critical role of community-based faculty, The

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Fall 1998 by Cohen, Jordan L

Practical educational experiences -- either in the form of externships or clerkships - have long been part of the curriculum of all colleges of pharmacy. While certainly not true in all cases, historically these experiences have been somewhat disconnected from the major planning activities of the college and often have involved "turning" the students loose in a real-world environment simply to satisfy either an accreditation or a state board of pharmacy experience requirement. However, as pharmaceutical care has emerged as the paradigm for practice and education in recent years, the importance of these real-world experiences has increased significantly. At this juncture, the educational experiences obtained by our students in pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and managed-care settings and elsewhere are viewed by the students and faculty as a vital component of the curriculum. The student feedback emphasizes the importance of these experiences, as well. In many debriefing sessions following clerkships, students clearly indicate the tremendously positive effect that practitioners have on their views, as well as their competence and confidence to practice pharmacy. Increasingly, the presence of these students also affects pharmacists in a positive manner, as they can add to a practice site once they become acclimated, even in the earlier practice experiences being instituted by many schools to introduce students to practice in their first year of pharmacy school. Further, most Colleges utilize feedback collected from the evaluations in both directions to continue to improve the experience for students and preceptors alike.

In addition to the obvious benefit that accrues to the students, the continued importance of pharmacists as faculty is emphasized by the continuing need for pharmacy practice to shift the paradigm to reimbursable patient care. Community based faculty preceptors are very well positioned to relate to the faculty on campus during retreats and planning discussions where curricula are reviewed on a regular basis. And Colleges can often provide valuable assistance to practitioners seeking to modify practice patterns and even pharmacy designs to better equip them for a more competitive practice as the health care delivery landscape changes. This interface with practitioners has truly become one of major interdependence and in many cases should turn out to be win-win. All colleges of pharmacy should be certain that the efforts of these critical group of faculty are appropriately recognized and nurtured as we continue to rely upon them for more and more substantive teaching roles in our programs. Given the complexity of the challenges facing pharmacy and the reality that the goals of pharmaceutical education and the profession have never been better aligned, there are undoubtedly additional steps we can take to bring pharmacists closer to the college and the planning of our programs, and we as educators need to continue to explore ideas that arise from our faculty both on and off campus.

Jordan L. Cohen

College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Rose Street - Pharmacy Building, Lexington KY 40526-0082