Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Ryan Abel bps@aphanet.org 202-429-7591
September 28, 2009

BPS Sets New Candidate and Site Records in 2009

Washington, DC -- The Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS), an organization whose purpose is to recognize pharmacy specialties and certify pharmacists' knowledge and skills, will administer its written specialty certification and re-certification examinations to a total of approximately 2,300 candidates at 54 sites world-wide on the first weekend in October 2009.  These numbers once again set new records for the largest number of candidates and exam sites in the 33-year history of BPS.   Over 300 additional candidates are expected to re-certify using approved continuing education programs prior to the end of 2009.

The number of new examination candidates was up approximately 15% over the previous high registrations in 2008.  “These increases are highly significant,” reported Terry L. Schwinghammer, PharmD, BCPS, and BPS Chairman.  “The numbers suggest that BPS specialty certification is becoming widely recognized and valued as a credential for specialty-level pharmacy clinicians.”

The 2009 BPS examinations will be administered at 37 sites across the United States (including sites in Alaska and Hawaii) as well as 17 foreign locations, including Al Ain, United Arab Emirates;  Bangkok, Thailand; Beirut, Lebanon; Collingwood (Victoria), Australia;  Cairo, Egypt; Florence, Italy; Madrid, Spain; Montreal (Quebec) Canada; Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Seoul, South Korea; Singapore; Toronto (Ontario) Canada; and four DANTES military sites in Germany, Guam, Iraq, and Qatar.  Another record high number of 228 candidates have applied to take BPS exams in these foreign locations. This is nearly a 20% increase over last year. “The expansion of our foreign exams indicates the growing recognition of BPS specialty certification worldwide,” notes Richard J. Bertin, PhD, BPS Executive Director. “BPS has been providing additional local test sites in foreign and domestic locations for several years with the goal of making the specialty certification process accessible to more pharmacist specialists.”
 
The Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) is an autonomous Division of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), founded in January 1976 to recognize specialties and certify pharmacists in specialized areas of pharmacy practice. Six specialties are currently recognized by BPS:  1) nuclear pharmacy, since 1978; 2) nutrition support pharmacy, since 1988; 3) pharmacotherapy, since 1988; 4) psychiatric pharmacy, since 1992; and 5) oncology pharmacy, since 1996.   The latest BPS specialty, focused on ambulatory care pharmacy, was approved in June 2009, and is scheduled for its first examination in 2011.  Nearly 8,000 pharmacist specialists are currently certified by BPS.