Who is the pharmacist we are graduating?
This question led to the development of the Husky Pharmacist document, which includes a list of attributes, describing the characteristics of a pharmacist provider. The role of the pharmacist as a “provider” is a key feature in the development of our new curriculum, and as a School, we wanted to ground ourselves in a common language around this important term. Several members of the CI team met with a group of faculty and staff from the Department of Pharmacy and the Office of Professional Pharmacy Education to brainstorm and further refine the characteristics and our definition of pharmacist providers. We discussed levels of care and the range and variety of services, pharmacists as members of the health care team, the importance of billing and reimbursement given the new provider status in Washington State, and personal qualities, skills and characteristics needed by pharmacist providers. The CI team has considered this topic over the past year in several additional discussions which have included practitioners (both faculty and non-faculty).
CI Team Activity
CI team met to discuss ideas for integration and sequencing of foundational coursework, including possible models for the clustering and overlap of key topic areas such as pathophysiology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, and therapeutics. We also discussed electives, Wednesdays in Practice, potential topics for workgroups, and the need to provide clarity around the timing for the beginning of APPEs. The team decided to invite all three Department Chairs to an upcoming CI meeting, for an update on the state of the CI project and discussion of how best to involve the faculty moving forward.