3 pharmacy schools honored by Educators Challenge

The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy won the first Innovative Adherence Educators Challenge for the best practices in medication adherence teaching.

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) designed the competition to highlight the best practices among the 127 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States. The competition is the first of its kind to recognize teaching strategies – those that are being used or are under development – to prepare student pharmacists to detect, monitor, and improve patient medication adherence.

“Highlighting the many ways our faculty approach teaching future pharmacists about their role in improving patient adherence stimulates other faculty to enrich this critically important element of the PharmD curriculum,” said AACP Executive Vice President and CEO Lucinda L. Maine, PhD, RPh.

The winning entries will be presented at a half-day NCPA Medication Adherence Educators Symposium on July 18 in Kissimmee, Fla.

The University of Maryland submission featured an adherence-related lab activity, in which students are given case studies and hands-on learning activities to experience real-world barriers to patient medication adherence. For example, students are asked to wear work gloves while filling pill organizers in order to experience the dexterity challenges of arthritis patients.

The Ohio State University’s entry featured an interdisciplinary adherence learning activity, which involves OSU’s colleges of pharmacy and medicine, with future plans to expand the program to the College of Nursing.

The University of Arizona won for its didactic adherence course for second-year student pharmacists, which combines 20% lecture and 80% practice.