Financial, Personnel, and Curricular Characteristics of Advanced Practice Experience Programs

Abstract

Objective. To provide an overview of the current status of advanced experience program as colleges and schools transition into the era of the PharmD as the sole professional degree. Methods. A survey of advanced clinical experience programs was conducted. Data from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Institutional Report Series, AACP Professional Experience Program surveys, and published literature in the field were obtained. The areas addressed included organization, administration, teaching faculty, financial support, and the most pressing issues facing program administrators Results. Of the 74 colleges and institutions with advanced experience programs in pharmacy, 27 had only students who were pursuing their first professional degree, 16 had only post-baccalaureate PharmD students, and the remaining 31 had students from both degree programs in their advanced experience program. Instructors were primarily full-time faculty members; however, joint and part-time faculty members, as well as adjunct faculty members, were involved in teaching, particularly in larger institutions. Of greatest concern was the shift in responsibility for experiential training programs from more experienced faculty members to younger, non-tenure-track faculty members. Conclusion. As colleges and schools of pharmacy begin offering the PharmD as the sole professional degree, the role of the advanced experience program in producing confident and competent pharmacy professionals becomes even more critical. A commitment must be made to develop and support highly skilled, experienced faculty members to develop and support the advanced experience programs.

A Qualitative Analysis of Common Concerns about Challenges Facing Pharmacy Experiential Education Programs

“…Many concerns identified in this analysis were consistent with concerns raised in 2001, 22 even though analysis methods were chosen to minimize influence from investigators' assumptions or previously published conclusions. Including novices who were naïve about EE administrative functions and historical trends helped to mitigate inherent bias from the preconceived constructs that experienced EE faculty members brought to the analysis.…”

“…22 Upon further examination of responses, it seemed appropriate that these issues were combined because funding and financial support was usually mentioned in reference to lack of sufficient faculty members and staff to do necessary work as opposed to need for more funding in general. And yet, the consistency of these results over time confirms that these concerns continue to be "top of mind" for EE directors.…”

“…[19][20][21] However, few reports have been published about what faculty members and staff directly administering EE programs perceive as concerns. 22 In 2011, Danielson et al disseminated a survey analyzing the curricular, personnel, and financial characteristics of EE programs to EE directors across the United States. 13 As part of the survey, respondents were asked to describe the most pressing issues facing their EE programs.…”

A Strategy to Develop Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

“…1,[34][35][36][37] The result is that colleges and schools may have difficulty finding enough APPE placements to meet their needs and that preceptors expect remuneration for student supervision. 3,6 Traditional views of clerkship education have been challenged and increased expectations for pharmacy students in experiential education have been discussed. 4,5,36,38-40 The UCDHSC-SOP has taken the position that APPE education should provide students with patient care responsibilities for the purpose of building the experience and self-confidence needed by independent pharmacy practitioners.…”

“…1 Consequently, experiential educators are faced with the challenges of improving the quality of introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experience (IPPE and APPE) courses and increasing the quantity of experiential training sites. [2][3][4][5][6][7] Accreditation standards state that upon graduation students must be competent to practice independently and ensure optimal medication therapy outcomes through multiple means including medication and disease management programs. 1 To meet those standards, the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy (UCDHSC-SOP) has taken the position that students should be taught the competencies required for pharmacy practice early in the curriculum [8][9][10][11] and that students in APPE courses should be given the responsibility to apply those competencies in practice settings.…”