Chair report for the Academic Sections Coordinating Committee

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Winter 2000 by De Muth, James E

Continuing Professional Education. Section Chair Alan Escovitz, addressed five primary initiatives as part of the committee charges: (1) develop a mentoring process for new members to work with the "seasoned" members of the Section on collaborative research, administrative issues, and the preparation of a Self-Assessment Report for submission as an ACPE approved provider; (2) identify roles for new members with committee assignments that foster future leadership roles and contributions for the Section; (3) identify "best practices" which demonstrate and exemplify ACPE Criteria for Quality to be posted on the CPE Section Web page: (4) move the Section into an electronic environment ("paperless") for purposes of distributing committee reports, the Section Newsletter, CE resources, and related communications; and (5) develop a "white paper" for the Section on areas that require needed research, including pedagogical issues, in the discipline of continuing pharmaceutical education. A new Section mission statement was drafted for membership approval. Pam Joyner, chair-elect and chair of the program committee, continued last year's theme of technology and pedagogy to deliver distance education and organized an exceptional program directed at issues impacting online learning. The Section's Special Committee on ACPE Relations, under the leadership of Glen Farr and Jonathan Marquess again convened with the ACPE staff and the new Executive Director, Peter Vlasses. The committee, which serves as a strong advocate for membership concerns related to the continuing pharmaceutical education provider approval process, discussed a number of key issues with the ACPE staff. The Section also embarked on an experiment to transition its Newsletter into an electronic format. That change proved successful as evidenced by the membership's ability to access the publication with minimal difficulty. The chair proposed that the Newsletter evolve into a more scholarly forum for articles, reviews, thought-pieces, and other kinds of contributions to discipline of continuing professional education.

Library/Educational Resources. Winfred Sewell coordinated the efforts to prepare a preliminary edition of the AACP Basic Booklist for Pharmaceutical Education in 1996. The booklist was placed on AACP home page in preliminary form. Many of the original members of the Basic Resources Committee are still actively working on updating the Basic Booklist. The booklist is currently utilized by a large number of pharmacy libraries to evaluate and update their collection. The committee will complete a second revision of the booklist in June 2000. Among the enhancements the committee anticipates publishing a list of periodicals and non-print sources including commercial databases, CD-ROMS audiovisual materials, web and other internet resources. A separate list of publishers with their addresses will also be provided in future revisions of the list. Heidi Marleau (Wisconsin) established the "Electronic Expansion List" for the Section in January 1999. The list is an informal link for Pharmacy Information Professionals. Over the past year the list has become an effective and invaluable communication tool for both Pharmacy and Medical information professionals. Nancy Fuller (Mississippi) coordinates the Section's membership growth. She has successful developed an orientation session for the new members attending our Section for the first time. The "Newcomers Session" is usually scheduled prior to the official opening session. The Section has seen an increase in the number of new attendees over the past years. The Program chair for this year is Virginia Stone (Maryland) and the program for the Annual Meeting will focus on 1) web tools for course development; 2) experiences in developing pharmacy courses on the world wide web; 3) teaching students to evaluate web sites; 4) tips on electronic journals; and 5) managing library mergers and alliances.