Developing 3:4 dual degree programs: Linking undergraduate and professional education

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Winter 2001 by Beardsley, Robert S, Hayes, Margaret

The number of students who may benefit from these programs is significant. For example, about 61 percent of students in Maryland's PharmD program have BS degrees, while 21 percent have three years and 14 percent have two years of college. About one-half of the BS students enter pharmacy school directly from other institutions, while the other half return to school from the work force and have been away from higher education for a period of time. This means that about 30 percent (1/2 of 61 percent) of admitted students received their BS degrees just prior to entering the school. It could be argue that many of these BS. graduates could have benefited from the 3:4 programs if the opportunity had been available to them. They could have been able to take the appropriate prerequisites and to leave after three years of college. On the national scale, 27.2 percent of the applicant pool for PharmD programs (according to the latest AACP statistics) held BS degrees and another 27.0 percent received three or more years of college without receiving a degree(3). Thus, the number of students benefiting from this educational approach could be quite large if 3:4 programs where established at other schools and colleges of pharmacy.

PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION

The school used the following steps to develop and implement the various 3:4 programs. The first step was to gain the support of the academic administrators at the departmental level, since they would be responsible for administering the program and for identifying potential students. At some institutions, the authors discussed the program with department chairs or designated academic administrators within the department. At institutions where more than one department (for example, chemistry and biology) were interested in the program, the authors secured permission at the Provost or Vice-President's level.

The school talked with students within the department to gather information about their perceptions of the value of these programs and how to communicate effectively with students at that institution. The authors also spoke with departmental faculty to seek their advice and to gain their support for the program. In order to answer possible concerns about academic rigor of first year pharmacy courses, the pharmacy faculty shared course descriptions and discussed curricular issues with departmental representatives. At some institutions, pharmacy faculty and staff appeared before departmental curriculum committees or other groups of faculty. It was interesting to note that this process took longer at some institutions than others based on the characteristics and relationships within the various academic units. However, it became obvious that the school needed to spend time nurturing the support of faculty, administrators and students in order to implement the programs effectively. These programs have developed into definite partnering relationships where effort is needed from both parties and both share the resulting benefits.