Executive Summary
- Overview: The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) certifies pharmacists in advanced practices, recognizing about 60,000 certifications and issuing 6,000 digital badges annually. To enhance visibility and address data management challenges, BPS integrated Credly's API, automating badge issuance and recertification while reducing human error.
- Intent: By using Credly’s API to connect its internal database to the Credly digital credentialing platform, BPS saved significant time and reduced errors.
- Impact: BPS staff now has more time to engage its membership and is free to further enhance its certification programs to benefit members.
Navigating Growth: Embracing New Opportunities
The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) certifies pharmacists in advanced practices, such as pediatric and critical care pharmacy. BPS currently recognizes approximately 60,000 certifications in the U.S. and internationally, and it issues about 6,000 digital badges annually to pharmacists who pass certification exams.
In addition, BPS recently expanded its badging program to include BPS Brand Ambassadors, who promote the value of the organization’s certifications. BPS Ambassador badges recognize pharmacists’ important role in education and advocacy among their peers, and they boost BPS brand visibility and recognition.
Over the years, the organization’s certifications grew, but this success came with growth pains. Efficiently managing the data associated with earners’ badges became increasingly burdensome for the BPS team.
Transforming Recognition: The Power of Automation
As the number of issued badges climbed alongside the organization’s growth, BPS experienced more challenges in issuing badges for new certifications and retroactively issuing badges to existing earners. The process required creating and maintaining spreadsheets and then manually uploading data to the badging system.
Alexander Jean-Baptiste, Senior Manager for Content Marketing & Social Media at BPS, leads the organization’s digital badging efforts. He recognized the need for an efficient automation solution, as the existing process was labor-intensive and prone to human error.
To address the challenge, BPS took the following steps:
- Integrated Credly with its user database to enhance badge issuance.
- Utilized Credly's API to streamline badge issuance and updates.
- Developed a standardized process and created triggers for automation.
- Automated the issuance of digital badges upon passing an exam.
- Implemented automation for the recertification process.
Alex also highlighted other areas where digital certificates provide advantages. The team has seen strong engagement from their credential earners, particularly on social media platforms like LinkedIn. For example, after badges are issued following exam score releases, there’s a notable uptick in posts celebrating these achievements.
Digital badges allow earners to easily share and celebrate their accomplishments, and pharmacists have expressed appreciation for how effortlessly they can showcase their credentials on professional platforms like LinkedIn. BPS Ambassadors have also shared positive feedback about the sharable credentials, noting that the badges are valuable in promoting board certification.
The same goes for the ambassadors, who think digital badges serve as an important tool for promoting their roles, increasing the visibility of the program, and reinforcing BPS's broader outreach efforts.
BPS Ambassador & Badge Earner
“Sharing my ambassador badge was fun and easy – I liked being able to showcase a fun thing I was doing outside of the VA and promote board certification as I do believe it to be “gold standard”. - Rosana Steavenson, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, a Psychiatric Pharmacist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Time to Refocus on Certificant Engagement
The automation of the digital badge distribution process at BPS has been a game-changer in terms of efficiency and accuracy.
Automating badge issuance resulted in:
- Elimination of manual errors
- Significant time savings
- A more consistent and predictable experience for earners
- Increased availability for the team to concentrate on higher-value tasks, such as member engagement and strategic initiatives, ultimately enhancing overall operational efficiency
Credly analytics showed that BPS's badge-sharing rate had reached 47%, which aligns with the typical levels of organizations on the Credly platform. But with automation firmly in place, BPS is now poised to elevate badge engagement and sharing to new heights. The team is harnessing insights from their experiences to develop strategies to enhance sharing and acceptance rates through marketing campaigns.
To start, the BPS team improved their outreach by incorporating digital badge promotion into their congratulatory emails for newly certified pharmacists. This includes direct links to the newly developed webpages offering valuable resources, including templates for social media posts, suggested captions, and step-by-step instructions for accepting and sharing badges.
Since launching these dedicated webpages and resources, there has been a 37% reduction in customer service inquiries related to digital badges. This improvement in communication with earners has contributed to the overall success of the credentialing program by enhancing awareness and understanding.
Building on these lessons, the BPS experience offers key takeaways for organizations looking to streamline their certificate issuance process. Jean-Baptiste highlights two critical focus areas:
- Thoughtfully map processes in advance
It’s crucial to map the entire badge issuance process to identify triggers for issuing, updating, revoking or deleting badges. This planning process ensures a smooth, efficient workflow.
- Take full advantage of Credly marketing resources
Leveraging resources provided by Credly, such as tutorial videos and marketing materials. The videos, in particular, offer clear, step-by-step guidance for the earners, helping them navigate the badge acceptance and sharing process with ease. These resources have contributed to reducing support inquiries and have increased user satisfaction. Additionally, creating dedicated web pages using Credly materials enhances the visibility and marketability of credentials.
Elevating Recognition and Expanding Opportunities in Pharmacy
Overall, the integration of Credly’s digital badge platform has not only streamlined their operations but also enhanced the recognition and value of their certifications within the pharmacy profession. In light of this success, BPS is considering introducing more badges to recognize the contributions of BPS volunteers, including those in leadership roles and subject matter experts. The expansion would acknowledge their efforts while reinforcing BPS’ commitment to excellence in pharmacy.
In addition, the organization will introduce badges for its newer specialties, such as pain management pharmacy. And as BPS expands into other emerging specialized areas of pharmacy practice, the organization will continue to implement badges to recognize achievement in those fields as well.
To learn more about how Credly can accelerate your organization’s success, schedule a demo today.
