Editorial: ACPE Requests Curriculum Content Input: Practicing Pharmacists Should Be Involved In Establishing Accreditation and Curriculum Standards, Part II

As mentioned in last week's column, the purpose of the schools and colleges of pharmacy in the U.S. is to train pharmacists to assume professional roles in the practice of pharmacy. Two organizations that are intimately involved with the nations pharmacy education training programs are the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and the American Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). AACP is a voluntary membership organization consisting primarily of faculty and staff of the colleges of pharmacy. The membership is active in developing teaching methods and curriculum content. The ACPE is an organization whose purpose is to accredit colleges of pharmacy on an ongoing basis. ACPE has criteria that must be met to achieve accreditation. At the end of the process, is the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) that administers the NAPLEX examination, designed to test minimal entering competency levels for the practice of pharmacy.

So, ACPE establishes accreditation criteria for colleges, AACP develops curriculum for training the students to fulfill accreditation standards and prepare the students to take the NAPLEX and NABP administers the NAPLEX examination. As one can see, there are three distinct entities involved impacting the criteria, standards and curriculum for the training of pharmacy students.

Where are the decisions made that impact the training received by the students? They are made at all three stages in the process. Who makes the decisions? That depends and is partially up to you. It only seems reasonable and logical that pharmacists practicing pharmacy should have a significant input into the entire process. Why? Because they are in the best position to know what training is needed to serve in their practice sites and what training they want the pharmacists to have when they are hired. However, in reality, pharmacists have only a minor role in this process. There can be some input into the ACPE accreditation standards (especially right now!). There is very little input in establishing curricular content nationally through AACP, although some pharmacists work with their local colleges of pharmacy. There is input into the NAPLEX examination as some practitioners are involved in preparing the examination. The purpose of this editorial is to encourage pharmacists to provide input into the setting of accreditation standards by submitting your views to ACPE. These standards can impact the development of the curriculum in the overall process. The American Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) has published a "Draft of Revised PharmD Standards and Guidelines" on their website at www.acpe-accredit.org. They are requesting feedback to be received by ACPE on or before November 1, 2005.

I thought it might be informative to list the different standards that have been developed by ACPE for accrediting colleges of pharmacy.

STANDARDS FOR MISSION, PLANNING AND EVALUATION
1.  College or School Mission and Goals
2.  Strategic Plan
3.  Evaluation of Achievement of Mission and Goals

STANDARDS FOR ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
4.  Institutional Accreditation
5.  College or School and University Relationship
6.  College or School and Other Administrative Relationships
7.  College or School Organization and Governance
8.  Qualifications and Responsibilities of the Dean

STANDARDS FOR CURRICULUM
9.  The Goal of the Curriculum
10.  Curricular Organization and Length
11.  Teaching and Learning Methods
12.  Professional Competencies and Outcome Expectations
13.  Curricular Core: Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
14.  Curricular Core: Pharmacy Practice Experiences
15.  Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning and Curricular Effectiveness

STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS
16.  Organization of Student Services
17.  Admission Criteria, Policies, and Procedures
18.  Transfer of Credits and Waiver of Requisites for Admission with Advanced Standing
19.  Progression of Students
20.  Student Complaints Policy
21.  Program Information
22.  Student Representation and Perspectives
23.  Professional Behavior and Harmonious Relationships

STANDARDS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF
24.  Faculty and Staff: Quantitative Factors
25.  Faculty and Staff: Qualitative Factors
26.  Faculty and Staff Continuing Professional Development and Performance Review

STANDARDS FOR FACILITIES AND RESOURCES
27.  Physical Facilities
28.  Practice Facilities
29.  Library and Educational Resources
30.  Financial Resources

The section on "Standards for Curriculum" is the one of interest here. More on that in Part III, next week.

Loyd V. Allen, Jr., Ph.D., R.Ph
Editor-in-Chief

Here is a sampling of articles that have been added to CompoundingToday.com's literature search database. See the abstracts for these citations and the abstracts for more than 1700 other articles related to compounding at http://compoundingtoday.com/Articles/:

• Baena-Cagnani CE. Safety and tolerability of treatments for allergic rhinitis in children. Drug Saf 2004; 27(12): 883-898.
• Gupta AK, Cooper EA, Lynde CW. The efficacy and safety of terbinafine in children. Dermatol Clin 2003; 21(3): 511-520.
• Helin-Tanninen M, Naaranlahti T, Kontra K et al. Enteral suspension of nifedipine for neonates. Part 1. Formulation of nifedipine suspension for hospital use. J Clin Pharm Ther 2001; 26(1): 49-57.
• Kumar P, Rudra A, Pan AK et al. Caudal additives in pediatrics: A comparison among midazolam, ketamine, and neostigmine coadministered with bupivacaine. Anesth Analg 2005; 101(1): 69-73.
• Nunn T, Williams J. Formulation of medicines for children. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2005; 59(6): 674-676.

CompoundingToday.com is consistently adding downloadable, customizable standard operating procedures for pharmacists to access. SOPs are the foundation for any business and CompoundingToday.com has got them ready for you. See them all at http://compoundingtoday.com/SOP/. Here are a few added this week:

• 6.022 pH Meter and Electrodes - Cleaning and Storage
• 6.055 Pipette - Use Care Cleaning Maintenance Calibration
• 6.019.18 - Orion PerpHect pH Meter Model 310
• 6.019.21- Orion PerpHect pH Meter Model 320
• 6.019.22 - Orion PerpHect pH Meter Model 330

As pharmaceutical compounding evolves, the pharmacist must be more and more compliant with compounding guidelines. Prior to performing sterilization by filtration the pharmacist must select a filter membrane. For that one must gather knowledge about how resistant a filter membrane is to the compounded preparation and the physical details for that membrane. CompoundingToday.coms Filter Membrane Compatibility Tool brings you:

• A fast and accurate way to check for chemical compatibility
• Details capability for each type of filter membrane such as protein binding, pore size and common uses.

If you have difficulty in draining all the liquid from a small graduated cylinder, why not either weigh it or use a syringe?

1. To weigh it, use the specific gravity and convert the volume of the liquid to a weighable quanity and then weigh the required quantity in a weigh boat or a beaker that can be used for mixing.
2. To use a syringe, first of all calibrate the syringe to confirm that it measures the volume accurately. Then, aspirate the liquid in the syringe and deliver it to the mixture. The syringe can then be discarded for an easy cleanup procedure.
3. If a weight of a liquid is required and you want to use a syringe, you can convert the weight to a liquid measure; or, tare the syringe first on the balance, then aspirate the liquid into the syringe and periodically weigh the contents until the weight is obtained. Then, record this volume for subsequent measurements.