McWhorter School of Pharmacy
Condit F. Steil, Pharm.D.,
Director
Phone: (205) 726-2075
Fax: (205) 726-2669
The Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Care in Community Pharmacy Practice at Samford University was established in 1994. The goals of the Center are:
-To assist community pharmacists practicing in selected community pharmacy settings to attain knowledge and skills needed to enable them to deliver pharmaceutical care to their patients,
- To develop clinical clerkships based in community pharmacy sites where doctor of pharmacy students are taught to embrace pharmaceutical care as a philosophy of practice in the community and to assume responsibility to the patient and other health care providers for ensuring positive outcomes of drug therapy, and
- To document outcomes of drug therapy and establish the cost-effectiveness of services provided in order that these services may become the standard of practice and recognized as necessary and reimbursible by payors of care.
Since the establishment of the Center in 1994, several activities have been undertaken to achieve these goals. Site visits to pharmacies are performed to assess the interest and capabilities of the pharmacist(s) for change in their practice. The primary changes tend to be in the focus of the pharmacists' time and their interaction with the patient and other care givers. The Center assists pharmacists in the various components of shifting the practice setting:
- Physical layout
- Specific functions of the pharmacists and technicians
- Documentation system
- Education/monitoring services to provide
- Follow-up guidelines
- Maintenance of the program
- Billing for service
Fifteen pharmacies are currently in some phase of development for providing pharmaceutical care. This number continues to grow due the the interest in the Center and our networking with the Alabama Pharmacy Association.
The Center is forwarding the three major goals by:
- Training program development for the pharmacist (example: Diabetes Outcome Program)
- Updating of the practice course content for current students
- Development of PHRD 642, Clinical Community Clerkship - fifteen students to date
- Communicating with payors and assisting practitioners in reimbursement plans
- Designing a model for outcome measurement.
Send an email message to Dr. Steil