[Hospital pharmacy residency in France in 2014: to a recognition of the specialization?]

The current format of French residency in hospital pharmacy was created in 1983 and is a 4-year specialized training. So far, training has not been recognized as a prerequisite for hospital pharmacy practice. Since 2011, pharmacy residents and hospital pharmacists representative structures have lobbied for that recognition and the government has worked in that direction. The ideology of the concept was validated after a period of probation and the regulatory procedure began late 2012. Two key elements were initially identified as obstacles: first the European legislation on recognition of professional qualifications and then the fear that there might not be enough hospital pharmacists trained in order to complete the care missions in hospital pharmacies in France. The European legislation has now been amended in order to recognize professional qualifications and a demographic analysis of hospital pharmacists leads to the conclusion that these items are no longer obstacles. In 2014, hospital pharmacy residency, through the Specialized Studies degree, should be recognized as a prerequisite for hospital pharmacy practice.