Sulpiride is a safe and effective pharmacotherapeutic treatment for the acute management of schizophrenia. A unique pharmacology does not appear to provide sulpiride with a greater effectiveness than the standard antipsychotics, but may provide it with minor safety advantages.

Objective. To identify specific preceptor teaching-coaching, role modeling, and facilitating behaviors valued by pharmacy students and to develop measures of those behaviors that can be used for an experiential education quality assurance program. Methods. Using a qualitative research approach, we conducted a thematic analysis of student comments about excellent preceptors to identify behaviors exhibited by those preceptors. Identified behaviors were sorted according to the preceptor's role as role model, teacher/coach, or learning facilitator; measurable descriptors for each behavior were then developed. Results. Data analysis resulted in identification of 15 measurable behavior themes, the most frequent being: having an interest in student learning and success, making time for students, and displaying a positive preceptor attitude. Measureable descriptors were developed for 5 role-modeling behaviors, 6 teaching-coaching behaviors, and 4 facilitating behaviors. Conclusion. Preceptors may need to be evaluated in their separate roles as teacher-coach, role model, and learning facilitator. The developed measures in this report could be used in site quality evaluation.

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Objective. To determine the utility of the capacity ratio to measure and compare solvency in experiential education in 6 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the Northwestern United States. Methods. The 6 colleges and schools of pharmacy combined data on student placements needed, site availability, and changes made to placements during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years and calculated capacity ratios for the advanced and introductory experience programs in the region. Comparisons also were made to previously published capacity results to determine whether the capacity ratio was useful in identifying trends and guiding preceptor and site development. Results. Capacity ratio calculations were successful in facilitating comparison of capacity within and across regions. Experiential education is solvent in the Northwest overall, but specific parts of experiential programs were found to have more capacity than others. Trends in the Northwest were consistent with capacity in other regions. Conclusions. The capacity ratio can determine and facilitate comparison of solvency within and across colleges and schools of pharmacy and thereby inform decisions about resource management in experiential education.