Reexamining the Academic Partnerships with Federal Pharmacy: 2018-19 Argus Commission Report.

The Argus Commission examined the history and current status of progressive pharmacy patient care services across several federal branches of government, including the Veterans Administration, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Public Health Service where officers and civilian pharmacists practice in the Indian Health Service, Bureau of Prisons, Area Health Education Centers and other locations.

The Report of the 2018-2019 Professional Affairs Standing Committee: The Role of Educators in Pharmacy Practice Transformation.

The 2018-2019 Professional Affairs Committee examined the potential roles and needs of clinical educators (faculty and preceptors) in leading transformation in pharmacy practice. The committee was charged to (1) discuss the potential roles and responsibilities of faculty and preceptors leading transformation and enhanced patient care services in pharmacy practice; (2) describe factors, including clinician well-being and resilience, which may influence faculty and preceptor involvement in practice transformation and the enhancement of patient care services; and (3) recommend how the efforts and successes of faculty and preceptors involved in pharmacy practice transformation can be replicated and recognized as well as identify the types of continuing professional development (CPD) that should be available to enable the influence and implementation of patient care services. This report provides a framework for addressing the committee charges by examining the roles of advocacy, collaboration, continuing professional development, and clinician resilience and well-being.

Report of the 2018-2019 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee.

The 2018-2019 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) was charged with critically evaluating the leadership development support necessary for pharmacy researchers, including postdoctoral trainees, to develop the skills needed to build and sustain successful research programs and analyzing how well those needs are being met by existing programs both within AACP and at other organizations. The RGAC identified a set of skills that could reasonably be expected to provide the necessary foundation to successfully lead a research team and mapped these skills to the six domains of graduate education in the pharmaceutical sciences established by the 2016-2017 RGAC (Table 1). In addition, the RGAC identified competency in team science and the bench-to-bedside-to-beyond translational spectrum as being critical elements of research leadership.

Health Informatics Competencies for Pharmacists in Training.

To gather feedback from focus groups regarding health informatics competencies that should be taught in a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curricula and to revise the competencies based on this feedback. The pharmacy informatics task force of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) used 11 sources to create a list of pharmacy informatics competencies. Subsequently, faculty feedback about the competency list was obtained via two synchronous online focus groups in August 2015.

The Report of the 2017-2018 Professional Affairs Standing Committee: The Development of the Preceptor Self-Assessment Tool for Entrustable Professional Activities for New Graduates.

The 2017-2018 AACP Professional Affairs Committee addressed the charges of (1) developing a self-reflection/self-assessment tool for pharmacy faculty and preceptors to allow them to assess their capability and confidence with Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) Educational Outcomes, the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP), and the Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for New Pharmacy Graduates and (2) creation of a plan for AACP to utilize in the development of preceptor continuing education and training programs. This report describes the framework, rationale and process for the development of the Preceptor Self-Assessment Tool for Entrustable Professional Activities for New Pharmacy Graduates (PSAE Tool), the pre-test for the PSAE tool, and the online pilot test and its results for the PSAE Tool. The committee provides recommendations for AACP in the continued development and distribution of the PSAE Tool to the schools of pharmacy.

Vital Directions for Pharmacy Education and Practice: Report of the 2017-18 Argus Commission.

The Argus Commission examined the National Academy of Medicine's publication "Vital Directions for Health and Health Care" and engaged with six guests from outside academic pharmacy to identify the salience of the key issues and recommendations for pharmacy education and practice. To be part of the changing health care system we must prepare graduates and faculty to be patient- and community-centered, to command electronic systems of communication with members of interprofessional teams and to create and apply real-world evidence. Sustainable practice models will depend upon the measurement of performance and the assessment of the value produced by clinicians.

Report of the 2017-2018 Student Affairs Standing Committee.

The 2017-2018 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Student Affairs Standing Committee addressed charges related to student wellness and resilience and identified ways where AACP can assist member organizations to build positive wellbeing in students. The Committee report provides nine recommendations to AACP, three suggestions for colleges and schools of pharmacy, and one proposed policy statement related to student wellness and resilience. The report focuses on themes of consequences of burnout and declining resilience, culture shift around wellness, creating community around times of grief, partnerships with member organizations to create campus cultures that promote overall wellbeing and strategies to help students to manage stress in healthy ways.

Report of the 2017-2018 Strategic Engagement Standing Committee.

Student engagement is key to the success of schools and colleges of pharmacies in meeting their mission and programmatic needs. Student engagement in the pharmacy profession often occurs before acceptance to pharmacy school and is essential during students' formal period of study both for the student's professional growth and in meeting the mission of the school. Alumni engagement is vital to a school's continued success in regard to engaging with current students and support of their alma mater.

Breaking Down Barriers to Pharmacy Graduate Education: The Report of the 2017-2018 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee.

The 2017-2018 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) was given three charges aimed at helping academic pharmacy address barriers that must be overcome by both students and schools to attract, retain, and support the development of a diverse, well-rounded, and successful graduate student population. These charges were (1) identifying teaching methodologies, tools and opportunities that graduate programs can introduce into curriculum to overcome barriers to success of today's and tomorrow's learners; (2) developing a strategy for achieving member support of the 2016-2017 recommended graduate competencies by identifying gaps in and existing examples of courses or opportunities that achieve competency-based pharmacy graduate education; and (3) identifying potential strategies to address identified barriers to pursuing graduate education, especially among under-represented student populations. This report describes attitudes toward and opportunities related to competency-based education in graduation education in colleges and schools of pharmacy, identifies types of tools schools could use to enhance training towards the competency framework developed by the 2016-2017 RGAC, particularly with regards to the so-called power skills, and outlines a role for AACP in facilitating this training.

The intersection of professionalism and interprofessional care: development and initial testing of the interprofessional professionalism assessment (IPA).

Valid assessment of interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) is challenging. The number of instruments that measure various aspects of IPECP, or in various sites is growing, however. The Interprofessional Professionalism Assessment (IPA) measures observable behaviors of health care professionals-in-training that demonstrate professionalism and collaboration when working with other health care providers in the context of people-centered care.

Student and School-level Predictors of Pharmacy Residency Attainment.

To identify student and school level predictors of pharmacy residency attainment. Data were collected from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Logistic multilevel modeling was used to examine the effects of select student and school level characteristics on pharmacy residency attainment, as indicated by students on the AACP Graduating Student Survey (GSS) from 2013 to 2015.

The Report of the 2016-2017 Professional Affairs Standing Committee: Formally Embracing and Engaging Preceptors in the Academy - The Time Has Come.

The 2016-2017 AACP Professional Affairs Committee (PAC) was charged to examine strategies to include adjunct/affiliate preceptors as AACP members and to determine the value proposition of AACP membership for this group of educators. The PAC defined adjunct/affiliate preceptors as preceptors who are neither full-time employees nor have a primary employment commitment (≥50% of the preceptor's work salary) at a school/college of pharmacy. Specific charges to the PAC included: recommend an approach to increase the number of adjunct/affiliate preceptors as AACP members, examine AACP membership from an adjunct/affiliate preceptor value perspective, and prepare a concise summary of available literature describing value-added contributions of student pharmacists and pharmacy preceptors to pharmacy practice models, interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice (IPP).