Improving Equity for Women in Pharmacy Academia.

Previous studies have identified that gender inequities exist in pharmacy academia. The inequities that women in academic pharmacy face are lower job satisfaction, ability to achieve higher ranks in faculty and administration, and salary. To date, considerations of why these inequities exist and what measures can be taken to address them remain relatively unexplored. This Commentary explores possible causes of gender inequities in pharmacy academia and potential solutions to improve equity between women and men. Potential causes include underlying sexism that still exists in society and academia today, promotion and tenure and the tenure clock, the concept of overwork, and the impact of the role of motherhood on female faculty. Suggestions to help improve gender inequity include both structural and cultural changes to the pharmacy academic environment.

Well-Being May Be the Missing Component of Professionalism in Pharmacy Education.

Enhancing student pharmacist professionalism through co-curricular efforts has gained much attention in pharmacy education since release of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education's Standards 2016. Interestingly, traditional and current definitions and attributes of professionalism do not include components of well-being; instead, the ideas of altruism and self-sacrifice predominate. However, providing students with the tools, resources, and time needed to invest in themselves to maintain their well-being is imperative as this in turn allows them to fulfill the pharmacy profession's standards of professional conduct and engagement. Although classic interpretations may seem to conflict, practicing self-care to promote personal well-being is thankfully not in opposition to being an altruistic, self-sacrificing professional. This commentary explores the interplay between the two constructs and postulates that some issues related to student pharmacists' unprofessional behavior can be linked to a lack of well-being. Therefore, pharmacy educators should consider incorporating well-being initiatives into efforts focused on refining student pharmacist professionalism.

Revisiting Faculty Citizenship.

This commentary describes the significance of faculty citizenship in the broader context of institutional culture and defines faculty citizenship for use across all aspects of faculty roles in the Academy. The definition includes two key components (engagement and collegiality) that can be used to measure citizenship behaviors. Continued discussion and study of faculty citizenship will further the Academy's understanding and use of the concept.

The intersection of professionalism and interprofessional care: development and initial testing of the interprofessional professionalism assessment (IPA).

Valid assessment of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) is challenging. The number of instruments that measure various aspects of IPECP, or in various sites is growing, however. The Interprofessional Professionalism Assessment (IPA) measures observable behaviors of health care professionals-in-training that demonstrate professionalism and collaboration when working with other health care providers in the context of people-centered care. The IPA instrument was created by the Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative (IPC), a national group representing 12 entry-level health professions and one medical education assessment organization. The instrument was created and evaluated over several years through a comprehensive, multi-phasic process: 1) development of construct and observable behaviors, 2) instrument design, expert review and cognitive interviews, and 3) psychometric testing. The IPA contains 26 items representing six domains of professionalism (altruism and caring, excellence, ethics, respect, communication, accountability), and was tested by 233 preceptors rating health profession learners in the final year of their practical training. These preceptors represented 30 different academic institutions across the U.S., worked in various types of practice sites, and evaluated learners representing 10 different entry-level health professions. Exploratory factor analysis suggested four factors (communication, respect, excellence, altruism and caring) using 21 items with the least amount of missing data, and confirmed, for the most part, a priori expectations. Internal consistency reliability coefficients for the entire instrument and its four subscales were high (all greater than 0.9). Psychometric results demonstrate aspects of the IPA's reliability and validity and its use across multiple health professions and in various practice sites.

Interprofessional education in team communication: working together to improve patient safety.

BACKGROUND: Communication failures in healthcare teams are associated with medical errors and negative health outcomes. These findings have increased emphasis on training future health professionals to work effectively within teams. The Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) communication training model, widely employed to train healthcare teams, has been less commonly used to train student interprofessional teams. The present study reports the effectiveness of a simulation-based interprofessional TeamSTEPPS training in impacting student attitudes, knowledge and skills around interprofessional communication. METHODS: Three hundred and six fourth-year medical, third-year nursing, second-year pharmacy and second-year physician assistant students took part in a 4 h training that included a 1 h TeamSTEPPS didactic session and three 1 h team simulation and feedback sessions. Students worked in groups balanced by a professional programme in a self-selected focal area (adult acute, paediatric, obstetrics). Preassessments and postassessments were used for examining attitudes, beliefs and reported opportunities to observe or participate in team communication behaviours. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-nine students (48.7%) completed the preassessments and postassessments. Significant differences were found for attitudes toward team communication (p<0.001), motivation (p<0.001), utility of training (p<0.001) and self-efficacy (p=0.005). Significant attitudinal shifts for TeamSTEPPS skills included, team structure (p=0.002), situation monitoring (p<0.001), mutual support (p=0.003) and communication (p=0.002). Significant shifts were reported for knowledge of TeamSTEPPS (p<0.001), advocating for patients (p<0.001) and communicating in interprofessional teams (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Effective team communication is important in patient safety. We demonstrate positive attitudinal and knowledge effects in a large-scale interprofessional TeamSTEPPS-based training involving four student professions.

Interprofessional education in team communication: working together to improve patient safety.

BACKGROUND: Communication failures in healthcare teams are associated with medical errors and negative health outcomes. These findings have increased emphasis on training future health professionals to work effectively within teams. The Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) communication training model, widely employed to train healthcare teams, has been less commonly used to train student interprofessional teams. The present study reports the effectiveness of a simulation-based interprofessional TeamSTEPPS training in impacting student attitudes, knowledge and skills around interprofessional communication. METHODS: Three hundred and six fourth-year medical, third-year nursing, second-year pharmacy and second-year physician assistant students took part in a 4 h training that included a 1 h TeamSTEPPS didactic session and three 1 h team simulation and feedback sessions. Students worked in groups balanced by a professional programme in a self-selected focal area (adult acute, paediatric, obstetrics). Preassessments and postassessments were used for examining attitudes, beliefs and reported opportunities to observe or participate in team communication behaviours. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-nine students (48.7%) completed the preassessments and postassessments. Significant differences were found for attitudes toward team communication (p<0.001), motivation (p<0.001), utility of training (p<0.001) and self-efficacy (p=0.005). Significant attitudinal shifts for TeamSTEPPS skills included, team structure (p=0.002), situation monitoring (p<0.001), mutual support (p=0.003) and communication (p=0.002). Significant shifts were reported for knowledge of TeamSTEPPS (p<0.001), advocating for patients (p<0.001) and communicating in interprofessional teams (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Effective team communication is important in patient safety. We demonstrate positive attitudinal and knowledge effects in a large-scale interprofessional TeamSTEPPS-based training involving four student professions.

Defining and measuring construct of interprofessional professionalism.

The Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative (IPC), convened in 2006, currently consists of 11 national organizations representing health professions programs at the doctoral entry level, and is developing a framework of "interprofessional professionalism" (IPP) around observable behaviors that illustrate what professionalism looks like in the context of interprofessional collaborations focused on patient-, client-, and family-centered care. IPC's goal is to create tools to foster and measure these behaviors in health professionals and students. This paper describes the work of IPC to date and its future plans.

Multi-institutional study of women and underrepresented minority faculty members in academic pharmacy.

OBJECTIVES: To examine trends in the numbers of women and underrepresented minority (URM) pharmacy faculty members over the last 20 years, and determine factors influencing women faculty members' pursuit and retention of an academic pharmacy career. METHODS: Twenty-year trends in women and URM pharmacy faculty representation were examined. Women faculty members from 9 public colleges and schools of pharmacy were surveyed regarding demographics, job satisfaction, and their academic pharmacy career, and relationships between demographics and satisfaction were analyzed. RESULTS: The number of women faculty members more than doubled between 1989 and 2009 (from 20.7% to 45.5%), while the number of URM pharmacy faculty members increased only slightly over the same time period. One hundred fifteen women faculty members completed the survey instrument and indicated they were generally satisfied with their jobs. The academic rank of professor, being a nonpharmacy practice faculty member, being tenured/tenure track, and having children were associated with significantly lower satisfaction with fringe benefits. Women faculty members who were tempted to leave academia for other pharmacy sectors had significantly lower salary satisfaction and overall job satisfaction, and were more likely to indicate their expectations of academia did not match their experiences (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The significant increase in the number of women pharmacy faculty members over the last 20 years may be due to the increased number of female pharmacy graduates and to women faculty members' satisfaction with their careers. Lessons learned through this multi-institutional study and review may be applicable to initiatives to improve recruitment and retention of URM pharmacy faculty members.

Assessment of human patient simulation-based learning.

The most common types of assessment of human patient simulation are satisfaction and/or confidence surveys or tests of knowledge acquisition. There is an urgent need to develop valid, reliable assessment instruments related to simulation-based learning. Assessment practices for simulation-based activities in the pharmacy curricula are highlighted, with a focus on human patient simulation. Examples of simulation-based assessment activities are reviewed according to type of assessment or domain being assessed. Assessment strategies are suggested for faculty members and programs that use simulation-based learning.

Recognition of teaching excellence.

The 2008-2009 Task Force for the Recognition of Teaching Excellence was charged by the AACP Council of Faculties Leadership to examine teaching excellence by collecting best practices from colleges and schools of pharmacy, evaluating the literature to identify evidence-based criteria for excellent teaching, and recommending appropriate means to acknowledge and reward teaching excellence. This report defines teaching excellence and discusses a variety of ways to assess it, including student, alumni, peer, and self-assessment. The task force identifies important considerations that colleges and schools must address when establishing teaching recognition programs including the purpose, criteria, number and mix of awards, frequency, type of award, and method of nominating and determining awardees. The report concludes with recommendations for the academy to consider when establishing and revising teaching award programs.

An academic-practice partnership: an innovative course in advanced compounding.

Over the past century, as the dynamic of pharmacy practice has evolved, there has been continual ebb and flow in the practice of compounding. However, the basic art and science remain the same. Mirroring these practice trends, education in the components of compounding and curricular requirements in many Doctor of Pharmacy programs has also experienced many changes. At the University Of Washington School Of Pharmacy, students receive basic instruction in the science and techniques of compounding during their first professional year, but little further. To accommodate an increasing interest in the art, science, and practice of compounding in community pharmacy, the University Of Washington School Of Pharmacy created a unique elective in advanced compounding skills. This intensive course operates over a weekend at a successful community compounding pharmacy located in central Washington State. The course is primarily taught by the pharmacy owner and other pharmacists with compounding expertise. This article describes the evolution, assessment, and future potential of this advanced compounding elective at the University Of Washington School Of Pharmacy.

Addressing competencies for the future in the professional curriculum.

This paper reviews the literature, analyzes current and future practice, develops a list of competencies necessary for future pharmacists, and provides recommendations to pharmacy's academic enterprise regarding curricula of the future. Curricula of the future will center around 3 functional roles for pharmacists: patient-centered care, population-based care, and systems management; and must also foster the development of 5 cross-cutting abilities in student pharmacists: professionalism, self-directed learning, leadership and advocacy, interprofessional collaboration, and cultural competency. Future curricula must be developed in an evidence-based manner, focus less on information storage and retrieval, engage student pharmacists in a variety of highly interactive learning experiences, and expand experiential learning opportunities throughout all years.

Elective course in nutrition taught by a pharmacy student.

OBJECTIVES: Create, implement, and evaluate an elective nutrition course to increase students' awareness and knowledge of nutrition in pharmacy practice. DESIGN: A doctor of pharmacy student, who was also a registered dietitian, designed and taught a 2-credit-hour elective nutrition course with the assistance and oversight of 2 faculty members. ASSESSMENT: Students who completed the final course evaluation (45% of the total) felt that the course would be useful to them in their pharmacy practice and highly recommended that other PharmD students take the course. Mean scores on the first and second knowledge-based examinations were 83% and 84%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This project reflects an innovative approach to developing and delivering a course in an important area of the pharmacy curriculum and provided a pharmacy student the opportunity to explore an academic career in pharmacy.

Student use of NABPLaw Online in a pharmacy laws project.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate students' frequency of use and degree of usefulness of NABPLaw Online, a pharmacy-specific, online, licensed resource produced by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP). METHODS: Students usage of various information resources, including NABPLaw Online were evaluated through (1) usage statistics gathered by NABP, (2) students' response to a questionnaire, and (3) citation analysis performed on students' project reports. RESULTS: Students used NABPLaw Online less frequently than other online tools, partly related to the relevance of the tool to their projects, and partly related to ease of use in comparison to other tools. CONCLUSIONS: Although it was not extensively used, NABPLaw Online represents a unique resource for students researching multistate aspects of pharmacy practice law.

Improving student professionalism during experiential learning.

The purpose of this paper is to serve as a tool for preceptors to aid in pharmacy students' development of professionalism. Specifically, the article defines professionalism, describes it in the context of contemporary pharmacy practice, discusses the professional socialization process of students, and suggests strategies for preceptors to facilitate improvement in professionalism among students during experiential training. While numerous suggestions are presented, positive role modeling is considered the most important means of improving professionalism among students.