Survey of course curricula of graduate programs in social and administrative sciences

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Summer 1998 by Barner, Jamie C, Desikan, Radhika, Plake, Kimberly S, Purkerson, Dana L, Et al

Survey of Course Curricula of Graduate Programs in Social and Administrative Sciences1

Jamie C. Barner, Radhika Desikan, Kimberly S. Plake, Dana L. Purkerson, Gireesh V. Gupchup2, Nicholas G. Popovich, and Holly L. Mason3

As the basis of designing an advanced research methods course for graduate students in social and administrative sciences, a national survey of similar graduate programs was conducted. The survey was developed to gather information regarding research methods courses in the respondents, programs as well as other curricular data. Both graduate students and graduate program chairs were surveyed. Specific objectives for the project included: () determine core/required courses of these graduate programs; (il) determine specific amounts of emphasis graduate programs place upon specific subject areas; (iii) determine where and how students obtain knowledge of specific content areas; (iv) determine importance to the graduate program and the level of preparation provided by the graduate program in specific content areas; and (v) compare Master's and Doctoral students' responses on the aforementioned areas. Examples of the twelve subject areas included: economics, health care policy, business administration, sociology, psychology, and pharmaceutical care. The twelve content areas referred to topics of methodology and statistics that may have been taught in a research methods course in any of the subject areas. Eighty percent (28/35) of the graduate program chairs responded, while only 42 percent (131/314) of graduate students returned surveys. Findings from this study provided an overview of the course content of graduate programs in the social and administrative sciences and may prompt further study to examine specific content of those programs and differences among schools.

INTRODUCTION

The discipline of pharmacy administration had its inception in the early part of this century when pharmaceutical educators and practitioners saw the need for "commercial pharmacy" to be added to pharmaceutical science curricula(1). At that time, faculty in colleges of pharmacy invited faculty from schools of commerce to teach courses on business and merchandising. A few pharmaceutical faculty educated themselves in economics and business principles so that they could teach those types of courses(2). Suggestions of course hours that should be added to undergraduate pharmaceutical curricula included bookkeeping, commercial pharmacy, and jurisprudence(3).

Since that time, the discipline has grown and diversified as the pharmacy profession and professional curricula have evolved over the years(4-6). Similarly, graduate program curricula in pharmacy administration have evolved and diversified since the first PhD was awarded in 1953 to Robert Evanson of Purdue University. That same year, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy instituted a requirement stating that all schools of pharmacy needed to have professorial personnel for the discipline(7). This presented a problem for fledgling pharmacy administration departments which were already few and far between. It was observed by Evanson at the 1955 AACP Annual Meeting, "Having established the Department of Pharmacy Administration, educators have a responsibility to formulate some method of initiating and perpetuating the supply of qualified personnel for future placement and replacement needs. . . . Thus, the need exists for a formal graduate program of pharmacy administration at both the MS and PhD levels."(8) It should be noted that Evanson's degree required a full major in economics and a full minor in business (marketing and management): his PhD was approved by the university's Graduate Council with a specialty in Pharmacy Administration(9). Many other early PhD's in the discipline completed similar programs at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Ohio State University. In 1949, these four schools offered Master's and Doctoral programs in pharmaceutical economics (offered outside of the schools of pharmacy) with a total enrollment of three students in these programs(10). In 1996, thirty-five schools offered MS and/or PhD programs in pharmacy administration (offered within the school of pharmacy) with a total of 314 students enrolled, either full- or part-time (see Results section).

During the last 48 years, the breadth and scope of these programs has grown dramatically within and beyond traditional pharmacy administration. Many current programs include specialty study and research in sociology, psychology, education, public health, public policy, informatics, law, epidemiology, communications, ethics, and other areas. One result of this evolution was a change in 1993 of the name from the AACP Section of Teachers of Pharmacy Administration to the Section of Social and Administrative Sciences to reflect the inclusive nature of its membership.

To the authors' knowledge, only two descriptive studies of pharmacy administration graduate program curricula have been undertaken since the creation of programs in the late 1940s: one was only for a sample of programs4. The other was completed in 1994 and focused on pharmacoeconomic graduate education and training programs(11). In the early years, a descriptive study may not have been necessary as those faculty responsible for pharmacy administration graduate program development were trained at the same institutions or were actively involved together in the promotion of pharmacy administration as a recognized discipline within the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy(12). Information collected on pharmacy administration graduate programs at various points in time has included: program, enrollment, degree and program review information; program costs and financial support; graduate faculty and research resources; program emphases; programs mission/goals/objectives4,5; female student enrollment; graduate students, opinions on factors most affecting the quality of graduate education6; and, dimensions and indicators of quality graduate education5,6-7(13-15). Much of the focus on pharmacy administration graduate programs in recent years has been on quality and the importance of self-assessment of these programs, but not on course content of the programs6,7(15-17).