PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Khadka, Safalta
AU  - Peeters, Michael J.
TI  - Comparing Private and Public Colleges/Schools of Pharmacy: A Case-Study Using Opioid-Related Activities
AID  - 10.5688/ajpe8328
DP  - 2020 Dec 22
TA  - American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
PG  - 8328
4099  - http://www.ajpe.org/content/early/2020/12/04/ajpe8328.short
4100  - http://www.ajpe.org/content/early/2020/12/04/ajpe8328.full
AB  - Objective. This investigation was a case-study example of similarities and differences in educational offerings between public and private US colleges/schools of pharmacy (C/SOPs). It focused on opioid-related activities (ORAs) for the US Opioid Epidemic, with an objective to compare ORAs (educational products) between public and private institutions.Methods. An ORA database for US C/SOPs was collated by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. In a mixed-method study design, this study triangulated a quantitative analysis with a concurrent qualitative analysis. After describing institutions in our sample and comparing those to national statistics, we compared ORA types (education, service, practice, research, and advocacy) between private and public institutions both quantitatively and qualitatively. Our quantitative analysis used odds-ratios (for effect-size) and chi-square (for statistical significance), while our qualitative analysis employed word-clouds to explore ORA descriptors.Results. One-hundred-seven C/SOPs (74% response-rate) were included. The institutions (55 private, 52 public) provided 436 unique ORAs. Quantitatively, significant odds-ratios were found for both private and public institutions. Qualitatively, word-clouds of ORA descriptors illustrated similarities and difference between private versus public institutions; this triangulated/agreed with quantitative findings.Conclusion. Overall, private and public C/SOPs widely engaged with the US Opioid Epidemic through a variety of ORAs. Quantitative and qualitative analysis triangulated/agreed that private institutions focused more on education-ORAs, while public institutions offered more ORAs beyond education including more research-ORAs. Of note, while faculty from private C/SOPs were more focused only on education, faculty from public C/SOPs more often focused on other additional aspects for an education-related ORA.