Facts on this page are taken from the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) Infectious Diseases Pharmacy page and the BCIDP Examination Specifications (effective October 2025). BPS updates its requirements periodically, so always confirm the latest details, dates and fees on bpsweb.org before you apply.
What is BCIDP?
BCIDP is the specialty credential awarded by BPS to pharmacists who lead antimicrobial stewardship and the prevention, assessment, treatment and monitoring of patients who have, or are at risk of, infectious diseases. It validates the advanced knowledge and experience to optimise outcomes for patients with infections, improve public health and limit antimicrobial resistance.
Exam at a glance
| Credential | BPS Board-Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist (BCIDP) |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 150 multiple-choice items: 125 scored and 25 unscored pretest items. You can't tell which are which, so treat every question as if it counts. |
| Time allowed | 3 hours 45 minutes, which works out to 1.5 minutes per question |
| Question style | Mostly patient cases: history, cultures and susceptibilities, labs and the current regimen, followed by one or more questions |
| Certification period | 7 years, then recertification (see below) |
Timed sessions in RxBlueprint allow exactly 1.5 minutes per question, so you practise at the real exam pace from day one.
Eligibility
You need to meet all three of these requirements before you apply:
- Education. A degree from an ACPE-accredited pharmacy program, or from a program outside the U.S. that qualifies you to practise where you are.
- Licensure. A current, active license or registration to practise pharmacy in the U.S. or another jurisdiction.
- Experience, within the past 7 years, by one of these routes:
- Practice route: at least 4 years of infectious diseases pharmacy practice after licensure, with at least 50% of your time spent on activities in the BCIDP content outline.
- PGY1 plus practice: a completed PGY1 residency plus at least 2 years of infectious diseases pharmacy practice, again with at least 50% of your time in the content outline.
- PGY2 route: a completed PGY2 residency in infectious diseases pharmacy.
Practice experience must come after licensure, and your employer confirms it with a letter on company letterhead. Residencies must be accredited by ASHP (or have candidate status); for year-1 programs in Canada, CPRB accreditation also counts.
What's tested: the content outline
The exam follows a published content outline, built from a job analysis that BPS repeats every five years. It has three domains, weighted as shown.
1. Pathophysiology and epidemiology of infections — 18%
| 1A Causes of infectious diseases (9%) | Bacterial · Viral · Fungal · Parasitic and other infections |
|---|---|
| 1B Microbiology (9%) | Microbiology testing and diagnostics · Pathogen resistance · Virulence factors (toxins, biofilm) · Immune response to infection |
2. Therapeutics and patient management — 60%
| 2A Patient assessment (15%) | Clinical assessment and screening · Laboratory and diagnostic testing · Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics · Social determinants of health · Risk factors for infection · Special populations (age, obesity, pregnancy, critical illness, immunocompromise) |
|---|---|
| 2B Pharmacotherapy for infection (27%) | Respiratory · Skin and skin-structure · Cardiovascular · Bone and joint · Central nervous system · Gastrointestinal, intra-abdominal and hepatic · Urologic and gynecologic · Sexually transmitted · HIV and opportunistic infections · Infections in immunocompromised patients · Other infections and complications |
| 2C Implementation, outcomes and monitoring (18%) | Medication administration · Adjunctive therapies · Therapeutic outcomes · Therapeutic and pharmacokinetic monitoring · Adverse drug events and interactions · De-escalation · Care coordination and transitions, including OPAT · Patient and caregiver education · Travel medicine |
3. Professional practice — 22%
| 3A Antimicrobial stewardship (14%) | Practice standards and regulations · Stewardship metrics and reporting (DDD, DOT, SAAR) · Resistance tracking · Formulary management · Antibiogram design · Public and population health · Infection prevention |
|---|---|
| 3B Practice management (8%) | Information resources · Literature evaluation (research methods, statistics) · Quality improvement · Clinical informatics |
What this means for your study time: treating infections (2B) is the single biggest area, but assessment, monitoring and stewardship together outweigh it. Practise case-based questions that make you choose, dose, monitor and de-escalate, and don't skip stewardship metrics and literature evaluation.
A 12-week study plan
Aim for 8 to 12 hours a week, and do questions every week rather than leaving them all to the end.
| Week | Focus | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baseline: a 50-question timed session. Read the content outline and map your weak areas. | 50 |
| 2 | Foundations: antimicrobial basics, clinical microbiology, susceptibility testing and resistance mechanisms | 100 |
| 3 | Antimicrobial pharmacology: PK/PD, dosing in special populations, therapeutic drug monitoring, adverse effects and interactions | 120 |
| 4 | Respiratory infections (community and hospital pneumonia, upper respiratory) and urinary tract infections | 150 |
| 5 | Skin, soft tissue, bone and joint infections, and central nervous system infections | 150 |
| 6 | Cardiovascular infections and bacteremia, gastrointestinal and intra-abdominal infections, C. difficile | 150 |
| 7 | Sexually transmitted and reproductive tract infections; travel, parasitic and zoonotic infections | 150 |
| 8 | HIV treatment and prevention, and opportunistic infections | 150 |
| 9 | Infections in immunocompromised hosts (including invasive fungal infections), tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacteria, viral hepatitis | 150 |
| 10 | Professional practice: antimicrobial stewardship metrics, antibiograms, infection prevention, literature evaluation and informatics | 150 |
| 11 | Full-length mock exam (150 questions in 3 h 45 min), then re-study every topic you missed | 150 |
| 12 | Retake missed and flagged questions, review the cheat sheets, rest before exam day | Review |
How to work a case-based question
- Read the question stem first, then the case. Knowing what's being asked tells you which cultures, labs and medications matter.
- Find the deciding detail. Look for the source of infection, culture and susceptibility results, renal function, allergies, interactions and recent antibiotic exposure.
- Answer before you look at the options, then find the option that matches.
- Prefer the narrowest effective therapy and the shortest evidence-based duration when two answers both cover the organism.
- Keep to about 1.5 minutes a question. Never leave a question blank. Make your best choice and move on.
- Read every rationale, including for questions you got right. Understanding why each distractor is wrong is where most of the learning happens.
Exam day
- Confirm your appointment, testing location and ID requirements a week ahead.
- Arrive early, and know the break rules for your session.
- Pace yourself with checkpoints: about 40 questions per hour keeps you on schedule for 150 questions in 3 h 45 min.
- Don't change an answer unless you have a clear reason. Your first reasoned answer is usually your best.
Keeping your BCIDP
Certification runs for 7 years. To renew, you choose one of two routes:
- Recertification exam: pass the exam again. If your cycle began in 2024 or later, you also report 20 units of continuing professional development during the cycle.
- Professional development: if your cycle began in 2024 or later, earn 100 units, including at least 80 units of assessed CPE from BPS-approved programs (such as those offered by ASHP and SIDP). Earlier cycles needed 100 units of assessed CPE.
Either way, report at least 2 units every year to stay in good standing.
The BCIDP question bank is coming soon
Join the early-bird list for 25% off both plans at launch.