BackgroundBoard Certification through the BPS (Board of Pharmacy Specialties) has become recognised for identifying pharmacists working at advanced levels of practice. Spanish hospital pharmacists are becoming more interested in such certification.

Purpose To report the Spanish presence in BPS accreditation and track the growth in the number of BPS-accredited hospital pharmacists over the last 3 years.

Materials and methods Data were collected from the BPS website (www.bpsweb.org) in April 2013 and compared to previously published data acquired in September 2009 (Farmacia Hospitalaria 2009; 34(6): 314–316).

Results When we last looked in October 2012, there are 15,862 BPS certified pharmacists worldwide, an increase of 22% from 2011. In Spain, there are 112 certified pharmacists. In 2009, there were 84 certified pharmacists, which means there has been a 33% increase in that time. Most certified pharmacists are in the USA (94%); although Spain, with 0.7%, is the second country in the world by number of BPS certified pharmacists. By specialty, the certified pharmacists in Spain are: 70 (62%) Board Certified Oncology Pharmacists (BCOP) (55 in 2009); 29 (26%) Board Certified Nutrition Support Pharmacists (BCNSP) (28 in 2009); and 14 (12%) Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialists (BCPS) (1 in 2009). Currently, only one Spanish pharmacist is certified in two specialties (BCOP and BCNP). The largest relative increase has been experienced in the BCPS specialty (13-fold), followed by that in BCOP (27%); meanwhile the number of BCNSP specialists remained almost the same.

Conclusions The number of BPS-certified pharmacists in Spain has increased significantly over the last three years. The newly-certified pharmacists are not equally distributed over the years, which is presumably related to the biannual preparation courses (in BCOP and BCNSP certifications). BCPS certification in Spain has grown dramatically during this period, which suggests a growing interest in this qualification.

No conflict of interest.