Pharmacist‐led therapeutic drug monitoring: implementation of a successful credentialing model

Extended scope of practice roles for pharmacists are relatively new in the Australian hospital setting; however they are increasing in uptake. Therapeutic drug monitoring ( TDM ) represents a critical area for the involvement of pharmacists. The Alfred Health Pharmacy Department introduced a pharmacist‐led TDM program in 2012 for the vancomycin and aminoglycoside antibiotics. Following the development of an in‐house credentialing program, nearly 160 pharmacists have been successfully credentialed through the initial program and 95 pharmacists through annual re‐credentialing to date. The credentialing program consists of both initial credentialing (including a didactic lecture, pre‐reading, multiple choice questions and real‐life clinical cases) and annual re‐credentialing (including multiple choice questions and real‐life clinical cases). This paper aims to describe the innovative credentialing program that has been developed and sustained to meet the needs of a vancomycin and aminoglycoside pharmacist‐led therapeutic drug monitoring program.