Interprofessional education: definitions, student competencies, and guidelines for implementation.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important step in advancing health professional education for many years and has been endorsed by the Institute of Medicine as a mechanism to improve the overall quality of health care. IPE has also become an area of focus for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), with several groups, including these authors from the AACP Interprofessional Education Task Force, working on developing resources to promote and support IPE planning and development. This review provides background on the definition of IPE, evidence to support IPE, the need for IPE, student competencies and objectives for IPE, barriers to implementation of IPE, and elements critical for successfully implementing IPE.

A high-stakes assessment approach to applied pharmacokinetics instruction.

Objectives: To identify instructional and assessment problems leading to pharmacy students' failure to retain pharmacokinetics abilities into the experiential year and develop an instructional methodology and abilities-based assessment tool to address the problem.

Methods: Pharmacokinetic instructional methods were assessed and an abilities-based assessment tool was developed and utilized as a requirement for curricular progression. Both the instructional methodology and the assessment tool were evaluated using abilities-based outcomes and faculty surveys.

Medication therapy management: its relationship to patient counseling, disease management, and pharmaceutical care.

Objective: To delineate the relationship, including similarities and differences, between medication therapy management (MTM) and contemporary pharmacist-provided services, including patient counseling, disease management, and pharmaceutical care, to facilitate the continued evolution of commonly used language and a standard of practice across geographic areas and practice environments.

Summary: Incorporation of MTM services into the array of Medicare-funded services affords an opportunity for pharmacists to develop direct patient care services in the community. Defining the role of MTM within the scope of pharmacist-provided patient care activities, including patient counseling, disease management, and all currently provided pharmacy services is essential to the delineation of a viable and sustainable practice model for pharmacists.

Development of an office of teaching, learning and assessment in a pharmacy school.

This article describes the background, development, and assessment of an Office of Teaching, Learning and Assessment at the Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University. This case study is intended to provide other colleges and schools with insights that may facilitate the relatively unproblematic development of similar programs.

Powder densification. 1. Particle-particle basis for incorporation of viscoelastic material properties.

The present investigation was undertaken to examine the basic unit of densification: the particle-particle indentation. The true interparticle contact area that is established during densification ultimately determines the quality of the tablet compact. By examining the interfacial contact between mutually indenting viscoelastic particles, the process of contact evolution may be represented in mathematical form through extension of the classical Hertzian elastic contact description to encompass material viscoelastic terms.

Powder densification. 2. Viscoelastic material properties in modeling the uniaxial compaction of powders.

A micromechanical model for predicting the densification of particulate matter under hydrostatic loading was developed to account for the time-dependent response of materials to applied loads. Viscoelastic material response used in the analysis was based upon a standard three-parameter rheological model. Compaction data under closed die conditions were collected using an Instron analyzer for different rates of applied load.

A comparison of elastic moduli derived from theory, microindentation, and ultrasonic testing.

Purpose: The objective of our work was to evaluate the elastic modulus through ultrasonic testing of poly(methyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid) (PMMA/coMAA), a viscoelastic polymer similar to the commercial Eudragit, to calculate this modulus, assuming a regular arrangement of interacting groups, and ultimately, assess the accuracy of microindentation as a means of evaluating elasticity in very small samples.

Methods: Knoop indentation testing was performed on cast samples using a Tukon testing apparatus. Solid density and pulse echo testing employing a damped 15 MHz transducer served to quantify the elastic moduli.

Deformation kinetics analysis of polymeric matrices.

Purpose: We hypothesize that if the kinetics and the mechanisms involved in tablet compression are more fully understood and quantified, the parameters which influence tablet behavior in production may be controlled. The objective of our work was to obtain two deformation kinetic parameters for the predominant barrier to deformation, the activation volume (Vact) and the activation energy (Eact) of poly (methyl methacrylate-co-methacrylic acid) (PMMA/coMAA), a viscoelastic polymer similar to the commercial Eudragit.

Methods: Stress relaxation studies were performed and monitored at varying temperatures on compacts using an instrumented Instron testing apparatus.

Hardness anisotropy of acetaminophen crystals.

The anisotropy of acetaminophen hardness was demonstrated using both Vickers and Knoop indentation hardness measurements. Based on a model of Knoop hardness anisotropy proposed by Brookes et al. (1), it was concluded that plastic flow in acetaminophen crystals occurs primarily as a result of slip in the (010)<001> system.

Deformation kinetics of potassium bromide crystals predict tablet stress relaxation.

A model relating the interparticulate contact stress within a tablet matrix with the compaction stress was developed previously to permit the nonlinear deformation kinetic analysis of the viscoelastic behavior of pharmaceutical tablets with the known properties of the tablet constituents. The present research was undertaken to determine whether the inverse operation (i.e.

Predicting the postconsolidation relaxation behavior of sodium chloride tablets.

A model that relates the interparticulate contact stress within a tablet matrix with the compaction stress has been developed. The model permits the application of nonlinear deformation kinetic analysis to quantification of the viscoelastic behavior of tablet constituents. Deformation kinetic analysis assumes that stress relaxation is controlled by thermally activated processes similar in character to those associated with chemical reaction kinetics.

Modeling the uniaxial compaction of pharmaceutical powders using the mechanical properties of single crystals. II: Brittle materials.

A model is presented which uses the hardness and elastic moduli of brittle crystals, determined using the Vickers microindentation test, to predict the uniaxial compaction behavior of compacts. A general approach first developed in the materials science field to predict the densification of particulate matter under hydrostatic loading was followed. Modifications to account for the effects of particle geometry and the closed-die loading conditions were considered.

Modeling the uniaxial compaction of pharmaceutical powders using the mechanical properties of single crystals. I: Ductile materials.

A model is presented which uses the Vickers microindentation hardness of ductile crystals such as sodium chloride to predict the uniaxial compaction behavior of compacts. A general approach first developed in the materials science field to predict the densification of particulate matter under hydrostatic loading was followed. However, modifications to account for the effects of particle geometry and the closed-die loading conditions were considered.

Evaluating the deformation kinetics of sucrose crystals using microindentation techniques.

The deformation kinetics of sucrose crystals were evaluated using the Vickers microindentation technique. A (100) face of a crystal of sucrose was indented for varying lengths of time at temperatures ranging from 23 to 103 degrees C, and the deformation kinetics analysis proposed by Verrall et al. (1) was employed to calculate the strain rate and stress from the indentation time and the size of the indentation.

Evaluating the fracture toughness of sucrose crystals using microindentation techniques.

The brittleness of pharmaceutical crystals influences their ability to form compacts of acceptable quality. While many macroscopic methods are available to elucidate the fracture behavior of materials, the porosity, inhomogeneity, and anisotropy of pharmaceutical compacts render it difficult to interpret the results of these tests. Microindentation techniques may be used to evaluate both the flow and the fracture characteristics of small crystals, so that it is not necessary to test compacts.