Teaching History of Pharmacy in U.S. Pharmacy Schools.

Objective. To determine how the standards for teaching pharmacy history were met by U.S. pharmacy schools, whether schools wanted to expand their commitment to pharmacy history, what pedagogical assistance, if any, was desired, and whether elective courses were offered. Methods. There were 133 school deans who were asked to identify the responsible faculty for teaching pharmacy history. A 10-question online survey instrument was designed and emailed to these faculty or the dean if no faculty were identified. Follow-up emails were sent at 2-week intervals. If they were non-responsive after three attempts, then telephone solicitation was attempted. Results. There were 100 schools (75%) that responded. Fifty-three percent were public and 47% were private; with 50% having class sizes of 100 or less, 41% with 101-250, and 9% having over 250. Eighty-six percent of respondents meet the ACPE requirement within a required course. Seventy-two percent devote only one to five hours of instruction to meet the requirement. Sixty-eight percent use no supporting literature, and among those who do, there was no common textbook. Interestingly, 21% wanted more teaching time, and 91% desired pedagogical assistance, varying from a packaged course (26%) to a syllabus with assignments and assessment banks (23%). Conclusion. Since no time or material guidelines were established to fulfill the ACPE pharmacy history educational requirements, these results provide a starting point to judge what is adequate and/or preferred. With the development of teaching guidelines and adoptable teaching materials, the pedagogical solution to this ACPE standard may become more complete and consistent.

Ethics and patient privacy.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a brief introduction to the ethical and, to some extent, the legal issues surrounding patient privacy and confidentiality. DATA SYNTHESIS: The privacy of patient medical records and patient confidentiality has moved to the forefront of ethical and legal issues in health care. Technological advances, the growth and expansion of managed care, the emergence of consumerism, and the dramatic increase in the number of individuals and organizations with access to or a need to access patient medical information have all contributed to patient concerns about who has access to their records and for what purposes. CONCLUSION: Questions of patient privacy and confidentiality are likely to remain at the forefront of health care ethics and law in the coming years. Health professionals, including pharmacists, have a greater responsibility than ever before to ensure that safeguards exist to prevent inappropriate access to patient information.

Clinical prevention and population health: curriculum framework for health professions.

The Clinical Prevention and Population Health Curriculum Framework is the initial product of the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force convened by the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and the Association of Academic Health Centers. The Task Force includes representatives of allopathic and osteopathic medicine, nursing and nurse practitioners, dentistry, pharmacy, and physician assistants. The Task Force aims to accomplish the Healthy People 2010 goal of increasing the prevention content of clinical health professional education. The Curriculum Framework provides a structure for organizing curriculum, monitoring curriculum, and communicating within and among professions. The Framework contains four components: evidence base for practice, clinical preventive services-health promotion, health systems and health policy, and community aspects of practice. The full Framework includes 19 domains. The title "Clinical Prevention and Population Health" has been carefully chosen to include both individual- and population-oriented prevention efforts. It is recommended that all participating clinical health professions use this title when referring to this area of curriculum. The Task Force recommends that each profession systematically determine whether appropriate items in the Curriculum Framework are included in its standardized examinations for licensure and certification and for program accreditation.