Board of Pharmacy Specialties Announces
Appointments to the Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Specialty Council
Washington, D.C. – The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) is pleased to announce the inaugural members of the Emergency Medicine (EM) Pharmacy Specialty Council. These appointments are effective January 1, 2021.
BPS Specialty Councils serve three major functions:
- Developing standards and eligibility requirements for board certification in Emergency Medicine Pharmacy for approval by the BPS Board of Directors;
- Developing examinations and setting the passing standard for initial and continuing certification of Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Specialists; and
- Approving and reviewing professional development programs for recertification of Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Specialists.
BPS Specialty Councils are composed of nine members each. Seven members of each Council are board-certified in that specialty, while the remaining two members may be board certified in another specialty or not certified. Since the inaugural Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Specialty Council members will not initially be board certified, the council will replace original appointees with newly board-certified EM pharmacists over a three-year period, following the first examination tentatively scheduled for Fall 2022.
BPS Board Chair, Karen Gunning, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP, commended: “BPS is very pleased to appoint these pharmacist leaders to the first Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Specialty Council. When BPS received the petition to recognize emergency medicine pharmacy as a specialty, it had an unprecedented amount of support from other health care professions – demonstrating the value of the EM pharmacist as a member of the interprofessional team in that setting.”
Emergency Medicine Pharmacy
The petition to recognize Emergency Medicine Pharmacy as a specialty was submitted by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and approved by BPS in February 2020.
The petitioning organizations defined Emergency Medicine Pharmacy practice as follows:
Emergency medicine pharmacists (EMPs) specialize in the delivery of direct patient care at the bedside and care for patients across diverse populations and acuity levels. These specialists are critical members of the interprofessional emergency medicine team, are able to anticipate pharmacotherapy needs in the fast‐paced environment of the emergency department (ED), and have expertise in the management of time‐dependent emergencies, pre‐hospital medicine, emergency preparedness, public health, and toxicology. Emergency medicine pharmacy practice focuses on rapid assessment of available patient data to optimize pharmacotherapy, improve patient safety, increase efficiency and cost‐effectiveness of care, facilitate medication stewardship, educate patients and health care clinicians, and contribute to research and scholarly efforts.
Specialty Council Member Appointments
Patrick Bridgeman, PharmD, BCPS
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Hillsborough, NJ
Christopher Edwards, PharmD, BCPS
University of Arizona College of Pharmacy
Marana, AZ
Nicole Harger, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
Cold Spring, KY
Alison (Katie) Hiles, PharmD, BCPS
Franciscan Health Indianapolis
Carmel, IN
Jennifer Mando-Vandrick, PharmD, BCPS
Duke University Hospital
Durham, NC
Brian Potoski, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID
University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre
Pittsburgh, PA
Michael Thomas, PharmD, BCPS
Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy
Hoover, AL
Stacy Voils, PharmD, BCPS
University of Florida College of Pharmacy
Gainesville, FL
Ryan Waybright, PharmD, BCCCP
Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center
Sioux Falls, SD
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 multidisciplinary 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 50,000 pharmacist certifications across 14 specialties.
BPS Contact
Alexander Jean-Baptiste
Senior Manager, Social Media & Content Marketing
AJeanbaptiste@aphanet.org
(202) 760-3836