Clinical pharm

[WorkaholicsAnon]

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I saw this is a fellowship internal medicine-trained MDs can pursue. Anyone know more about this field and what it involves? Why is it less popular? Seems like a cool field theoretically. Then again I dont know what it's REALLY like.

 

[dragonfly99]

It's not really a real fellowship area, in the sense that there aren't really any practicing "clinical pharmacists" and no recognized board exam. There are PharmD clinical pharmacists as well, which makes things confusing.
There are institutions that offer clinical pharm fellowships for PhD or MD's. These are basically a glorified postdoc and usually involve bench research. There is a board exam you can take, but it's not recognized or administered by the ABIM and costs quite a bit of money, so very few people do it. If you want to pursue a career in basic science research, with or without a clinical research component, clinical pharm fellowship might help you, but I wouldn't do one if your goal is to treat patients.

 

[bigpharmD]

It's not really a real fellowship area, in the sense that there aren't really any practicing "clinical pharmacists" and no recognized board exam. There are PharmD clinical pharmacists as well, which makes things confusing.
There are institutions that offer clinical pharm fellowships for PhD or MD's. These are basically a glorified postdoc and usually involve bench research. There is a board exam you can take, but it's not recognized or administered by the ABIM and costs quite a bit of money, so very few people do it. If you want to pursue a career in basic science research, with or without a clinical research component, clinical pharm fellowship might help you, but I wouldn't do one if your goal is to treat patients.

Just to clarify their used to be "clinical pharmacologists" in hospitals. These physicians would get consulted to do many of the same things that clinical pharmacists do now. Back in the day these groups hated each other, but clinical pharmacists kind of took over this role as the speciality didnt get enough physicians. There is at least one program with practicing physicians that I know of. I think it is at Harvard.

 

[Scottish Chap]

It's not really a real fellowship area, in the sense that there aren't really any practicing "clinical pharmacists" and no recognized board exam.

A couple more clarifications are needed: there is in fact a board examination administered by the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. Most people are MDs, but some PhDs (and indeed PharmDs) are also eligible if they have completed the appropriate fellowship. There are around 10 or so fellowships in clinical pharmacology in the U.S. One of the best is at Indiana University (the director played a role in my decision to go to medical school, actually....I digress). Georgetown also has a fellowship, as does Hopkins and, I believe, UCSF. Our hospital has a few clinical pharmacologists who round on the floors and make recommendations and they are on consult service. One is a MD/PharmD. Clin pharm is a wide-open field that many people do not know about.

 

[dragonfly99]

A couple more clarifications are needed: there is in fact a board examination administered by the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.

Yes, I know there is. But the exam is not one of the ABIM specialty exams. There really isn't much definite benefit to taking this exam and paying for it, unless one plans to go into academia and become an academic clinical pharmacist. The exam is only given once every year or two, you have to travel to one certain place in the country to take it, and pay a lot of money.

 

[Scottish Chap]

It's actually held in six places in the U.S. and the exam fee is <$1000; not that different from any other professional exam. The whole point of the organization is to generate trained, academic clinical pharmacologists, and the credential is useful for those interested in the field. For those of you that have been sending me PMs, you might want to read the ABCP site for more information on accredited training programs: http://www.abcp.net/

 

[dragonfly99]

It is different in the sense that being board certified in a lot of medical specialties is pretty much expected and is required for many jobs. There are a lot of people who do clinical pharmacology fellowships but never take the exam, because there isn't really any definite benefit besides having something else to put on your resume. It might be helpful if you plan to do academics (particularly staying in the area of pharmacology). I'm not saying people shouldn't take the test, but it isn't necessary in the same way the specialty boards in peds, IM or surgery are. I have done a clinical pharm. fellowship and I think only one of the trainees was actually planning to take the exam.