The following ingredients were necessary for a successful outcome:
- One supportive, patient, loving, handsome, athletic yet manly sensitive, keen intellected and self-sacrificing husband (Aaron helped me with this list)
- 7 months of intensive studying -- as sanity allowed
- A large amount of $$$$ to travel to review conferences, purchase study materials, and pay for the examination fees
- Supportive co-workers who continually offered words of encouragement and motivation while hiding their duress and forlorn disappointment at my lack of companionship, unmatched wit, sparkling conversation and enchanting enticing personality during lunch breaks (spent studying)
Why become Board Certified if it took all that work and sacrifice? "Specialty certification in pharmacy offers real value and benefits to patients, health care professionals, employers, health care systems, pharmacist specialists, and the general public. Board certified pharmacist specialists contribute significantly to optimal, cost-effective drug treatment in their specialty practice areas. Board certification offers an opportunity for pharmacist specialists to demonstrate advanced skills and knowledge, and is a means of informing the public and other health care professionals of the pharmacist specialist's educational and practice accomplishments. Many certified pharmacist specialists have reported enhanced recognition from colleagues in other health care professions. Others report a "competitive edge" in job placement and advancement. Still others have received reimbursement from third party payers, increased salaries, one-time bonuses, or other monetary benefits because their skills and knowledge are validated through a national board certification process."
How do I become board certified?
"There are four basic eligibility requirements for board certification:
- entry-level pharmacy degree;
- current active pharmacy license;
- defined additional training and experience in the specialty; and
- passing the specialty certification examination."
How is BPS certification different from a license, certificate program, or continuing education?
"Certification is a voluntary process by which a practitioner's education, experience, knowledge and skills are confirmed by an agency of the profession as meeting or surpassing a defined standard beyond that required for licensure. BPS certification is the only designation within the pharmacy profession recognizing training, experience, knowledge, and skill at the specialist level, measured against an established national standard.
Licensure is the process by which a government agency grants permission to an individual to practice upon finding the applicant has attained the basic degree of competency necessary to ensure public health, safety, and welfare.
"Pharmacists today practice in an environment that is changing rapidly and dramatically. Drug therapy, as an integral part of contemporary health care, has become increasingly complex, requiring new practice modes and competencies. In response to the needs of the public and the health care system, the pharmacy profession has developed several areas of practice specialization. Board certification in those specialty practice areas, recognized by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS), provides an objective, independent process by which pharmacist specialists can demonstrate specialized education, experience, knowledge and skills.
The BPS was established in 1976 by the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) to respond to the evolving requirements of patients and the health care system. BPS' mission is to recognize specialty practice areas, define knowledge and skill standards for recognized specialties, evaluate the knowledge and skills of individual pharmacist specialists, and serve as a source of information and coordinating agency for pharmacy specialties."
All information in quotation marks was taken from the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties web site at www.bpsweb.org.
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