Two new pharmacy specialties, in critical care and paediatrics, to boost quality of care

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has introduced two new pharmacy specialties to better cater to the complex needs of critically ill patients and children.

Speaking at this year’s pharmacist’s pledge affirmation ceremony on Friday (June 7), Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the Pharmacy Specialists Accreditation Board (PSAB) has started accrediting existing registered pharmacists with relevant experience in two new specialties — critical care and paediatric pharmacy — since February this year.

“Critical care specialist pharmacists apply their knowledge and skills to ensure the safe and effective use of medications in critically ill patients,” he said.

“Paediatric specialist pharmacists, on the other hand, play an important role in optimising medication use, improving safe use of medicines and reducing medication errors and adverse drug effects in paediatric patient.”

These “highly skilled pharmacy specialists” are also expected to contribute in new service development and quality improvement, clinical leadership, education and research in their respective areas, MOH said.

The board started accrediting existing pharmacists who have attained specialist-level competencies through on-the-job training and practice. It will continue accrediting existing pharmacists with relevant expertise in the two new specialties until the end of next year.

The MOH said that applicants should possess a valid specialty board certification recognised by PSAB; have at least eight years of patient-care pharmacy practice experience; and at least five years of specialty practice experience in the seven years before the application.

The ministry has introduced five pharmacy specialties since 2012. These are in cardiology pharmacy, geriatric pharmacy, infectious diseases pharmacy, oncology pharmacy, and psychiatric pharmacy.

There are now 32 pharmacy specialists who are contributing in the management of "complex" patients with cancers, infectious and cardiovascular diseases, as well as psychiatric and geriatric conditions.

NEW RESIDENCY PROGRAMMES

In July 2020, new national residency programmes for the critical care and paediatric pharmacy specialties will be introduced to provide structured training to pharmacists who are keen to specialise in these two areas.

Upon successful completion of the Year 1 and Year 2 residency training and having accumulated required specialist practice experience and acquired the relevant specialty board certification, pharmacists can apply to the PSAB to be accredited. After successful accreditation, they can register with the Singapore Pharmacy Council as a pharmacy specialist.

As part of ongoing efforts to develop a “future-ready” pharmacy workforce to meet the needs of an ageing population and increased chronic disease incidence, the PSAB has also implemented new training and programme accreditation standards for the National Pharmacy Residency Programmes since April this year.

The new training standards have adopted an enhanced portfolio-based learning and assessment framework since the July 2018 intake to provide more structured and robust training for residents.

Under the guidance of faculty members, residents will take greater ownership of their training by maintaining a portfolio and performing regular self-reflections on their progress.

At the end of the programme, the portfolios of residents will be reviewed by two individual portfolio assessors and clarified through an oral examination to ensure that all required competencies are met, and the final outcome will be concluded by a Board of Examiners, MOH said.

Since May 2018, 238 senior pharmacists have attended portfolio training workshops to be equipped with the skills to build and assess practice portfolio.

This concept of maintaining a “practice portfolio” will help pharmacists chart their professional development and attainment of competencies, Mr Gan said.