Continuing Great Growth in 2023, Thanks to Board-Certified Pharmacists

by 2023 BPS Board of Directors Chair
Ruth E. Nemire, PharmD, EdD, FCCP, FNAP, CRQM

 

 

Happy 2023 to each of you. I hope that this year finds you happy and blessed. I write this as one of my first official duties as 2023 Chair of the Board of Directors for the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS).

 

I am a neurology trained pharmacist and have practiced in clinics, health-systems, and health professions education for many years. Somewhere along the way I boldly declared that I would help to improve the education of pharmacists, other health-professionals, and provide vision for practice change. Growing the prevalence of board-certified pharmacists and expanding the number of recognized specialties is a part of the vision for practice change, not just for me, but for many across the profession.

 

I have served on the BPS Psychiatric Pharmacy Specialty Council and the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Specialty Council, and currently serve on the BPS Board of Directors. I have been privileged to be part of change within the organization over the last 17 years. The leadership and staff of BPS are well-qualified and motivated to advance the mission of the organization. BPS has grown from two staff when I began my involvement to 22 professionals now working to serve the needs of board-certified pharmacists, who hold over 57,600 BPS certifications globally. If you have the opportunity to speak with any of the dedicated staff, I encourage you to share your appreciation for all the work they do to maintain and advance pharmacist certification.

 

Since I began my involvement with BPS, improvements have occurred that other volunteer leaders and board-certified pharmacists may not see or think about. One example is that psychometric services were previously provided by an external organization, but now, BPS has its own full-time psychometrics department. A second change is we are moving to continuously available testing, beginning with four specialties in 2023. (See FAQ) Additionally, BPS is updating maintenance of certification, or recertification, activities to better reflect activities a pharmacist may already be doing towards their professional development. In 2022, the Board of Directors voted to adopt a continuing professional development (CPD) component to recertification. Finally, BPS has reviewed requests for recognizing several new specialties for development of a board-certification program, including pharmacoinformatics. One personal vision that I have for 2023 is to better support community pharmacists who want to pursue and achieve the Board-Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP) credential.

 

BPS wouldn’t be the successful organization it is without the thousands of volunteer leaders and subject matter experts who have served on Councils, contributed to exam development activities, participated in job analyses, shared their stories and experiences, and maintained a host of other activities that keep BPS healthy and growing over the past several decades.

 

There is still work to be accomplished and I am looking forward to leading the organization throughout the next year with goals including increasing the number of BPS-recognized specialties, growing the number of board-certified pharmacists, and enhancing the way we communicate with our various stakeholders.

 

Gratitude is a mindset to be practiced and I have found throughout the years that there is much to be grateful for in our lives. I am grateful for my many years of involvement with BPS leadership. Thank you, to each of you, for your practice and your commitment to improving and providing care for the public, no matter where you are in the world.