2011 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Annual Report

Faculty Recruitment and Retention

Maintaining an adequate pool of qualified faculty has always been and will continue to be a priority issue for AACP and its member institutions. To meet the demand of an expanding Academy, AACP staff, with the guidance of its Board of Directors, works to create targeted marketing and public relations programs to generate interest in academic careers across a wide range of stakeholders.

This year, AACP held its second annual “American Pharmacy Educator Week” during the last week of October. More than 20 products were sent in toolkits to every member college and school of pharmacy, as they were in 2009. This year's kits included new mini-folders/brochures, posters, decals, buttons and downloadable materials such as Web graphics, a Letter-to-the-Editor template and an Adopt-a-Student-Pharmacist guide. Member institutions were encouraged to plan events during this week to encourage students to consider careers in the Academy. The program was designed to generate students’ awareness of and interest in academic careers.

Stories publicizing nationwide faculty appreciation programs during “American Pharmacy Educator Week” were featured in AACP's Academic Pharmacy Now magazine. By all reports, events and programs were well received and appreciated by faculty, staff and students alike. The third annual “American Pharmacy Educator Week” will be held October 23–29, 2011.

In 2010, AACP staff hosted exhibit booths at ACCP in Austin, Texas, AAPS/FIP Joint Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana and the ASHP MCM in Anaheim, California. AACP also exhibited at the 2011 APhA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington in March. Although the main purpose of the exhibit strategy is to encourage attendees to consider careers in academic pharmacy, we also: encourage pharmacists to consider becoming preceptors; provide a presence for our members at national meetings other than AACP's Annual Meeting; market Education Scholar (including the preceptor module to current preceptors); market AACP individual membership; and market programs such as the AACP Walmart Scholars Program and the Academic Leadership Fellows Program to individuals at different levels of their academic career.

Feedback regarding the AACP exhibit plan continues to be positive from booth volunteers as well as booth visitors.

Academic Leadership Fellows Program

The Academic Leadership Fellows Program (ALFP) is designed to develop the nation's most promising pharmacy faculty for roles as future leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education. The seventh ALFP cohort began the first week of August 2010, bringing the total number of participants to more than 200 since the program's inception.

In winter 2012, AACP plans to launch a new portion of the Web site to enhance engagement of our Fellows alumni. This section will also provide an additional platform for Fellows projects and information.

AACP Walmart Scholars Program

Another component of the pharmacy faculty recruitment and retention services AACP offers its members is the AACP Walmart Scholars Program. The program continues to increase the number of participants from 20 in 2005 to 50 scholarships in 2008, 65 in 2010 and 75 in 2011 (67 of these scholarships are supported by Walmart and eight are supported by AACP). This brings the total number of recipients over the seven years to more than 300. The goal of the scholarship program is to strengthen the recipient's skills and commitment to a career in academic pharmacy through participation at the AACP Annual Meeting.

PharmCAS

Ensuring that all AACP member institutions have a rich applicant pool of talented students is a top priority for AACP. This priority led to the establishment of the Pharmacy College Application Service (PharmCAS) in 2003. PharmCAS successfully completed its seventh cycle in April 2010 with 86 participating institutions.

The AACP Board of Directors doubled the number of PharmCAS fee waivers for financially disadvantaged applicants applying for enrollment in order to promote student diversity and access to pharmacy education. In the 2010–11 admissions cycle, PharmCAS experienced a 0.69 percent increase in the number of applicants and a 1.27 percent decrease in the number of applications submitted with an average of 4.89 applications per applicant.

The number of applications for all pharmacy schools in 2009–10 increased by 3.1 percent to 111,744 from 108,396 in 2008–09. The applicant pool remains strong and indicates a firm interest in the profession.

PCAT

Pearson, AACP's partner in admissions testing, reported a 4.1 percent decrease in the number of Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) exams administered in 2009–10. AACP and Pearson are in the process of implementing a revision of both the blueprint (2012–2013) and computer-based testing (2011–2012).

Pearson is currently analyzing data submitted by 22 pharmacy schools and by PharmCAS for the 2010 PCAT predictive validity study. Data analysis will be completed and reports generated in mid to late 2011.

Assessment

AACP is committed to supporting member schools in fulfilling their assessment and accreditation goals. The Pharmacy Education Assessment Services (PEAS) expanded to become the Pharmacy Education Assessment and Accreditation Services (PEAAS) with the release of the Assessment and Accreditation Management System (AAMS) and the inclusion of noteworthy practices.

AAMS was designed in partnership with the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). The system streamlines the compilation, management, analysis and reporting of data and documentation used for assessment and accreditation by: storing assessment documents so that they are easily accessible and transferable into an accreditation report; tracking college/school's progress by standard between accreditation self-studies; providing data from AACP annual surveys into accreditation reports; providing tables and peer comparisons for benchmarking; and compiling and submitting self-study reports. The component of PEAAS on the AACP Web site includes assessment tools, and note-worthy practices that were recognized by ACPE.

Award for Excellence in Assessment

The Award for Excellence in Assessment recognizes outstanding Doctor of Pharmacy assessment programs for their progress in developing and applying evidence of outcomes as part of the ongoing evaluation and improvement of pharmacy professional education. The 2011 recipient of the Award for Excellence in Assessment is Dr. Margarita V. DiVall, clinical associate professor at Northeastern University School of Pharmacy, for her submission, Peer Observation and Evaluation Tool (POET).

Global Pharmacy Education

AACP solidified its work internationally this year through the formal launch of the Global Alliance for Pharmacy Education (GAPE). GAPE is an alliance of organizations of pharmacy schools and faculty coming together to enhance pharmacy education, share resources and network. Inaugural organizations include the Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy, Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada, Association of Deans of Pharmacy of Canada, Ethiopian Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Mexican Association of Schools and Faculties of Pharmacy, as well as AACP. The leaders of the Pan American Conference on Pharmaceutical Education are likely to partner with GAPE as well.

AACP members continue to partner with schools around the globe providing more U.S. student pharmacists opportunities for advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE) and service learning programs. AACP is partnering with investigators funded by the Department of Education on a project to define core competencies and common evaluation strategies for global APPEs.

2011 AACP Institute

The 2011 AACP Institute, Cultural Competency: Beyond Race and Gender, focused on curricular frameworks and strategies for cultural competency beyond just the race and gender considerations. Applying the broadest definition of cultural competency, this Institute explored a curricular framework for cultural competency, focusing on: health literacy; disability as a culture; Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender communities as a culture; and assessment mechanisms related to cultural competency. One hundred and forty attendees representing 34 schools participated in this year's Institute.

2010 Annual Meeting

The world's pharmacy educators convened at the 2010 AACP Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington eager to shape the future of global healthcare. The 2010 AACP Teachers Seminar, Leading and Creating Interprofessional Education for the 21st Century, focused on developing, implementing and sustaining interprofessional education at colleges and schools of pharmacy. The annual meeting's opening keynote speaker was Tom Vander Ark, managing partner of Revolution Learning. Previously, he served as president of the X PRIZE Foundation and executive director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With exciting programs offered for faculty recruitment and retention, pharmacy education assessment, accreditation and leadership, AACP members left ready to solve the issues of tomorrow by Expanding Our Horizons.

2011 Interim Meeting

Given the magnitude of change envisioned for the next several years as public and private health reform efforts unfold, pharmacy educators must be prepared to contribute to change that assures the profession's 2015 vision is realized. As articulated by the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners, pharmacists will be the healthcare professionals responsible for providing patient care that ensures optimal medication therapy outcomes. The 2011 Interim Meeting, Transformational Leadership: Deans and Chairs As Agents of Change, held in Savannah, Ga., offered dual tracks: one for deans and one for department chairs of colleges and schools of pharmacy. Session topics for department chairs included faculty recruitment, retention and development and working effectively with conflict, while the deans track discussed providing value in healthcare and engaging in a noteworthy practice forum.

Role of Pharmacists in Primary Care

The 2010 Professional Affairs Committee Report, “Pharmacist Integration in Primary Care and the Role of Academic Pharmacy,” analyzed 151 peer-reviewed articles on the pharmacist in primary care settings to quantify the economic, clinical and humanistic outcomes of these sites and aggregate the body of literature surrounding the pharmacist and improved patient care outcomes. The findings and recommendations from this report focused on enhancing patient and provider awareness of the impact pharmacists have in primary care through the efforts of academic pharmacy and its partners.

Since publication, this report has been presented to members of Congress, administration officials, including Dr. Mary Wakefield at the Health Resources and Services Administration, and interprofessional, interdisciplinary partners from educators and researchers to policy advocates and consumer groups. Additionally, committee members reconnected to publish a second article stemming from the original research of the committee, “Academic pharmacy and patient-centered health care: A model to prepare the next generation of pharmacists,” published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. This second study focused on the 25 sites from the original project that incorporated the training and preparation of both student pharmacists and pharmacy residents.

The study found that academic pharmacy provides a valuable platform for promoting pharmacist integration in patient-centered healthcare and encouraged the maximization of these established partnerships and models, fostering these communities of practice and highlighting the role of the pharmacist in patient-centered healthcare. All four reports on the Role of Pharmacists in Primary Care will be available in the supplement to Volume 74 of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.

Enhancing Diabetes Outcomes in Underserved Populations through the Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC)

AACP, in collaboration with Dr. Todd D. Sorensen at the University of Minnesota, received a $416,740 grant from sanofi-aventis focusing on enhancing diabetes outcomes in underserved populations. The grant ran from Feb. 1, 2010 to Jan. 31, 2011. All of the work outlined in the grant request was completed by Dec. 1, 2010. Elements of the grant included five regional live educational programs; national learning sessions conducted both live and by satellite in six sites; Web-based educational programs; and production of three videos.

The five regional programs focused on “Enhancing Diabetes Care Through an Interprofessional Approach to Performance Improvement.” These programs were approved for medical, nursing and pharmacy continuing education and discussed systems approaches to interprofessional performance improvements and interprofessional education.

Two Web-based educational programs were produced and implemented: “Motivational Interviewing for Health Professionals” and “Improving Medication Management Through a Systems Approach to Performance Improvement.” Three videos were produced and made available to program participants and AACP members via the AACP YouTube channel: “You Gotta Have Your Data,” produced in collaboration with the University of Southern California; “Interprofessional Care and Training,” produced in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh; and “Medication Management in the Medical Home,” produced in collaboration with the University of Minnesota.

The program's success led to an additional grant submission to expand regional programming to three additional sites, present a modified version of the regional program at ACCP, present program results at “Collaborating Across Borders-III,” provide additional Web-based offerings, and disseminate program results to academic and non-academic audiences through a variety of journals and meetings. Journal audiences will include public health, family medicine, pharmacy practice and academic pharmacy. There are also plans to seek dissemination venues within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (through its Effective Health Care Program) and the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (through its Care Coordination Task Force).

Advocacy

The Affordable Care Act (PL 111-148) is one of the clearest indications that the public and patients need their medications more effectively and efficiently managed. Many provisions in the Act recommend the integration of medication therapy management across the continuum of care with improved care quality leading directly to improved patient outcomes. Much of the evidence for including these provisions in the Act came directly from the research of pharmacy faculty.

Ensuring that patients, especially those in medically-underserved areas, have access to the quality improvements associated with medication therapy management and other team-based approaches to care, provided the necessary incentive for U.S Senators Inouye (D-HI), Reed (D-RI) and Begich (D-AK) to introduce the “Pharmacist Student Loan Repayment Act of 2010,” which would authorize pharmacists to be eligible for the National Health Service Corps loan repayment program.

Interprofessional Education

The timing is excellent for development of new programs of interprofessional education and team-based practice by colleges and schools of pharmacy and other health professions. AACP worked closely with its counterparts in academic medicine, nursing, dentistry and public health over the past two years with a commitment to expanding interprofessional education (IPE) and team-based care through our member schools.

In May, the group, now called the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), released a set of core competencies for IPE to guide local efforts to design new educational activities in the classroom, practice laboratories and simulation centers, as well as in clinical rotations. This report also contains resources available and successful practices currently ongoing at schools of the health professions around the country. The IPEC is committed to continuing its work, broadening participation by other professions and advancing the ability of our members to prepare the next generation of clinicians to work effectively together in the provision of team-based care that is patient-centered and evidence-based.

2010 Teachers Seminar

The 2010 AACP Teachers Seminar focused on developing, implementing and sustaining interprofessional education. Interprofessional/team-based care is an overarching theme of U.S. healthcare reform.

The seminar featured Dr. John H.V. Gilbert, international expert in interprofessional education (IPE) and project lead for the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, who addressed difficult cultural issues facing IPE. Dr. Victor A. Yanchick, dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, and Dr. Wendy Duncan, dean of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, focused on challenges to developing IPE in academic medical center and non-academic medical center campuses. Dr. Samuel M. Poloyac, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, addressed IPE in translational research; Dr. Peggy S. Odegard, chair of the Department of Pharmacy from the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, addressed simulations in IPE; and Jody Gandy from the American Physical Therapy Association discussed professionalism in IPE. A special break-out session on the importance of campus-level leadership provided excellent dialogue.

AWARDS: 2010 AACP Awardees List

2010 Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award

Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD

Dean

University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy

2010 Paul R. Dawson Biotechnology Award

Harold L. Kohn, PhD

Kenan Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products

Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2010 Volwiler Research Achievement Award

Hartmut C. Derendorf, PhD

Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutics

University of Florida College of Pharmacy

2010 Rufus A. Lyman Award

Rosemin Kassam, BSc Pharm, PharmD

Associate Professor

The University of British Columbia Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Co-author: Mona Kwong, BSc Pharm, MSc, Coordinator for the Structured Practice Education Program, Lecturer and Research Associate, The University of British Columbia Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Winning Article:

“An Enhanced Community Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Model to Improve Patient Care”

2010 Distinguished Service Award

Jimmy R. Mitchell, MPH, RPh

Director

Office of Pharmacy Affairs, Health Resources and Services Administration

New Pharmacy Faculty Research Awards Program

This program, formerly known as the New Investigator Program for Pharmacy Faculty, provides start-up funding for new pharmacy faculty's research programs. Applications for this award, reinstituted after a 1-year hiatus, were made available in 2010 for awarding during the 2010–2011 academic year and 151 complete applications were received. Fifteen grants of up to $10,000 were awarded to individual faculty starting their academic careers at an AACP member college or school of pharmacy, with at least one award being granted in each of AACP's governance Sections.

New Chief Science Officer

AACP is pleased to announce that Vincent Lau, Ph.D., has joined the staff as Vice President for Research and Graduate Education. As the Association's Chief Science Officer, Dr. Lau will be the primary liaison to public agencies (e.g., NIH, CDC, AHRQ and NSF) and will also reach out to foundations and other funding organizations supporting the full continuum of the pharmaceutical sciences. New programs designed to accelerate the development of early and mid-career scientists will also be in the Chief Science Officer's portfolio under Critical Issue #5.

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

One hundred and forty-five peer-reviewed manuscripts were published in Volume 74, along with viewpoints, letters, addresses, reports, book reviews and other material. Two hundred eighty-three manuscripts were submitted to the Journal, similar to the previous year's total. Of these, 56 percent were accepted for publication. Approximately 400 individuals served as manuscript and book reviewers in 2010, a significant increase over previous years. In 2010 there were approximately 20,000 to 30,000 unique visitors per month to the Journal Web site.

The international visibility of the Journal remains strong. In 2010, the Journal published 23 peer-reviewed articles, as well as numerous letters-to-the-editor, by authors outside the United States and Canada, a significant increase from prior years. International papers must meet the same standards as those from U.S. authors. After the United States, the countries with the most Journal readers in 2010 were India, Great Britain, Canada, China and Malaysia.

Three new Editorial Board members were appointed in 2010 for 3-year terms: Dr. Catherine A. Elstad (Washington State University), Dr. Brent Fox (Auburn University), and Dr. Alicia S. Bouldin (The University of Mississippi). Dr. Shelley L. Chambers-Fox (Washington State University), Dr. Peter D. Hurd (St. Louis College of Pharmacy) and Dr. Naser Z. Alsharif (Creighton University) were reappointed to the Board for a second 3-year term.

The Journal Web site is undergoing a major renovation. Beginning in summer 2011, the Journal will be hosted by Atypon, home to such prestigious publications as the New England Journal of Medicine. The Journal will have a new look and functional improvements such as enhanced navigation, reader comments, curser-over abstracts in the table of contents, supplementary content (video, audio and text), advanced search capabilities, extensive reference linking, social bookmarking and e-mail alerts to readers, as well as a suite of administrative tools that will provide the editorial office more control over site content.

In 2011 we will celebrate the 75th year of publication of the Journal. Throughout the year, the Journal will feature selected legacy articles from the early volumes. Also, the Journal and all of its contributors will be recognized at the AACP Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas in July 2011.

2011 Treasurer's Report

As you have read the highlights and key accomplishments in this Annual Report, you should know that AACP's financial position and operating performance remains very strong and continues to improve. I am pleased to share with you that AACP expects to report another year of positive operating performance and a growing financial position. Your Academy is Poised for Investment in new programs that will increase member engagement and deliver highly-valued services!

Under the new strategic plan, Critical Issue 6 is about ensuring that necessary resources and infrastructure are in place for supporting our mission and accomplishing strategic directions across the Academy. As Chair of both the AACP Finance and Investment Committees, I have worked hard with other leaders to manage resources effectively and provide for the long-term viability of the organization while also setting aside funds for future investment.

In 2010, AACP's net assets comprise 83 percent of total assets (an indicator of long-term financial strength) and it operates with a very low ratio of staff to its budget size. Careful financial and budget management has resulted in the Academy accumulating considerable resources for funding new opportunities and initiatives that support and further the mission.

In the fiscal year about to end in June, AACP is projecting a year-over-year increase in revenue, even though the growth in participation among key programs like the Annual Meeting, PharmCAS and PCAT testing have leveled off or dipped slightly from record levels in recent years. AACP's financial liquidity is expected to improve from 80 percent in 2010, on account of strong cash flow and by an appreciating investment portfolio (returning 11 percent over the past 2+ years). In summary, the 2011 forecast is for assets to grow by more than 10 percent and operating results to meet the budgeted net revenue target of $385,000. The following tables present AACP's audited financial performance over the past three completed fiscal years.

The coming year in 2012 brings with it the first institutional dues increase in 10 years and other operating changes, including increased costs to operate the PharmCAS program, the addition of a Vice President for Research and Graduate Education staff position and efforts to offer educational programming and content through new delivery channels. Ever sensitive to the economic situation of schools and individual members, AACP has held registration rates for the 2011 Annual Meeting on par with last year.

The new planning process has given us the opportunity to assess prospects for new revenue sources. It has also given us the chance to begin assessing whether our infrastructure is right-sized for what lies ahead. Recently, AACP conducted an inventory of all existing programs benchmarking each against its relative value-impact and financial performance alongside one another. This information, as well as research collected from an upcoming individual member needs assessment, is timely and will help the Board make more informed decisions about allocating resources, prioritizing member needs and generating new revenues.

AACP has shown it is nimble in its planning activities, responsive to member needs and that it is well-positioned to support our dynamic and growing profession. As your Treasurer, I am fortunate to work with such talented leaders and for a profession so focused on transforming healthcare by advancing pharmacy education!

Keith N. Herist, PharmD, CPA

AACP Treasurer