specializing and residency

[staroceanX]

I'm very curious with the specializations that pharmacists could do. It's quite fasinating and exciting. I've read various articles about various specialties and was wondering how long it takes to get there. For example, let's consider oncology pharmacists. I know you need to take the board exam to acquire the BCOP. However, what prepares you for that exam? I've heard that residency experience would help a lot at that field. How many years are residency in general for a pharmacist? I certainly hope it's not as long as physician residencies... What is the difference between internships and residency?

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[kwakster928]

I'm very curious with the specializations that pharmacists could do. It's quite fasinating and exciting. I've read various articles about various specialties and was wondering how long it takes to get there. For example, let's consider oncology pharmacists. I know you need to take the board exam to acquire the BCOP. However, what prepares you for that exam? I've heard that residency experience would help a lot at that field. How many years are residency in general for a pharmacist? I certainly hope it's not as long as physician residencies... What is the difference between internships and residency?

internships are required in order for you to sit on the board exam to get your license. in PA you are required to complete at least 1600 hours prior to taking yoru board exam. residency comes after you obtained your license. i believe there are 5 spcialized area of pharmacy that you can get a board certification for. pharmacotherapy, nuclear, nutrition support, oncolgy and psychitary (please correct me if i am wrong here) i think in order to get the board certificiation you need at least 3 years of clinical experience. but one year of residency is equivalent of 3 years of regular clinical experience. i also believe you have to take the board certificiation exam and have to be retaken couple years or so. problem with the all these board certification is that 1. not many jobs are around, 2. even if the job is aruond you are generally do not get compensated very well compared to regular pharmacist. yes you can differencitiate among others by persuing all these things. i think you have to look 20 years in to the future. perhaps it might not be beneficial now but i think as profession of pharamcy moves into clinical setting more and more, your board certification might be a valuable asset toward getting your dream job. but again, i can be completely wrong and we all be out of jobs. but lets hope that that doesn't happen.

 

[jdpharmd?]

Here is all you ever wanted to know: http://www.bpsweb.org/FAQs/FAQs.shtml