Clinical Pharmacology Knowledge, Opportunities and Working Strengths (CPKNOWS): a competency model for pursuit of excellence in clinical pharmacology

How does one define the discipline of clinical pharmacology? This has been a subject for much debate in recent literature [1–5]. The historical discipline of clinical pharmacology is one of integrating information across disciplines, requiring a broad knowledge base in several areas and the ability to synthesize and apply a ‘full picture’ from the parts. Can a discipline whose strength comes from cross-discipline knowledge survive when the complexity of disciplines over which one must integrate information is rapidly expanding?