Recommendations for integration of foundational and clinical sciences throughout the pharmacy curriculum.

Introduction: Pharmacy faculty have the often difficult task of translating and incorporating existing concepts and advances from the foundational sciences into the clinical sciences and practice. This commentary focuses on content integration as a curricular and educational strategy, outcomes data from integration, and recommendations for programs employing or considering curricular integration.

Commentary: Integration of foundational and clinical sciences across the curriculum has been emphasized in accreditation standards but met with mixed reactions by faculty across different disciplines in the academy.

Provision of Lifestyle Counseling and the Prescribing of Pharmacotherapy for Hyperlipidemia Among US Ambulatory Patients: A National Assessment of Office-Based Physician Visits.

Background: An estimated 27.8% of the United States (US) population aged ≥20 years has hyperlipidemia, defined as total serum cholesterol of ≥240 mg/dL. A previous study of US physician office visits for hyperlipidemia in 2005 found both suboptimal compliance and racial/ethnic disparities in screening and treatment.

Improvisational exercises to improve pharmacy students' professional communication skills.

Objective: To create and implement improvisational exercises to improve first-year pharmacy students' communication skills.

Design: Twelve 1-hour improvisational sessions were developed and added to an existing/established patient communication course to improve 3 basic skills: listening, observing and responding. Standardized patient examinations were used to evaluate student communication skills, and course evaluations and reflective journaling were used to evaluate students' perceptions of the improvisational exercises.

Women's trust in and use of information sources in the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

Background: Frequent shifts in expert opinion over whether or not women should use hormone therapy (HT) or another menopausal treatment have left women in a difficult position; they must determine where they can obtain trustworthy menopause information. In this study, conducted 10-12 months after the Women's Health Initiative study first published results, we identified sources women use for information about menopause treatments, identified how trust-related dimensions (trustworthiness, knowledge, helpfulness, bias, and vested interest) influenced use of these sources, and determined how these trust dimensions varied with women's HT use status.

Methods: A total of 765 women >45 and <61 years of age from a Midwestern managed care organization responded to a survey.