Pharmacists Successfully Implement Independent Roles at Dermatology Clinics
Researchers explored how entrustable professional activities can revolutionize workplace-based training and evolve the role of pharmacists within dermatology clinics.
Among pharmacists in dermatology clinics, researchers saw significant success in the implementation of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) with the potential to broaden pharmacists’ scope of practice, according to a study published in JAPhA Practice Innovations.1
Researchers’ review of EPAs in dermatology clinics can now be used as a model for implementing pharmacist training in other specialized settings outside of dermatology, highlighting pharmacists’ ability to seamlessly integrate with collaborative teams.
“The current landscape of pharmacy practice presents a notable gap for pharmacists specializing in dermatology who seek to establish clinics and specialized services,” wrote the authors.1 “Unlike other specialized fields, there is a lack of a specific Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) certification tailored to dermatology.”
Researchers explored multidisciplinary health care teams featuring dermatologists, pharmacists, and scholars that all collaborated under the same setting. | image credit: Seventyfour / stock.adobe.com
While BPS certifications are common in the pharmacy industry, there are still no specialties involving skin care or dermatology. There are, however, certifications in pharmacy for pediatrics, infectious diseases, geriatrics, pain management, ambulatory care, and many more areas within health care.2
READ MORE: How Community Pharmacists Can Personalize Skin Awareness Counseling
In their attempt at assessing the lack of dermatological specialties, researchers explored the potential avenues that could potentially address this gap in specialization. The researchers’ idea was to provide a model for EPAs in dermatology clinics that could be adapted and developed in future initiatives, both within and outside of the dermatology space.
“This study aimed to explore the feasibility of EPAs to offer a transformative, workplace-based training approach that addresses the unique needs of specialized settings and interdisciplinary teams, thereby evolving the role of dermatology clinical pharmacists and pharmacy services across various dermatology subspecialties,” continued the authors.1
To conduct their study, researchers explored multidisciplinary health care teams featuring dermatologists, pharmacists, and scholars that collaborated on EPAs and created a framework aligning pharmacist roles with dermatologists in specialized clinics.
Participants within each team were then given an assessment based on each members’ role during EPAs. Assessments were given to measure team members’ competencies in specific dermatological areas. These tests were also designed to measure competencies at baseline and eventually work toward entrusting the trainee with his or her ability to perform the professional activity.
Researchers identified a total of 6 workplace-based EPAs and then tested their feasibility.
“The establishment of the inaugural dermatology pharmacist ‘eczema’ clinic presented a unique opportunity to leverage the EPA-based workplace assessment model by efficiently allocating certain patient groups to pharmacist-led clinics, freeing up dermatologist appointments for complex and new cases,” they continued.1 “The commendation and recognition of the pharmacist ‘eczema’ clinic by institutional leaders not only underscored its success but also opened avenues for pharmacists to extend their expertise into other dermatology subspecialties including psoriasis, acne, urticaria, and androgenetic alopecia.”
After gathering study results of EPA implementation, the researchers agreed that their pilot program was a success. First, the collaborative care pilot initiative functioned for about 3 years and dermatologists provided 107 direct referrals in support of the clinic. They also uncovered benefits for both patients and providers: All patients had cost savings of up to 45% for consultations and appointment slots were further freed up for providers.
The researchers believe that their findings have the potential to significantly expand the scope of pharmacists—a group of providers who welcome the active expansion of their roles within care. These findings, however, cannot solely be applied to dermatology.
“Pharmacist services are known to improve patient outcomes and are safe, and patients desire them,” they said.1 “Pharmacists themselves desire to practice in a workplace that recognize the value of pharmacists in patient care. Key characteristics of these roles include the pharmacist’s ability to provide a full scope of services, with trust in their competency to perform independently and without restrictive policies or legislation.”
With pharmacists’ expertise in medications, patient interactions, and so much more, they are specifically positioned to perform tasks, or EPAs in the case of this study, that give time back to other providers that specialize in specific areas like dermatology. Upon the significant success of EPAs explored in this study, researchers believe their proposed model can make a significant impact on pharmacists’ scope of practice going forward.
“Although EPAs provide a robust framework for assessing pharmacists’ readiness for independent practice, careful consideration of resource implications, standardization challenges, and potential subjectivity in assessment is essential for ensuring the reliability and validity of privileging decisions based on EPAs. This EPA framework, although initially tailored for dermatology, holds versatile applicability and can effectively be adopted by any specialized setting,” concluded authors of the study.1
READ MORE: Dermatology Resource Center
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