Objective To describe common facilitators, challenges, and lessons learned in 5 schools and colleges of pharmacy in establishing community pharmacy research fellowships. Setting: Five schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States. Practice description: Schools and colleges of pharmacy with existing community partnerships identified a need and ability to develop opportunities for pharmacists to engage in advanced research training. Practice innovation: Community pharmacy fellowships, each structured as 2 years long and in combination with graduate coursework, have been established at the University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University, East Tennessee State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and The Ohio State University. Evaluation: Program directors from each of the 5 community pharmacy research fellowships identified common themes pertaining to program structure, outcomes, and lessons learned to assist others planning similar programs. Results: Common characteristics across the programs include length of training, prerequisites, graduate coursework, mentoring structure, and immersion into a pharmacist patient care practice. Common facilitators have been the existence of strong community pharmacy partnerships, creating a fellowship advisory team, and networking. A common challenge has been recruitment, with many programs experiencing at least one year without filling the fellowship position. All program graduates (n = 4) have been successful in securing pharmacy faculty positions. Conclusion: Five schools and colleges of pharmacy share similar experiences in implementing community pharmacy research fellowships. Early outcomes show promise for this training pathway in growing future pharmacist-scientists focused on community pharmacy practice.

Objectives: Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy at East Tennessee State University is interested in using innovative teaching methods to incorporate pharmacy law concepts throughout the curriculum in a longitudinal nature. This project seeks to characterize law curricula at US institutions of pharmacy based on the following criteria: teaching methods, curricular placement and integration, and instructor credentials. Method: A survey about law curricula was sent electronically to individuals at 127 colleges of pharmacy. The survey inquired about curricular placement, amount of time dedicated to formal lecture and in-class exercises, utilization of innovative teaching techniques and instructor credentials. Results: Individuals from 95 institutions responded to the survey (74.8% response rate). Law courses are typically offered in the third year of the four year professional program (46.2%). 45.6% of course coordinators have PharmD degrees, 55.3% have BS Pharmacy degrees and 37.8% have JD degrees. On average, respondents indicated 77.6% of course time is spent on lecturing and 20.7% of time is spent on active learning. Innovative learning techniques in law courses include case-based learning, student presentations, writing assignments focused on changing specific laws, and incorporating law into a cumulative exam at the end of each semester. Many institutions have incorporated law into other courses in the curriculum, including lab courses (34.1%), pharmacotherapy courses (18.8%) and ethics courses (41.2%). Implications: Variation exists in how pharmacy law is being taught at colleges of pharmacy across the country. Whereas a majority of the material is taught through lecture, many institutions are using innovative teaching techniques for communicating the material to students. Read More: http://www.ajpe.org/doi/full/10.5688/ajpe76599