Knowledge and Attitude towards Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) Certification among Pharmacists and Pharmacy Students: A Cross Sectional Survey

Background: For decades, the American Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) has provided specialty certification programs for pharmacists. As pharmacists become involved in more advanced patient care services, board certification becomes an essential component to ensuring quality care. The aim of this study was to measure the self-reported knowledge and attitude towards the BPS certification. Methods: A cross sectional study included all pharmacy students and pharmacists at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) and King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAA/IC), respectively. However, the administrative pharmacy staff was not included. This is a manually distributed survey was adopted from previous published observational study. The survey included 6 demographic, 12 knowledge and 15 attitude questions where the participant rank from 1 to 5 (1: very poor, 2: poor, 3: Average, 4: good and 5: very good). This study is approved by IRB. Descriptive statistics were primarily used to analyze data. Categorical responses were compared using Chi-square tests. Result: In total of 221 participants agreed to participate in the study based on convenient sampling, there were more female participants (134, 60.6%) than male (87, 39.4%). More number of participants (191, 86.4%) were under the age-group <= 30 years. The overall mean age was found to be 25.20 +/- 5.86 (20-60) years. Among 221 participants, 118 (53.4%) were students and 103 (46.6%) were employees. The current study found that 55.2% of respondents have a good knowledge about BPS certification. However, only 48.4% of participants reported their interest in pursuing board certification in their future career. Conclusion: Many respondents were aware of BPS certification, learning the most through didactic and experiential activities, and many indicated they are considering pursuing BPS certification. College of pharmacy and professional organizations can help provide educational session regarding board certification and professional development opportunities.