Understanding the World of Expertise: What are the 8 specialty areas of pharmacy?

October 10, 2025 •

5 min read

With more than 62,250 pharmacist certifications recognized worldwide by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) across fifteen specialties, the field of pharmacy offers a wide array of career paths. For those wondering what are the 8 specialty areas of pharmacy, this guide breaks down some of the most prominent fields where pharmacists focus their advanced knowledge to improve patient outcomes.

Quick Summary

Pharmacists can specialize in advanced practice areas such as ambulatory care, geriatrics, oncology, and pediatrics. Specialization through board certification demonstrates enhanced knowledge and skills, enabling pharmacists to manage complex drug therapies and improve patient safety and care.

Key Points

Ambulatory Care Pharmacy: Focuses on managing chronic diseases in outpatient settings, like clinics and community pharmacies.
Oncology Pharmacy: Specializes in the complex and often hazardous medication therapies used to treat cancer patients.
Pediatric Pharmacy: Ensures safe and effective medication use for newborns through adolescents, often requiring custom dosing and compounding.
Geriatric Pharmacy: Manages complex medication regimens for older adults, addressing polypharmacy and age-related changes in drug metabolism.
Pharmacotherapy: A broad clinical specialization for pharmacists who optimize medication therapy in hospitals and other diverse settings.
Nuclear Pharmacy: Involves the preparation and handling of radioactive materials for diagnostic imaging and therapy.
Compounded Sterile Preparations Pharmacy: Ensures the quality and safety of sterile medications, such as IV drips and injections, adhering to strict regulations.
Critical Care Pharmacy: Integrates pharmacists into ICU teams to manage complex medication needs for critically ill patients and respond to emergencies.

The Importance of Pharmacy Specialization

While all pharmacists possess a broad knowledge of medications and their uses, the growing complexity of modern healthcare has led to a greater need for specialized expertise. Just as doctors can specialize in areas like cardiology or oncology, pharmacists can pursue advanced training and certification in specific fields. This enables them to provide a higher level of care for patients with complex medical needs, from managing multiple medications in the elderly to preparing custom treatments for children. Board certification, recognized by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS), is the gold standard for validating a pharmacist's advanced knowledge and experience in a particular area.

Ambulatory Care Pharmacy

Ambulatory care pharmacists work with patients in outpatient settings, such as community pharmacies, clinics, and doctor's offices. Their focus is on chronic disease state management, preventative care, and patient education. They often work under collaborative practice agreements with physicians to provide accessible, integrated healthcare services.

Patient Care: Optimizing medication therapy for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and asthma.
Education: Counseling patients on lifestyle changes, proper medication use, and adherence.
Intervention: Identifying and resolving potential drug-related problems before they become serious.

Geriatric Pharmacy

Geriatric pharmacists specialize in the unique medication needs of older adults. They manage complex medication regimens for patients with multiple comorbidities and address issues like altered drug metabolism, polypharmacy, and drug interactions common in this population. Their work is crucial for ensuring medication safety and efficacy in a vulnerable patient group.

Medication Therapy Management: Reconciling and simplifying medication lists to reduce polypharmacy.
Safety Monitoring: Watching for adverse drug events and interactions in older patients.
Consultation: Advising physicians and other healthcare providers on appropriate therapies for geriatric patients.

Oncology Pharmacy

Oncology pharmacists are experts in the complex world of cancer treatment. They work with oncologists to design, implement, and monitor pharmacotherapeutic plans involving chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and supportive care. This specialization requires extensive knowledge of cytotoxic drugs, side effect management, and supportive therapies.

Drug Preparation: Preparing and handling hazardous chemotherapy drugs safely.
Patient Monitoring: Tracking a patient's response to therapy and managing dose modifications.
Supportive Care: Recommending medications to manage nausea, pain, and other side effects.

Pediatric Pharmacy

Pediatric pharmacists provide safe and effective medication therapy for children, from newborns to adolescents. This field requires specialized knowledge of how a child's growing body affects drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Pharmacists in this area often prepare specialized dosage forms, like custom-flavored liquids or creams.

Dose Calculation: Precisely calculating medication doses based on a child's weight and age.
Compounding: Customizing dosage forms to make medications palatable and easy to administer to children.
Patient Education: Communicating medication information effectively to both the child and their family.

Pharmacotherapy

Pharmacotherapy is a broad clinical specialization focused on the safe, appropriate, and economical use of medications in a variety of practice settings, particularly hospitals. A pharmacotherapy specialist serves as an evidence-based source of therapeutic information and works with interprofessional teams to optimize medication therapy.

Inpatient Care: Collaborating with physicians to design and adjust medication regimens for hospitalized patients.
Evidence-Based Practice: Using clinical data and research to provide therapeutic recommendations.
Disease State Management: Optimizing therapy for diverse patient populations across a range of disease states.

Compounded Sterile Preparations Pharmacy

Compounded sterile preparations (CSPs) pharmacists ensure that sterile medications, such as intravenous (IV) solutions, are prepared safely and meet quality standards. This highly technical specialization focuses on minimizing the risk of contamination and ensuring accurate preparation, storage, and administration of high-risk sterile products.

Aseptic Compounding: Preparing medications in a sterile environment using specialized techniques.
Quality Assurance: Testing and verifying the quality and purity of all compounded sterile products.
Regulatory Compliance: Adhering to strict state and federal regulations, like USP <797>.

Nuclear Pharmacy

Nuclear pharmacists prepare radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals) for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, such as PET scans and certain cancer treatments. This specialty requires advanced knowledge of radiation physics, safety, and regulatory compliance, and these pharmacists often work in commercial labs or large hospital settings.

Radiopharmaceutical Preparation: Compounding, dispensing, and testing radioactive drugs.
Radiation Safety: Ensuring the safe handling, storage, and transport of radioactive materials.
Quality Control: Performing checks on equipment and radiopharmaceutical purity.

Critical Care Pharmacy

Critical care pharmacists work as integral members of the healthcare team in intensive care units (ICUs). They focus on managing complex medication therapies for critically ill patients and participate in medical emergency response. Their expertise is essential for making rapid, life-saving decisions about drug therapy.

Patient Monitoring: Assessing and adjusting medications for unstable patients with rapidly changing conditions.
Emergency Response: Responding to codes and other medical emergencies to assist with medication administration.
Therapeutic Recommendations: Advising physicians on drug choices, dosing, and drug interactions for critically ill patients.

Comparison of Pharmacy Specialties


Feature	Ambulatory Care	Oncology Pharmacy	Pediatric Pharmacy	Geriatric Pharmacy
Patient Focus	Chronic disease states in outpatients	Cancer patients of all ages	Pediatric patients (newborn to adolescent)	Older adults with complex needs
Primary Setting	Clinics, community pharmacies	Hospitals, cancer centers	Children's hospitals, clinics	Long-term care facilities, clinics
Key Responsibility	Chronic disease management, patient education	Chemotherapy preparation and monitoring	Dose calculation, custom compounding	Managing polypharmacy, medication safety
Typical Patient Interaction	Direct patient counseling and follow-up	Working with the oncology team and patients	Counseling families, direct patient interaction	Medication reviews, counseling patients/caregivers

Conclusion

The eight specialty areas of pharmacy represent a significant evolution from the traditional community pharmacist role, highlighting the profession's increasing complexity and importance in modern medicine. Whether through a focus on a specific patient demographic (geriatrics, pediatrics), a particular disease state (oncology, critical care), or a technical process (compounded sterile preparations, nuclear), these specializations enable pharmacists to apply their advanced expertise in high-impact settings. Pursuing board certification in one of these fields not only validates a pharmacist's skills but also directly contributes to improved patient safety and health outcomes across the healthcare continuum. These specialized roles offer rewarding career paths and demonstrate the diverse ways pharmacists can make a difference in patient care.

Authoritative Outbound Link

For more detailed information on the full range of pharmacy specialties and the certification process, visit the official website of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS).

Frequently Asked Questions

A general pharmacist has a broad understanding of all medications and practices in a variety of settings, like a retail pharmacy. A specialty pharmacist has pursued additional training and board certification in a specific area, demonstrating advanced expertise to manage complex therapies for a particular patient population or disease state.

To become board-certified, pharmacists must be licensed, graduate from an accredited program, complete a certain number of years of practice experience or a specialized residency, and pass a rigorous certification examination administered by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS).

Many specialties require a postgraduate year two (PGY2) residency in the specific field, such as a PGY2 in Oncology or Pediatric Pharmacy. This advanced training provides the in-depth experience necessary for board certification.

Ambulatory care pharmacists work in a variety of outpatient settings, including community pharmacies, primary care clinics, hospital-based clinics, and managed care organizations.

One of the major challenges for geriatric pharmacists is managing polypharmacy, which is the use of multiple medications by a single patient. Older adults often have several chronic conditions requiring different medications, increasing the risk of adverse drug events and interactions.

Compounding sterile preparations is a specialty because it involves a high-risk process requiring strict adherence to aseptic techniques and quality control to prevent contamination. The products, often administered intravenously, have a high potential for patient harm if not prepared correctly.

Yes, nuclear pharmacists work with radioactive materials, but they receive specialized training in radiation physics and safety to ensure the safe handling, storage, and preparation of these radiopharmaceuticals.