Objectives. To identify compounding practices of independent community pharmacy practitioners in order to make recommendations for the development of curricular objectives for doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs. Methods. Independent community practitioners were asked about compounding regarding their motivations, common activities, educational exposures, and recommendations for PharmD education. Results. Most respondents (69%) accepted compounding as a component of pharmaceutical care and compounded dermatological preparations for local effects, oral solutions, and suspensions at least once a week. Ninety-five percent were exposed to compounding in required pharmacy school courses and most (98%) who identified compounding as a professional service offered in their pharmacy sought additional postgraduate compounding education. Regardless of the extent of compounding emphasis in the practices surveyed, 84% stated that PharmD curricula should include compounding. Conclusions. Pharmacy schools should define compounding curricular objectives and develop compounding abilities in a required laboratory course to prepare graduates for pharmaceutical care practice.
INTRODUCTIONWith the advent of pharmaceutical care and the doctor of pharmacy as the first-professional degree program, curricula at schools of pharmacy across the country have been changed to reflect these developments in pharmacy practice. As part of these changes, upper-level dispensing laboratories have been modified, physically as well as instructionally, to focus more on patient care skills than on technical skills. These new laboratories are called pharmaceutical care laboratories, skills laboratories, integrated practice skills laboratories, and pharmacy practice skills laboratories. They vary in length from 1-semester to 6-semester sequences. The latter are often integrated to include pharmaceutics, pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, and therapeutics. Laboratory instructors have creatively modified their laboratories to better prepare students for pharmacy practice that reflects and incorporates the concepts of pharmaceutical care. Many have also assessed the success of these new laboratories in helping the students develop the knowledge and skills needed to provide patient care. [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] A new Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory course was developed as part of the curricular revision for the doctor of pharmacy degree program at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. This is a 1-semester course taught in the fifth year (third-professional year) of the curriculum. The goals of this course are to help prepare graduates who are competent and confident in recognizing and solving drug-related problems, and who approach practice with an attitude of personal responsibility for providing effective and ethical patient care. The laboratory accomplishes these goals by providing opportunities for the students to apply knowledge they have gained in their didactic courses in a pharmacy setting to achieve positive patient outcomes, and to practice and apply the concepts of pharmaceutical care. The students are given the opportunity to practice and refine a wide variety of professional skills and behaviors. These include critical thinking and problem-solving skills, drug information skills, prescription-processing skills, and medication administration and physical assessment skills. Not only is the course new, the physical facility is new as well. The St. Louis College of Pharmacy underwent a total renovation, including construction of a Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory containing 18 work stations, each with its own computer, a compounding area, a sterile product Objectives. To obtain practitioners' opinions on the skills necessary for a pharmaceutical care practice and their assessment of our students' competencies in relevant activities. The goal was to use these data to design a pharmaceutical care laboratory course that would prepare students for current as well as future practice of pharmacy. Methods. Two hundred ninety-one questionnaires were sent to preceptors involved in the experiential program at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. They were asked to indicate on a 5-point Likert scale their opini...
Objective. To determine the types of balances used in compounding pharmacies: torsion or digital. Methods. A survey was mailed to the pharmacist-in-charge at 698 pharmacies, representing 47% of the pharmacies in Missouri as of July 2013. The pharmacies were randomly selected and stratified by region into eight regions to ensure a representative sample. Information was gathered regarding the type and use of balances and pharmacists' perspectives on the need to teach torsion balance technique to pharmacy students. Results. The response rate for the survey was 53.3%. Out of the total responses received, those pharmacies having a torsion balance, digital balance or both were 46.8%, 27.4% and 11.8%, respectively. About 68.3% of respondents compound prescriptions. The study showed that 52% of compounding pharmacies use torsion balances in their practice. Of those with a balance in their pharmacy, 65.6% favored continuation of torsion balance instruction. Conclusions. Digital balances have become increasingly popular and have replaced torsion balances in some pharmacies, especially those that compound a significant number of prescriptions. The results of this study indicate that torsion balances remain integral to compounding practice. Therefore, students should continue being taught torsion balance technique at the college.
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