Assessment of a didactic ambulatory care pharmacy elective on student perceptions and subsequent performance in an ambulatory care advanced pharmacy practice experience.

Introduction: This study assessed student perception in treating chronic disease states before and after taking an ambulatory care didactic elective and the impact on performance within a fourth-year ambulatory care advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE).

Methods: Assessment of student perceptions was evaluated in students taking the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 elective offering by completing an 11-item electronic survey prior to the first lecture of the course and after the last lecture of the course. A retrospective assessment of student performance in the APPE compared students that had taken the elective to those that had not over a two-and-one-half year period.

Utilizing Clinical Pharmacy Specialists to Address Access to Care Barriers in the Veteran Population for the Management of Diabetes.

Objective: To show that clinical pharmacy specialists (CPSs) can be utilized in remote facilities to provide appropriate diabetes outcomes along with potential cost savings.

Methods: A retrospective cohort chart review conducted at the Veterans Affairs North Texas Healthcare System (VANTHCS) evaluated outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus referred to CPSs at Fort Worth Outpatient Clinic (FWOPC) or the endocrinologist-managed specialty clinic at the Dallas VA Medical Center (DVAMC). The primary outcome was percentage of patients reaching hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) goal of <8%.