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“Passion”: where is yours?
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Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2 (2010) 131–132 http://www.pharmacyteaching.com
“Passion”: where is yours? The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. —Alfred Lord Tennyson
Whether it is the tone in someone’s voice, the glimmer in his/her eye, or the rapid pumping of a fist—it doesn’t matter student, staff, or faculty—it typically isn’t hard to figure out what excites each of us, as nearly all of us are passionate about one or more aspects of our lives. Passions can come and go as the environment, including life stage, dictates. As a University of Kansas graduate student, for me, it was all about Jayhawk basketball and fluoroquinolone chemistry. As a new Midwestern University faculty member, my passion centered around simple survival, given that I had no formal teaching skills, no socialization into the profession of pharmacy, and few senior faculty mentors. As a tenured faculty member, broadening my pharmacy-based horizons became my passion as I took on a part time job as a pharmacy technician—a 5-year experience that far surpassed any book knowledge related to the practice of pharmacy. Wash, rinse, repeat for any number of subsequent exciting adventures. Years later, still an avid Jayhawk fan, with well-honed survival/teaching skills and an admiration for community pharmacists that I hope to never lose, my passions still burn bright and, better yet, I have the near-daily luxury of learning about your passions. You too will quickly recognize several academy members’ passions in this issue’s manuscripts. Hagemeier’s opinion piece “Transforming the community pharmacy setting: academe’s responsibility” is a testament to the very real disconnect that currently exists between academic pharmacy and the practice of pharmacy in many community settings. His passion and commitment to the advancement of community pharmacy should not go unnoticed and, I dare say, should be commended. Ratke et al. report the findings of their American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Academic Leadership Fellows Program (AACP ALFP) project entitled “Self-assessed proficiency and application of various skills learned during postgraduate pharmacy teaching skills development programs.” As I can personally attest, it is not just residents that suffer from a lack of teaching skills or credentials. Their findings should be a wake-up call to all residency directors, especially those who hope to prepare academicians of the future.
Given our collective passion for and dedication to both classroom and experiential teaching, review the manuscripts by Greene, Sowinski, Powers, Brahm, and Eiland et al. to get a glimpse into their passions. In “Correlation of prepharmacy work experience in a pharmacy setting with performance in a Top 200 Drugs course,” Greene et al. recognizes that many of our students either have work experience before matriculation and/or they gain experience once they become a member in the professional program and look to establish a correlation with performance in a Top 200 Drugs course. For those of you with a focus on experiential education, their findings may be of interest. In their manuscript “Development and student evaluation of an introductory biostatistics course as a required course in the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum,” Sowinski et al. identify that variation in prepharmacy biostatistics experience predisposes students to under-appreciate the value of statistics in the practice of pharmacy and potentially leaves them ill prepared for professional program coursework. They sought to even the didactic playing ground, and potentially improve student perception, through development of a biostatistics course as a component of required professional curriculum. The findings suggest that their curricular revision had a positive impact on student perception and improved student preparedness for subsequent courses. With a firm appreciation of today’s tech-savvy learners, Powers et al. in “A brief report on the use of paper-based computing to supplement a pharmaceutical calculations course” look to enhance student learning through the use of pencasts, a new type of technology that uses the Livescribe™ Pulse pen. The potential for this type of technology to be used across the professional curriculum has yet to be explored, but it certainly has potential. With the need for specialty pharmacists growing annually, Brahm et al. in “A student practice experience focusing on the intellectually disabled” describe an experiential rotation that provides student exposure to the unique health care needs of the intellectually disabled population. Without this type of experience and mentoring, the next generation of nontraditional pharmacists will be inadequate and likely ill prepared. In the manuscript entitled “Availability of ‘Drugs in Pregnancy’ electives in pharmacy schools,” Eiland et al. focus on another patient population—those who are pregnant or who are planning to become pregnant. Their work to identify the type
1877-1297/10/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2010.05.001
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R.M. Zavod / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2 (2010) 131–132
and extent of curricular integration of medication use in this patient population sheds light on the need for students to be educated and aware of resources specific to this area. To conclude our parade of passions in this issue, consider the manuscript by Saab et al., a historical perspective of pharmacy education in Lebanon. With an ever-increasing interest in international pharmacy education, especially since the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education’s accreditation of Lebanese American University School of Pharmacy in 2001, this manuscript should be of interest to Deans and Directors of Experiential Education alike.
What have you done recently to share your passion— with a student, colleague, or the academy? Manuscript publication is certainly one avenue. We encourage you to consider Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning for your next manuscript. Send us your manuscripts or ideas and let us share your excitement and enthusiasm with the rest of the pharmacy academy.
Robin M. Zavod, PhD Editor-in-Chief
Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2 (2010) 131–132 http://www.pharmacyteaching.com
“Passion”: where is yours? The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. —Alfred Lord Tennyson
Whether it is the tone in someone’s voice, the glimmer in his/her eye, or the rapid pumping of a fist—it doesn’t matter student, staff, or faculty—it typically isn’t hard to figure out what excites each of us, as nearly all of us are passionate about one or more aspects of our lives. Passions can come and go as the environment, including life stage, dictates. As a University of Kansas graduate student, for me, it was all about Jayhawk basketball and fluoroquinolone chemistry. As a new Midwestern University faculty member, my passion centered around simple survival, given that I had no formal teaching skills, no socialization into the profession of pharmacy, and few senior faculty mentors. As a tenured faculty member, broadening my pharmacy-based horizons became my passion as I took on a part time job as a pharmacy technician—a 5-year experience that far surpassed any book knowledge related to the practice of pharmacy. Wash, rinse, repeat for any number of subsequent exciting adventures. Years later, still an avid Jayhawk fan, with well-honed survival/teaching skills and an admiration for community pharmacists that I hope to never lose, my passions still burn bright and, better yet, I have the near-daily luxury of learning about your passions. You too will quickly recognize several academy members’ passions in this issue’s manuscripts. Hagemeier’s opinion piece “Transforming the community pharmacy setting: academe’s responsibility” is a testament to the very real disconnect that currently exists between academic pharmacy and the practice of pharmacy in many community settings. His passion and commitment to the advancement of community pharmacy should not go unnoticed and, I dare say, should be commended. Ratke et al. report the findings of their American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Academic Leadership Fellows Program (AACP ALFP) project entitled “Self-assessed proficiency and application of various skills learned during postgraduate pharmacy teaching skills development programs.” As I can personally attest, it is not just residents that suffer from a lack of teaching skills or credentials. Their findings should be a wake-up call to all residency directors, especially those who hope to prepare academicians of the future.
Given our collective passion for and dedication to both classroom and experiential teaching, review the manuscripts by Greene, Sowinski, Powers, Brahm, and Eiland et al. to get a glimpse into their passions. In “Correlation of prepharmacy work experience in a pharmacy setting with performance in a Top 200 Drugs course,” Greene et al. recognizes that many of our students either have work experience before matriculation and/or they gain experience once they become a member in the professional program and look to establish a correlation with performance in a Top 200 Drugs course. For those of you with a focus on experiential education, their findings may be of interest. In their manuscript “Development and student evaluation of an introductory biostatistics course as a required course in the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum,” Sowinski et al. identify that variation in prepharmacy biostatistics experience predisposes students to under-appreciate the value of statistics in the practice of pharmacy and potentially leaves them ill prepared for professional program coursework. They sought to even the didactic playing ground, and potentially improve student perception, through development of a biostatistics course as a component of required professional curriculum. The findings suggest that their curricular revision had a positive impact on student perception and improved student preparedness for subsequent courses. With a firm appreciation of today’s tech-savvy learners, Powers et al. in “A brief report on the use of paper-based computing to supplement a pharmaceutical calculations course” look to enhance student learning through the use of pencasts, a new type of technology that uses the Livescribe™ Pulse pen. The potential for this type of technology to be used across the professional curriculum has yet to be explored, but it certainly has potential. With the need for specialty pharmacists growing annually, Brahm et al. in “A student practice experience focusing on the intellectually disabled” describe an experiential rotation that provides student exposure to the unique health care needs of the intellectually disabled population. Without this type of experience and mentoring, the next generation of nontraditional pharmacists will be inadequate and likely ill prepared. In the manuscript entitled “Availability of ‘Drugs in Pregnancy’ electives in pharmacy schools,” Eiland et al. focus on another patient population—those who are pregnant or who are planning to become pregnant. Their work to identify the type
1877-1297/10/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2010.05.001
132
R.M. Zavod / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2 (2010) 131–132
and extent of curricular integration of medication use in this patient population sheds light on the need for students to be educated and aware of resources specific to this area. To conclude our parade of passions in this issue, consider the manuscript by Saab et al., a historical perspective of pharmacy education in Lebanon. With an ever-increasing interest in international pharmacy education, especially since the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education’s accreditation of Lebanese American University School of Pharmacy in 2001, this manuscript should be of interest to Deans and Directors of Experiential Education alike.
What have you done recently to share your passion— with a student, colleague, or the academy? Manuscript publication is certainly one avenue. We encourage you to consider Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning for your next manuscript. Send us your manuscripts or ideas and let us share your excitement and enthusiasm with the rest of the pharmacy academy.
Robin M. Zavod, PhD Editor-in-Chief