Creating synergy to restructure a college of pharmacy's teaching site

Colleges of pharmacy and clinical teaching sites have a history of collaboration to create teaching and practice innovations. Radical changes in health care delivery have placed a strain on these relationships and may jeopardize the continued success of these programs. Goals of collaborative planning for a renewed model include integrating teaching into the professional culture of the pharmacy department, moving pharmaceutical care resources to the patient care unit, and training all staff in teaching skills. A model that combines these attributes is defined, and development of the model at a university teaching hospital is described. Revising the pharmacy practice and teaching agenda has a positive effect on both care delivery and educational outcomes.

Integrating postgraduate pharmacy training programs into colleges of pharmacy

An important issue facing colleges of pharmacy is the integration of postgraduate clinical training programs into the mainstream of pharmacy education. Colleges of pharmacy have a major role to play in postgraduate clinical training programs to the benefit of the college, resident, and institution. Students must be provided with information about residencies during their first year, and this information must be continually reinforced throughout their academic career. Residency and fellowship programs contribute significantly to the education of pharmacy students. Colleges must take an active role, working in partnership with institutions to enhance postgraduate pharmacy training programs.

Immunization requirements for pharmacy students

OBJECTIVE

To identify current immunization requirements for pharmacy students throughout the US.

DESIGN

Self-administered questionnaire.

SETTING

Seventy-five colleges and schools of pharmacy in the US.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Immunization policies, immunologic requirements, timing of vaccination in relation to the beginning of clerkship experience, payment, mechanism to revise policies.

DATA ANALYSIS

Descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

Overall, 57 programs (81 percent) have an immunization program in place, but 13 programs (19 percent) have no immunization program. More than 50 percent of the colleges or schools reported requiring that pharmacy students have measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, and purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD) vaccinations upon entry of clerkship. Only 25 college or schools of pharmacy (44 percent) required students to have the hepatitis B vaccine and 8 (14 percent) to have a PPD evaluation upon completion of clerkship experience. Responsibility for the immunization program was shared evenly between the clerkship coordinator and the student health clinic. Approximately 65 percent of programs maintain an immunization record on file for each student. Completion of immunizations was required in 36 schools (64 percent) before entering clerkship activities, 15 (26 percent) before entrance to the professional program, and 3 (5 percent) in the first year of the program. Six schools (11 percent) had a program in place for less than one year, 27 (47 percent) between one and five years, and 24 (42 percent) for more than five years. At the majority of schools, students are responsible for the cost of immunization.

CONCLUSIONS

Most schools of pharmacy do not adhere to the specific immunization recommendations described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for healthcare workers. Pharmacy schools need to reexamine their immunization policies and update them to reflect the most current standards. We suggest a policy for immunization of pharmacy students.

Family leave policies, job share, and child care at U.S. schools and colleges of pharmacy

A 10-question survey was mailed to the deans of 74 schools and colleges of pharmacy to characterize family leave policies, child care, and job share opportunities. Data were tabulated as percentage response received, and analyzed by geographic region and by public compared with private institutions. Sixty-four surveys were completed (response rate 86%). Forty-eight (75%) schools reported having a formal written family leave policy: 47 offered maternity leave, 31 parental leave, 27 caregiver leave, 24 paternal leave, and 24 adoptive or foster parent leave. The duration and compensation for family leave varied among schools. A statistical difference was found between the Northeast (100%) and South (55%) in having such a policy. On-site child care was available at 26 (41%) schools, including both infant and child care in 12 and additional sick child care in 2. Three (5%) schools reported faculty job share positions.

Assessment of clinical service contracts between hospital pharmacies and colleges of pharmacy

The purpose of this study is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of various annual financial clinical contract options between the Atlanta metropolitan area hospital and the Mercer University Southern School of Pharmacy (Atlanta, GA). Forty-five surveys with 17 statements in a Likert scale format were mailed to all directors, clinical staff of each hospital (adjunct faculty), and full-time clinical faculty to validate the perceived advantages and disadvantages of financial contracts between their hospital and the School of Pharmacy. The survey questionnaire was returned by 84% of the participants. Survey results indicate that the School of Pharmacy and area hospital pharmacies appear to have benefited from this marriage of common interests in clinical program development with 79% agreeing that the overall benefits of the educational affiliation and contract out-weighed the disadvantages.

Promoting residencies to pharmacy students

A program for promoting pharmacy residency training to pharmacy students at the University of the Pacific (UOP) is described. A residency club was started in 1982 to increase UOP students' interest in residency training and to provide them with relevant information. Some students needed to be convinced that residencies were primarily educational rather than staffing experiences. Students were made aware of pharmacists' practice in specialty areas, for which residency training is needed, and were taught how to prepare themselves for selection for residencies. The club was formed to encourage mutual support among the students, which would be less likely to occur if residencies were promoted only through work with individual students. Club meetings provide information about available residencies, the application process, and the value of residency training to a career in pharmacy. Students are taught how to prepare curricula vitae, how to interview, and how to select programs to which to apply. Applications for residencies increased. Although the rate of acceptance was low at first, it was expected to increase as more UOP students demonstrated their interest in and qualification for residency training. The promotion of residencies as part of a balanced career planning and placement program for pharmacy students is encouraged.

Experience with a non-hospital based technician training program

A community based technician training program can effectively provide well trained competent technicians with a scope of experience broad enough to meet job responsibilities of diverse health care institutions within the community. The college contacted to assist in developing a technician training program should be well established in the community and accredited by an appropriate national accrediting body. In addition, the college should have existing facilities and services to support the program. Upon determining technician need in the community, an advisory group should be assembled to provide professional input into program direction, curriculum design, training site selection, and other matters of concern to the hospitals and college. With community input, cooperation, and professional direction, a community based technician program can serve its home community with technicians uniformly functional and adaptable to most pharmacy environments and situations.

College of pharmacy-teaching hospital relationships: report of a survey

The results of surveys conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists (ASHP) to investigate the extent and causes of problems in relationships between colleges of pharmacy and the pharmacy departments in their affiliated teaching hospitals are presented. For the AACP study, questionnaires were mailed to either the dean or the pharmacy practice department chairman of all 72 colleges, and a telephone interview was subsequently conducted with most of them. For the ASHP study, interviews were conducted with 67 directors of pharmacy in the colleges' principal affiliated teaching hospitals. Problems identified by the colleges related to quality or extent of services and finances. Most directors of pharmacy stated that they derived benefit from their affiliation with a college of pharmacy. The relationship between colleges of pharmacy and their teaching hospitals is relatively healthy and generally better than expected.

College of pharmacy-teaching hospital relationships: building strength

Perhaps the most important factor to focus on is that organizations work because of the people in them; also, they don't work because of the people in them. Perhaps some people in some of our organizations need changing. Hospitals and colleges face similar issues that need to be worked on together. The philosophy of collaboration needs adopting because competition will not provide the success desired by the college or the hospital. Without a strong commitment on the part of decision makers, time and effort will be wasted. There must be an active process. It can't be talked about only once a year. There should also be an ongoing, active process at the national level. We must build on our mutual needs. We must use positive approaches rather than developing more negative arguments. The key to success is to concentrate more heavily on communications, visibility, and accountability. F. Scott Fitzgerald put it this way: The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. We have three ideas that at times are in opposition. Service, education, and research can be integrated by applying the intelligence found in every teaching hospital and college of pharmacy.

Contractual relationships between colleges of pharmacy and university hospitals

The relationships that exist between colleges of pharmacy and university hospitals located in academic medical centers were investigated, and the types of pharmaceutical services that are being offered by these institutions were profiled. Questionnaires were mailed to 35 directors of pharmaceutical services located in academic medical centers. Of the 30 institutions represented by respondents, 27 had a college of pharmacy on the same campus, and 13 had a formal agreement between the hospital and the college. Ninety-seven percent of the hospitals surveyed had unit-dose or partial unit-dose programs, and all of the hospitals had i.v. admixture services. Nine of the 13 hospitals with formal agreements and 13 of the 17 hospitals without formal agreements had decentralized pharmaceutical services. The staffing patterns in these institutions showed that only 10.3% of the pharmacist FTE positions were funded by the college of pharmacy. There was no difference in trends as related to faculty appointment, title, or tenure between directors in hospitals with and without affiliation agreements. Seven of the directors of pharmacy were in tenure-track positions, and the director's reporting mechanism in the college was either to the dean or the chairman of pharmacy practice. No differences were found between the pharmaceutical services offered, staffing patterns, or status of the director of pharmacy in hospitals with or without formal agreements with colleges of pharmacy. These authors believe that a firm relationship between the college and hospital might prove advantageous to both parties.