greater prospects of collaboration.
In nutrition support pharmacy practice, practitioners are fortunate to have an annual publication of relevant studies to identify changes in clinical practice. All of the pharmacists who publish such studies hold BPS board certification. I find that my own board certification in nutrition support pharmacy serves as an initiator of opportunities to discuss new research with other pharmacists daily, as they understand the level of expertise required to obtain pharmacist board certification.
If you are currently employed at a hospital or outpatient clinic, you likely know a pharmacist colleague who holds BPS board certification in at least one specialty area. If you are currently considering board certification, take advantage of these connections – they are potential mentors who are experts in their specialty area and can connect you with opportunities for collaboration on professional endeavors, such as research or quality improvement projects, publishing, and speaking.
Each pharmacist and trainee must determine their own professional development goals – board certification can be both a notable outcome of thoughtful career planning and a major milestone in one’s career. With an expanding range of pharmacy specialty areas and wider array of career pathways than anytime in pharmacy history, I believe more pharmacists will seek board certification as validation of their education, training, and mastered competencies. It’s never too early to begin planning for board certification as part of your career – my experience is that it will prompt a continuing professional development journey for an ever-evolving career as a pharmacist!
1 Bertin RJ. Added Qualifications: A New Dimension in Pharmacy Specialty Certification. Annals of Pharmacotherapy. 1997;31(12):1532-1534. doi:10.1177/106002809703101215