advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) availability and needs for 4 colleges and schools of pharmacy in Georgia and Alabama and to examine barriers and offer potential solutions to increase APPE site and preceptor availability. Methods. Data on APPE needs and availability were gathered prospectively and evaluated relative to current and projected enrollment and planned programmatic changes. Results. Combined 2006-2007 non-community APPE needs and availabilities were 3,590 and 4,427, respectively, with a surplus availability of 837. Combined projected 2010-2011 non-community APPEs were estimated at 4,309. Assuming 2006-2007 non-community availability remained unchanged, the surplus availability declined to 118. Conclusions. The need for quality experiential education represents a significant barrier and rate-limiting step to the matriculation of the increased numbers of pharmacists. Barriers to expanding APPE availability include: introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) and APPE expansion, growth of new and existing pharmacy programs, financial instability of acute care facilities, and lack of preceptor development resources. Regional experiential education consortiums can provide a constructive approach to improve access to quality sites and preceptors through standardizing processes and leveraging resources.
In 2002, a regional consortium was created for schools and colleges of pharmacy in Georgia and Alabama to assist experiential education faculty and staff members in streamlining administrative processes, providing required preceptor development, establishing a professional network, and conducting scholarly endeavors. Five schools and colleges of pharmacy with many shared experiential practice sites formed a consortium to help experiential faculty and staff members identify, discuss, and solve common experience program issues and challenges. During its 5 years in existence, the Southeastern Pharmacy Experiential Education Consortium has coordinated experiential schedules, developed and implemented uniform evaluation tools, coordinated site and preceptor development activities, established a work group for educational research and scholarship, and provided opportunities for networking and professional development. Several consortium members have received national recognition for their individual experiential education accomplishments. Through the activities of a regional consortium, members have successfully developed programs and initiatives that have streamlined administrative processes and have the potential to improve overall quality of experiential education programs. Professionally, consortium activities have resulted in 5 national presentations.
Objectives. To determine the impact of a pregraduation diabetes certificate program on PharmD students' knowledge and skills. Methods. A comprehensive elective in diabetes was created and implemented in the third-professional year of the PharmD curriculum. A nonrandomized, single-blinded, controlled, 2-year study was conducted to determine the impact of the elective. Written and oral examinations were administered to the participants and students in a control group. Results. The certificate students' (N 5 25) and control students' (N 5 12) average oral examination grades were 88.5% 6 13.4% and 89.5% 6 15.8%, respectively (p 5 0.58). The certificate students' average grade on the counseling section of the oral examination was 9% higher than that of the students in the control group ( p 5 0.01). The certificate students' and control students' grades on the written examination were 80.9 6 11.1% and 61.1 6 17.4% ( p 5 0.0062), respectively. Conclusions. A diabetes certificate program improved students' knowledge of diabetes disease state management and patient education skills compared to students who did not take the elective.
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