Accp Study Guide
Catherin Bergan
The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) currently recognizes 12 specialty practice areas. The American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) offers preparatory review courses and professional development programs approved by BPS for recertification for eight specialties.
Launched in 2012, the ACCP Pharmacotherapy Mock Exam is a 175-item question bank based on the domains, tasks, and knowledge statements outlined in the BPS content outline. Developed and reviewed by board-certified clinical pharmacists, the ACCP Pharmacotherapy Mock Exam provides a personalized analysis on the performance of the participant. This analysis includes the amount of time spent on each question and the types of questions most commonly missed or skipped by the participant. An answer key containing explained answers and references is also provided for further study. This tool is ideal for anyone studying for the Pharmacotherapy board exam, especially those who want to learn more about their potential strengths and weaknesses in preparing for the exam. To purchase the most current ACCP Pharmacotherapy Mock Exam, visit the ACCP Bookstore.
The ACCP Recertification Dashboard assists the BCACP, BCCCP, BCCP, BCGP, BCIDP, BCOP, BCPPS, or BCPS by compiling earned recertification credits; tracking new credits as they are earned; and scheduling new opportunities for credits from upcoming ACCP professional development programs. Types of credit and their sources are identified by a color-coded bar graph for easy identification of recertification credit status.
BPS guides provide information on certification examinations and recertification requirements for each of the recognized specialties. For additional information, visit the BPS Web site at www.bpsweb.org.
Swift and dramatic advancements in pharmacotherapy as well as the medical profession have designated the need for pharmacists with advanced training in areas of specialty. Similar to how physicians seek certification in a variety of medical specialties, pharmacists too seek specialty certification after adequate clinical training following pharmacy school graduation.
Established in 1976, the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) is the foremost post-licensure certification agency worldwide for the pharmacy profession. Establishing its role within the profession, over 26,000 pharmacists have sought to become a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) as of December 2015.
BPS offers board certifications in several areas including pharmacotherapy, ambulatory care, oncology care, nuclear, and critical care pharmacy just to name a few. Furthermore, BPS is looking to add supplemental specialty certification exams over the next few years in areas such as infectious diseases and cardiology.
There are several reasons pharmacists may desire to achieve BCPS status. Pharmacists that achieve BCPS certification are recognized within the pharmacy field for their enhanced level of pharmacotherapy knowledge and clinical decision making. Furthermore, BCPS certification can allow pharmacists to improve within the hierarchy of their employed institution as well as other professional organizations. Achieving BCPS designation can open opportunities to further enable these pharmacists to provide optimal levels of patient care in their practice.
To sit for a BCPS exam in pharmacotherapy specifically, BPS mandates a candidate must have graduated from an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited pharmacy school and have attained the necessary experience following graduation. This required experience qualifies as either three years of clinical practice experience, completion of an accredited PGY-1 pharmacy residency, or a passing score on the Pharmacotherapy Specialty Certification Examination.
As someone who has recently taken and passed the BCPS exam, I know firsthand how overwhelming the process can seem. However, there are several practices I have discovered that can be helpful when preparing for the exam. Hopefully the following may serve beneficial to others who are pursuing the BCPS designation.
You should get an idea of what your personal and work schedule will look like during the months preceding the test. Planning for a wedding, having a baby, or other major life events may supersede the importance of studying for the BCPS exam. Make sure you will be able to devote the time needed to adequately prepare yourself or you risk wasting time and money.
Also related to preparation, have an idea of what materials you may want to obtain prior to starting your studies. Some pharmacists purchase study guides from ACCP or some folks may review old notes from school or residency. If you have been out of residency or the classroom for a little while, it may be helpful to think back on your best personal self-study habits. One of the best sources for study materials will also be your peers who have recently taken the test.
What pharmacy topics are you strong in? What areas are you weak in or do you not practice regularly? Performing an assessment before starting to study will help you identify what areas you may need to focus on.
For example if you are sitting for the pharmacotherapy exam and your practice is heavily based on cardiology, maybe you only need to review a couple of topics in this area since you utilize these skills on a daily basis. Alternately, if say, infectious diseases is something you struggle with, it may be prudent to divert more of your attention toward this topic. Identification of certain gaps in your knowledge base will ensure you are adequately prepared for the exam.
Prior to studying for my exam, I reviewed a list of all the topics that were likely to be included on the exam. I then marked each topic that I was unfamiliar with or do not utilize on a daily basis; this ensured that I would focus on these topics first when studying for the exam.
Practice tests should be a key component in helping prepare for any exam. You can schedule a practice exam once you have finished reviewing all of the material, once you have gotten through a bulk of it, or at baseline if you would like to identify areas to focus on. By taking a practice exam, this will help orient you towards the particular style of the test.
Answering practice questions may help identify a certain culture in regards to how the questions are asked and what answers they are looking for. Additionally, if you notice you score low on a particular set of questions, this may direct you to focus more on a particular topic that you may have not realized was a problem.
Most importantly, practice tests can help inspire confidence. By seeing yourself answer correct questions, this can provide a positive feedback loop and reinforce appropriate methods of preparing. After achieving success in these practice exams, I felt more comfortable walking into my exam on test day since I had confidence in my ability to answer correct questions.
Before preparing to study for the BCPS, I had heard from other pharmacists that had taken the exam that statistics had been the bane of their existence. Many pharmacists may read clinical trials and studies on a near daily basis, but how many truly understand the rationale behind the statistics involved?
Make sure you brush up on the statistics section, regardless of your comfort level with the topic. The exam always includes several questions related to statistical methods, equations, and trial designs. Ensure you have adequate preparation materials that cover the most commonly seen topics in the exam.
Most importantly, make sure you answer all of the questions. Unlike other exams you may have previously taken, unanswered questions will be marked as incorrect so it is in your best interest to answer every question on the exam.
If you find yourself dwelling on one question for a while, skip it and move on to other questions. When you have finished answering the other questions towards the end of the exam, go back and select the unanswered questions. At that time, you will have an accurate assessment of how much time you can truly spend on individual questions before running out of time.
The American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) offers a monthly article from the The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (JCP) for continuing education credit. See the CE Info tab for more information on credits. The ACCP JCP Journal CE articles are priced and packaged for January through December of the same calendar year. Packages are available at no cost to ACCP Members and $75/calendar year to Non-members. Once registered, learners have access to all of the Journal CE articles for the calendar year as the articles are released.
To register, log into your ACCP online profile and then register by clicking the green Register button at the top right. Follow the online prompts to complete the registration process and to receive your registration confirmation. If you do not have an ACCP profile, one must be created before you can register for the Journal CE articles. If you do not know if you have a profile, please contact IN...@ACCP1.org for further information to avoid creating duplicate profiles. Please address all other questions to C...@ACCP1.org.
All requirements for claiming CE credits are listed in the CE Info (Handout) tab. Continuing education credits and certificates must be claimed within 30-days of completing the monthly article offering. Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) data is uploaded into the CPE Monitor at the end of each month. The pharmacist's NABP# and MMDD of birth must be updated in their ACCP Profile or emailed to C...@ACCP1.org in order to have CPE credits uploaded to the CPE Monitor.
This study explores innovative methods to predict body fat content using easily measurable anthropometric variables like age, height, weight and waist circumference instead of relying on the expensive and less accessible dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning. This research is crucial as it provides an improved and validated algorithm for predicting absolute body fat, which can enhance clinical practices related to obesity management. Understanding these new predictive methods can directly impact practice, especially considering the critical role that body composition plays in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Efficient and accurate body fat estimation methods are essential for optimizing drug dosing and therapeutic strategies in obese patients, thereby improving treatment outcomes and patient care. Learners that complete this activity will be provided an evidence-based, validated and predictive algorithm as an alternative to DXA scanning to accurately estimate absolute body fat.
c80f0f1006