Holding pharmacy educators accountable in the wake of the anti-racism movement: A call to action.

INTRODUCTION: The recent murders of Black Americans has forced our society to reevaluate how the various systems in our nation view race and to attempt to dismantle and rebuild the structures that reinforce and perpetuate racial group inequity. PERSPECTIVE: Cultural awareness education has been broadly integrated into pharmacy curricula across the country to comply with accreditation standards. Health disparities are currently addressed in the context of race and ethnicity but lack the connection to racism. Cultural awareness education should focus more on racism and its impact on healthcare. IMPLICATIONS: In order to properly address racism in cultural awareness education, there has to be a deliberate curricular integration of anti-racism education addressing historical factors that have set the foundation of structural racism in this country. The current manifestations and impact on healthcare can be connected to this history. As a primary influencer of one of the most accessible healthcare professionals, pharmacy educators are at the forefront to educate and equip the next generation to strive for health equity in the context of racism.

Bempedoic Acid: A First-in-Class Agent for Lowering Cholesterol Levels.

Despite statin therapy being the cornerstone for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, a significant number of patients do not tolerate statin therapy because of muscle-related adverse effects or cannot achieve their individual low-density lipoproteincholesterol (LDL-C) goals with statin therapy alone. Several nonstatin agents have been evaluated for the management of LDL-C levels and reduction of cardiovascular (CV) risk in these patients, but there are some limitations with their use. Bempedoic acid is a novel nonstatin agent for the management of lipid disorders, via the inhibition of adenosine triphosphate citrate lyase (ACL). It was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration based on several phase III trials which showed promising results regarding safety and efficacy. Though CV outcome data are not available yet, bempedoic acid may be a useful adjunct therapy for select patients. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the major findings in these clinical trials and discuss the potential role of bempedoic acid in clinical practice and its use in older people.

Improved learning experience with modified case studies courses in a pharmacy curriculum.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Many pharmacy programs have dedicated case studies (CS) courses; however, universal standards on how to implement CS courses do not exist. Understanding the process of changing CS courses at an institution may help others to recognize and overcome potential barriers. This study describes the implementation process of changes that occurred in CS courses and evaluates the impact of the changes on students' learning experiences. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Faculty members involved in CS courses made changes that focused on small group discussions, increasing faculty availability, decreasing student-to-faculty ratio, providing immediate and detailed feedback, and facilitating active learning. After the implementation of the new CS course design, two surveys were administered to evaluate the impact of the new design, one to a single cohort of pharmacy students and one to faculty involved in the CS courses. FINDINGS: Seventy-two students completed the survey (80% response rate). The majority of students preferred the following aspects of the new CS course design: more objective SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment, plan) note rubric with detailed descriptions on point allocation, small group discussion within a classroom, and faculty-facilitated case review in group discussion. Having the same, readily available instructors reviewing a case in each class was also an important factor in their learning experience. The faculty survey resulted in similar findings but with concerns of increased workload and teaching an unfamiliar topic. SUMMARY: Overall, the new CS course design provided a better learning experience for pharmacy students compared to the previous CS course design.