Washington, D.C. – Earlier this year, the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) issued a call for applications for PGY2 Residency Research Seed Grants. Now in its third year, this program awards up to two $5,000 seed grants to PGY2 pharmacy residents who design projects to evaluate the impact of pharmacist board certification on medication-related outcomes for patients, demonstrate the value of board certification for pharmacist specialists to key stakeholder groups (i.e., patients, payers, physicians and other health care providers), or contribute to credentialing or privileging of pharmacist specialists across practice settings.
BPS Board Chair, Karen Gunning, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP, noted: “It is wonderful to see a growing number of outstanding applications for funding consideration and the growing number of resulting publications. The BPS seed grants help create unique opportunities for PGY2 specialty residents to contribute to research about the value of BPS board certification.”
BPS proudly announces the 2020 BPS Seed Grant Awardees:
Kayla Waldron, PharmD, MS, BCPS, and Charles Summerlin, PharmD, PGY2 Health-System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership Resident from UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC, for their proposal: “Development and Implementation of a Standardized Process for Identifying Clinical Outcomes Measures Impacted by Board-Certified Clinic-Based Pharmacists (CBPs).”
In their proposal, they wrote:
Minimal guidance is available on the process for identification and selection of appropriate clinical outcomes measures to associate with the work of board-certified clinical pharmacists despite an increased need to demonstrate value and impact. While various medication-related outcomes measures exist, a significant gap remains within pharmacy practice, particularly for specialty disease states… In this mixed–methods project, we will seek input from a multidisciplinary stakeholder group through the modified Delphi method to identify specific outcomes measures to track for board-certified CBPs in four pilot specialty clinics. With stakeholder focus groups and rapid improvements via the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, we will also develop and refine a standardized, reproducible process for identifying outcomes measures that demonstrate the impact and value of board-certified CBPs.
Lauren Grecheck Pamulapati, PharmD, BCACP, and Vasyl Zbyrak, PharmD, PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Resident at VCU School of Pharmacy in Richmond, VA, for their proposal: “Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction In Board-certified Pharmacists.”
In their proposal, they wrote:
A gap lies in addressing the driving influences for board certification in the practice of pharmacy while also focusing on the current make-up of those who are board–certified. Pharmacist contributions continue to grow along with mounting workload and job stresses. Distilling components of board–certified pharmacists and what led to their satisfaction may identify critical areas associated with work fulfillment. Dissemination of these factors to employers to use within their workplace may indirectly produce better patient outcomes and experiences. Findings from this study will provide preliminary data necessary for a nation-wide study that seeks to determine factors impacting burnout and resiliency among board–certified pharmacists and the degree of impact that each of these factors has on patient outcomes.
BPS Associate Executive Director, Samuel Johnson, PharmD, BCPS, commented: “BPS heartily congratulates both teams of investigators for their excellent proposals. We highly anticipate that these projects will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about the impact and value of board certification for pharmacist specialists.”
About the Board of Pharmacy Specialties
The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) was established in 1976 as an autonomous division of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). The mission of BPS is to improve patient care by positioning BPS Board-Certified Pharmacist Specialists as integral members of interprofessional healthcare teams, through recognition and promotion of specialized training, knowledge, and skills for pharmacists in the United States and internationally. Board certification is a recognized credential for determining which pharmacists are qualified to contribute at advanced practice levels given the rigorous standards mandated by BPS board certification and recertification. BPS currently recognizes more than 46,000 active pharmacist certifications across fourteen specialties.
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