Maryland's nontraditional pathway to the doctor of pharmacy degree: Development and improvement

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Summer 1999 by McPherson, Mary Lynn, Kerr, Robert A, Fedder, Donald O, Hollenbeck, R Gary, Knapp, David A

The original nontraditional pathway is shown in Figure 1, and major learning outcomes for each course are available from the corresponding author. Consistent with the goal of enhancing the ability of pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical care within their current practice setting, the Principles of Pharmaceutical Care course was offered in two versions, one for community practitioners, and one for practitioners in hospitals and other organized health care settings. Students also registered for either Ambulatory Care Therapeutics, or Acute Care Therapeutics, depending upon their area of practice. The only other required didactic course that was tailored to the student's practice was Pharmacotherapy, in which students were asked to select six therapeutic modules from a menu of 10 for in-depth study. Students were given two choices for fulfilling the pharmaceutical science requirement in the program, taking either Integrated Science Seminar, or Novel Drug Delivery Systems. The goal of these courses was to enable students to apply new scientific knowledge to help solve therapeutic problems and to comprehend new developments in science related to pharmaceutical care.

Students completed all but one experiential rotation in their practice setting. This provided the opportunity for students to enhance their own practice setting by developing their pharmaceutical care skills on their own patient population. In addition, pharmacists were not forced to take time off from their practice to complete experiential rotations.

Each student was assigned a faculty mentor for the experience portion of the pathway who met with the student at least once a month for patient presentations and feedback. Mentors frequently met more often with the students, or remained in contact by phone or electronic mail between meetings.

Students were required to complete one external rotation: the Clinic/Institutional Assignment. During this rotation, students developed pharmaceutical care plans, triage and discharge plans, and performed patient counseling during 15 weekly, half-day, faculty-supervised pharmaceutical care sessions. Students selected 11 weeks in an ambulatory clinic or in a hospital; they were assigned to the alternate practice setting for the remaining four weeks. It was originally thought that students would find this one-credit rotation onerous, since it required time away from their practice. In fact, students frequently asked to extend their time on this rotation.

EVALUATION OF THE NTPD PATHWAY

While each course was refined and improved by participating faculty based on feedback and course evaluations, the entire pathway was not evaluated until after each course had been taught once. A subcommittee was appointed in the Fall semester, 1996, by the Curriculum Committee to accomplish this pathway evaluation and recommend needed improvements. The Pathway Director was a member of this subcommittee and was charged with obtaining feedback from participating faculty members. Feedback was obtained from the faculty of all non-traditional Doctor of Pharmacy pathway courses, not only by the Pathway Director, but also in group sessions, also attended by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science. Individual course evaluations completed by students as well as a programmatic evaluation administered to students by the Associate Dean for Academic Programs were also considered. Prior to presentation to the Faculty Assembly, recommended changes were reviewed by the Nontraditional Doctor of Pharmacy Pathway External Advisory Board, composed of graduates and students in the pathway. This process extended over two semesters, with findings and recommendations presented to the faculty for approval and implementation in the Fall 1997 semester.