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DiPiro provides update for SCCP future by Heather Woolwine Public Relations Creating a new initiative, much less a newly integrated college, harbors many challenges as well as anticipated benefits. Joseph DiPiro, Pharm.D., South Carolina College of Pharmacy’s executive dean, recently discussed his vision for the college and the issues facing pharmacy colleges across the nation in a statewide Web cast.   With headlines blazing pharmacy-related issues, including drug side-effects, new Medicare procedures Internet drug sales, and the national crisis surrounding access to medications, pharmacists and students must pay close attention to the goings-on of the field.   According to DiPiro, some challenges that loom for pharmacy colleges are the need to address societal drug issues; meet demand for pharmacy services in an environment of changing health care systems; manage the cost of education process with reduced state funding; and implement progressive education and research goals. Compounding the issue are major influences that will crop up in the next 10 to 20 years. For example, baby boomers will retire and need more prescriptions, gene-based treatments will become available, information technology will continue to evolve, automated dispensing will become more common, and pharmacy services and education will continue to globalize.   DiPiro stated that with these evolving influences and challenges, the education of pharmacy students must grow too. Pharmacy instruction may be viewed as a business endeavor, or more precisely, a learning company. Students and pharmacy professionals must forge close partnerships within the industry, and make a greater investment in technology as opposed to bricks and mortar. Privatization at the university level will also propel pharmacy schools into the future. Virtual universities offer an extension of campus-based universities; expand the student market, and increase accessibility and convenience for those desiring a degree via the Internet. Currently, the four colleges nationwide offering online pharmacy degrees are Creighton University, Nova Southeastern University, University of Florida, and University of Oklahoma.   DiPiro said that distance education aids in meeting an increasing demand for pharmacists; serving areas not currently served; increasing number of students in minority groups; driving competition from other schools; and enhancing revenues for pharmacy colleges. However, he cautioned that students will need personal intereaction with their institutions. DiPiro used a quote by Michele Tolela Myers, Sarah Lawrence College president, to illustrate that point. “If education were as simple as reading, then libraries would have replaced schools long ago. We educators are in the business of forming minds—not just filling them.”   Some recent shifts within pharmacy education will also influence its future. DiPiro said that more focus on patient care, more experiential instruction outside the classroom in the first four years of instruction, greater emphasis on community pharmacy and primary care, and more emphasis on developing professionalism mark the changes in pharmacy education. Also, DiPiro highlighted the differences between teaching and learning, with the latter receiving more attention.   Effective learning for students can be enhanced by engaging with faculty and fellow students, working in groups, participating in courses that require writing, and involvement in extra-curricular activities. Teachers of tomorrow’s pharmacists must effectively and interestingly deliver information, create an active learning process, present experienced based knowledge and address appropriate attitudes and behaviors.   Students are increasingly adopting a more consumer-mentality, are more technologically sophisticated, and have a demand for flexibility and accessibility.   Obviously a large component to pharmacy education is medication safety. As DiPiro noted from the Institute of Medicine report, “To Err is Human,” 44,000 to 98,000 patients in the U.S. die from medical errors each year, and pharmacists must play a role in reducing that number.   This report suggests a pharmacist is present during inpatient rounds and on nursing units, implementing a physician order entry procedure, and using software that checks drug interactions, dosage, etc.   As is the case with many disciplines, a focus on evidence-based medicine pervades pharmacy. Pharmacists continue to promote disease prevention and a healthy lifestyle via screenings, smoking cessation clinics, vaccination programs and weight reduction programs. As the future approaches, more alternative and complimentary medicines will become available and more widely practiced.   Pharmacy colleges, like the South Carolina College of Pharmacy (SCCP), are also adopting an interdisciplinary or interprofessional outlook, meaning that health professionals from all walks must work as members of an entire team dedicated to excellent, safe patient care. While this has been the case for years once pharmacists graduate, the concept is only recently being taught to students in a classroom and clinical setting.   DiPiro noted that what are most important for students are their knowledge, skills, and behavior and attitudes. With utmost professionalism, students and pharmacists must remain committed to high standards of excellence in medicine, the dissemination of that knowledge, sustained interest and welfare of patients, and remain responsive to the health needs of society.   As part of their professionalism, students are counted on to display good behavior in class, good relationships with patients and other health care providers, demonstrate responsibility, ethical behavior, and accountability, integrity, and respect.   DiPiro also noted room for improvement in pharmacy education. He felt that what pharmacy colleges have not taught well in the past included how to work in a busy, complex environment, how to effectively deal with people, making the best use of information technology, and rapidly changing areas in biomedical sciences.   South Carolina College of Pharmacy The SCCP created a statewide pharmacy program in Charleston, Columbia and the Upstate. SCCP coordinates the planning process for pharmacy education, leverages combined resources to grow and advance education, research, and service, and enhances state and national visibility for pharmacy and SCCP.   DiPiro said both the MUSC and USC campuses are integral to the college, and through these two sites, programs will easily expand into the Upstate. Class sizes will reflect workforce needs, and a single admissions process will make things easy to understand for prospective students. Both campuses utilize the same curriculum, with a balance of distance and live instruction. Both campuses offer the PharmD degree, with class sizes expanded approximately 30 percent in the last three years. Students may cite their preference for one campus versus another, as donors may direct their private gifts to one campus or another.     Friday, Jan. 13, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778, ext. 201.