Pharmacy Practice Faculty Research Articles

Teaching in a distance education program

New practitioners are drawn into academia for various reasons. Many new practitioners are asked to teach didactic pharmacy classes in an adjunct capacity due to the shortage of full-time faculty, especially pharmacy practice faculty.[1][1] The expanding use of technology and the systematic use of

Journal publications by pharmacy practice faculty evaluated by institution and region of the United States (2001-2003).

To compare the quantity of manuscripts published in journals by departments of pharmacy practice at schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States for the years 2001-2003. We utilized the Web of Science bibliographic database to identify publication citations for the years 2001 to 2003 which were then evaluated in a number of different ways. Faculty were identified via American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy rosters for 2000-2001, 2001-2002, and 2002-2003 academic years. Rankings were done based on the number of publications per institution and average number of publications per faculty member at an institution. Upon linear regression analysis, a relationship exists between an institution's faculty size and the total number of publications but not for tenure/nontenure-track faculty ratio. Rating highest in overall publication number did not guarantee high rankings in the average number of publications per faculty member at an institution assessment. Midwestern schools were responsible for more publications per institution than other regions. Many schools only generated minimal scholarship over this evaluative period. While many schools have pharmacy practice faculty that strongly contributed to the biomedical literature, other schools have not. Pharmacy practice faculty in the Midwest publish more journal manuscripts than faculty in other regions of the country. More pharmacy schools need to engage their faculty in scholarly endeavors by providing support and incentives.

Barriers to Scholarship in Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy Practice Faculty

There has been an increased emphasis on scholarly activities by health sciences faculty members given the importance of the promotion of public health over the last 50 years. Consequently, faculty members are required to place greater emphasis on scholarly activities while maintaining their teaching and service responsibilities. This increasing requirement of scholarly activities has placed great demands on clinical practice faculty members and it has made their management of clinical practice, teaching responsibilities, and expectations for promotion and tenure a difficult task. This retrospective literature review identifies barriers to the scholarship activities of clinical faculty members in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy and discusses strategies for enabling faculty members to pursue scholarly activities in the current health science academic environment. The review indicates commonalities of barriers across these 4 disciplines and suggests strategies that could be implemented by all of these disciplines to enable clinical practice faculty members to pursue scholarly activities.

Number and Impact of Published Scholarly Works by Pharmacy Practice Faculty Members at Accredited US Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy (2001–2003)

To evaluate the quantity and quality of published literature conducted by pharmacy practice faculty members in US colleges and schools of pharmacy for the years 2001-2003. The Web of Science bibliographic database was used to identify publication citations for the years 2001-2003, which were then evaluated in a number of different ways. Faculty members were identified using American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy rosters for the 2000-2001, 2001-2002, and 2002-2003 academic years. Two thousand three hundred seventy-four pharmacy practice faculty members generated 1,896 publications in Web of Science searchable journals. A small number of faculty members (2.1%) were responsible for a large proportion of publications (30.6%), and only 4.9% of faculty members published 2 or more publications in these journals per year. The average impact factor for the top 200 publications was 7.6. Pharmacy practice faculty members contributed substantially to the biomedical literature and their work has had an important impact. A substantial portion of this work has come from a small subset of faculty members.

The Next Big Challenge for Pharmacy Academia

The world of pharmacy has dramatically changed from the time that I graduated almost 30 years ago. In the 1970s, most of pharmacy was still low tech. We typed labels on a manual typewriter and recorded medication dispensed with pen and pencil. While a few clinical pharmacists were in practice, this new role was not a proven benefit and was considered a luxury that most institutions could not afford. The profession has evolved to the point where clinical or patient-oriented practice is present in most hospitals and clinics, and in many community pharmacy settings. The profession today is much different from 30 years ago and much of the credit should go to schools and colleges of pharmacy. One of the greatest accomplishments of pharmacy academia of the past century was the development of clinical pharmacy practice through investment in faculty members who taught and practiced in clinical environments. While not the sole investor, academia of the 1970s and 1980s was the major investor in clinical pharmacy, from which grew pharmaceutical care, collaborative practices, and disease and medication therapy management. In the 1970s and 1980s many colleges hired clinical faculty members to develop innovative practices and teach students. As PharmD programs emerged, the numbers of clinical faculty grew. Today, pharmacy practice faculty members make up the largest segment of academia, representing over 40% of all pharmacy faculty members. The clinical roles seeded by academia have grown to become predominantly supported from outside of academia. The inspiration and motivation from that era prompted extension of patient-oriented practices into many health care settings. Pharmacy academia can take a large share of credit for changing the profession of pharmacy and opening up new and challenging avenues to improve care while attracting some of the best minds to the profession. This accomplishment is all the more evident in hindsight. We have seen dozens of published reports documenting the positive effects of clinical or patient-oriented pharmacy services on health outcomes. Clinical pharmacy services developed in the United States have become models for the rest of the world. From this experience we have learned something very important about academic pharmacy, that through our strategic decisions we can cause major and substantive changes in the profession that have profound impact on health care. We have solidified this direction by implementing the PharmD as the sole degree for entry into the profession. This along with residency training and board certification are establishing a cadre of professionals who are up to the challenge of dealing with the complex problems we face with medicines. What will be pharmacy academia's next big challenge? For most of the past decade schools and colleges of pharmacy have been occupied with expansion of their programs, conversion to the PharmD as the first-professional degree, increasing class sizes, and creating satellite programs. At the same time, many colleges have put new resources into expanding research and this has paid off in increased NIH funding to colleges of pharmacy. As this phase of programmatic expansion levels off, we will find new avenues for our efforts and resources, and we should be convinced that the next investment can have a profound impact on the direction of practice in the years ahead. Some of the potential directions that will compete for our attention include producing pharmacists who are recognized as experts in patient safety or pharmacogenomics. Can we create as many experts in these areas as we have done in the past for pharmacokinetics or drug information? Other potential directions are: establishing new practice models for community pharmacy and producing graduates who are effective in chronic disease management. Also, pharmacy academia is now debating the extent of support for residency training. Will a commitment to support residency training for all pharmacists providing direct patient care be our next big contribution to practice? I am not suggesting which of these areas should receive the primary attention or commitment of academia as all will continue to receive some attention. As we commit ourselves to one or more directions we should do so with the acknowledgment that the decisions we make in academia have had and will continue to have a major impact on the profession and on health care.

An assessment of college of pharmacy promotion committees and criteria for promotion for pharmacy practice faculty

A survey identifying the composition of promotion committees and criteria for promotion was mailed to the respective dean of 89 US Schools of Pharmacy. A total of 61 (69%) surveys were returned. The mean number of committee members was 6.3 with the majority (80%) consisting of members from multiple departments. Professors and associate professors were the most frequently reported committee members at 88.5 and 84.6%, respectively. A mean number of 4.5 external reviewers were used by the committees. Of the criteria assessed for promotion, scholarly activities were most commonly cited with service being the least considered activity. No significant differences were observed between tenure and non-tenure faculty. Promotion committees consist predominantly of senior faculty with representation from multiple departments. Excelling in scholarly activities appears to be the major determinant in being awarded promotion from assistant to associate professor.

The Relationship of Board Certification to Financial and Professional Benefits for Pharmacy Practice Faculty

ABSTRACTTo determine financial and professional benefits to examinees for Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) certification, a web-based survey was developed and sent to all 84 US colleges of pharmacy. Numbers of pharmacy practice faculty and board certified faculty were obtained independently from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Roster and the BPS website. Twenty-six surveys were returned. The proportion of BPS-certified faculty was not statistically significantly related to reimbursement of certification-related expenses. The proportion of BPS-certified faculty was statistically significantly related to increases in salary, but not other recognition factors.

Pre- and Post-Rotation Assessment of Pharmacy Student Learning

ABSTRACTThis study aims to examine the value and viability of implementation and maintenance of an assessment tool for clinical rotations. Specifically, the objective of the study was to determine if student post-test scores were significantly and consistently higher at the conclusion of the rotation as compared with pre-test scores on an ambulatory care knowledge assessment. Pharmacy practice faculty members developed learning objectives and multiple-choice questions (MCQ) for commonly encountered topics in disease state management. Questions were pilot tested, stratified by difficulty level and randomized into assessments for the testing phase. Students (n = 53) completed ten MCQ in each of three topic areas for a total of thirty questions on the first day of rotation. Scores were reviewed with students. Thirty questions of similar difficulty level were administered during the last week of a five-week rotation. Overall improvements from pre-test to post-test scores were statistically significant (p < 0....

The Use of a Scholarship Committee to Foster Scholarly Growth of Pharmacy Practice Faculty

Objective. To evaluate the perceived impact of a pharmacy practice scholarship committee. Methods. A cross-sectional survey instrument was developed and distributed to all department faculty members to determine: (1) the perceived effect of the Pharmacy Practice Scholarship Committee activities on scholarship attitudes, interest, and ability; (2) the effect of Committee activities on the number and types of scholarship activities performed by department faculty members; and (3) how the Committee could better meet the scholarship needs of the Department. Results. All department faculty members completed the survey instrument (N = 36). Respondents perceived: (1) improvement in attitude toward scholarship, (2) increased interest in scholarship, (3) increased scholarship activity, and (4) improved scholarship ability as a result of attending scholarship forums. Conclusions. Committee activities appear to have changed faculty attitudes toward scholarship and faculty members report they have been inspired to be...

Expectations and Orientation Activities of First-Year Pharmacy Practice Faculty

Objectives. To determine the expectations and orientation activities of first-year pharmacy practice faculty members. Methods. A survey instrument assessing the expectations and orientation activit...

Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties-certified faculty: a survey of United States colleges of pharmacy.

Board certification of pharmacists has been a reality in the United States since 1976, when the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) was founded. Little has been reported about the effects of board certification of pharmacists, particularly pharmacy practice faculty, since 1992, when the BPS administered its first certification examination. We developed and pretested a survey to describe and measure the effect of BPS certification on the realm of academia as perceived by deans of colleges of pharmacy in the United States. Deans or other appropriate officials at all 84 colleges of pharmacy in the United States were asked to complete and submit this 13-question survey, which was administered through the Web and maintained respondents' anonymity. Officials from 35 of the 84 colleges completed the survey, for a response rate of 42%. No college reported that board certification was a condition for employment. Eight schools (23%) anticipated a certification requirement in the future. The most commonly reimbursed items associated with certification were fees for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy preparatory course and the BPS examination. Twelve schools (34%) provided no reimbursement toward certification. The most common incentive for faculty to obtain certification was consideration in promotion and tenure (66%). We believe that this information will facilitate efforts to gauge the effects of BPS certification on colleges of pharmacy. We also anticipate that it will assist colleges as they attempt to recruit and retain the most qualified faculty members possible, particularly in light of the national pharmacist shortage.

Upgrading Nontenure-track Pharmacy Practice Faculty from Second- to First-Class Citizens

Most new pharmacy practice faculty members are appointed on a nontenure track. Without nontenure-track pharmacy practice faculty, new and established schools cannot offer quality patient-oriented pharmaceutical education. Yet, many of these valuable academicians are treated as second-class citizens. Responsibility for upgrading the rights, responsibilities, and status of nontenure-track faculty rests with deans, chairs, nontenuretrack faculty members themselves, and tenure-track faculty.

Faculty turnover within academic pharmacy departments.

Pharmacy faculty manpower has been debated within the academic pharmacy community over the last several decades. Previous investigations studied job satisfaction among faculty members, but have not evaluated faculty retention and turnover among academic pharmacy departments. To evaluate retention and turnover rates in the departments of Pharmacy Practice and Basic Science (Pharmacology/Toxicology, Pharmaceutics, Medicinal Chemistry) over the last 5 years. Individual instructors and assistant, associate, and full professors across 80 colleges of pharmacy in the US were tracked between the years 1996 and 2001 using the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy published rosters. Differences between departments were analyzed by year-stratified cross-tabulation table analysis. A greater percentage of Pharmacy Practice faculty resigned (10.6%) compared with Basic Science faculty (6.0%; percent ratio 1.76; 95% CI 1.58 to 1.95; p < 0.001), which remained constant across each academic year. Approximately 2.7 faculty members left their academic institutions per year in Pharmacy Practice compared with 1.1 faculty members in the aggregate of Basic Science departments. A higher percentage of women resigned in Pharmacy Practice (13.2%) than did men (8.7%; percent ratio 1.5; 95% CI 1.34 to 1.68; p < 0.001), despite a 1.3-fold male to female ratio. Likewise, regardless of a 4.1-fold male to female ratio in the Basic Science group, a higher percentage of women resigned (8.0%) than men (5.5%; percent ratio 1.45; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.78; p < 0.001). Over a 5-year period, Pharmacy Practice exhibited a higher turnover compared with Basic Science. Women displayed significantly higher turnover than men across all pharmacy academic departments. New retention approaches, especially for female faculty members, should be explored.

Persistence and Patience-Necessities for New Faculty Members: Experiences of a First-Year Pharmacy Practice Faculty Member at a Public University

Persistence and Patience-Necessities for New Faculty Members: Experiences of a First-Year Pharmacy Practice Faculty Member at a Public University

Development and validation of the satisfaction with pharmacist scale.

To assess patients' satisfaction with pharmacists, seven questions were developed with semistructured input from 5 pharmacy practice faculty members and 11 patients with cancer. The study identified 1617 English- and Spanish-speaking patients with cancer or human immunodeficiency virus infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome who participated in a multisite validation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale. Of these, 1124 had seen a pharmacist in the past 7 days and therefore were eligible; 608 spoke English and 516 Spanish. The seven items on the Satisfaction with Pharmacist (SWiP) scale were rated on a five-point Likert scale (0 = not at all to 4 = very much). The reliability of the English and Spanish versions was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficients. The unidimensionality and construct validity were analyzed with the Rasch rating scale model. The alpha coefficients for the English and Spanish versions were 0.90 and 0.92, respectively. Rasch analyses of item responses showed that none of the items in either language was a misfit, which supported their ability to measure a unidimensional construct. Item difficulty plots revealed that no item exhibited differential functioning, indicating that the items performed the same in both languages. The SWiP scale has reliable and valid psychometric properties in English and Spanish and can be used to document the value of the pharmacist-patient relationship. It is easy to administer and is ready for further use and evaluation to determine and document outcomes of pharmaceutical care.

Scholarly Performance and Related Variables: A Comparison of Pharmacy Practice Faculty and Departmental Chairpersons

Scholarly Performance and Related Variables: A Comparison of Pharmacy Practice Faculty and Departmental Chairpersons

Research—the cornerstone of pharmacy practice.

Hospital pharmacy's need for a new commitment to research and the attendant sharing of responsibilities between pharmacy educators and pharmacy practitioners are described. Guided by the same philosophy of professional service that motivated early hospital pharmacists, individual pharmacists should work within their differentiated roles to advance the profession as a whole. For this advancement, research to acquire new knowledge and develop and evaluate new services is required. Research enhances the prestige and societal support of a profession. Pharmacists with differentiated skills and practice areas must support each other to advance the profession, particularly because of limited financial resources in both education and practice settings. Universities, including schools of pharmacy, have a responsibility for research as well as for the transmission of knowledge, and pharmacy faculty members should conduct research that supports the advancement of practice. To support research by faculty members, pharmacy practitioners can assume greater teaching responsibility. Schools of pharmacy and practicing pharmacists can work together to support research that will benefit the whole profession and society. Pharmacy practice faculty members who maintain a practice base and are involved in research have a critical role in this cooperative effort.

Post-doctoral education for pharmacy practice faculty.

Post-doctoral training is becoming increasingly important as a means of preparing for faculty positions in the clinical or pharmacy practice departments of colleges of pharmacy. This article suggests that such training is the most appropriate means of providing the research skills necessary for growth in the academic environment and discusses the impact of post-doctoral programs on the individuals taking them, on the colleges of pharmacy, and on the profession as a whole. For the profession, there is seen a very positive gain as a result of high-training is essential to produce the manpower needed. Some suggestions are offered for enhancing the current level of training.