Pharmacy Administration I

Pharmacy Administration 391
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Course Description, Educational Outcomes and Course Conduct

"An examination of the historical development of the practice of pharmacy and its evolution to today's patient-centered approach to care including the psychosocial factors facing pharmacy, the discovery and development of medications, and the medication use process."

The catalog description notwithstanding, the purpose of this course is to introduce you, in an organized way, to the most vital, dynamic, challenging, and rewarding of the health professions and the health sciences. Presumably, you have chosen to spend your life in the pharmaceutical sciences. Following the completion of your B.S. degree program in the pharmaceutical sciences, many of you will enter the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program, while others will enter graduate programs in the pharmaceutical sciences or other advanced degree programs, and still others will gain employment in some aspect of the broad pharmaceutical industry. However, each of you will share a common thread: you will be trained as a pharmaceutical scientist and you will have a general appreciation of not only the practice of pharmacy, but the environment in which pharmacy operates. For these reasons, we will spend a considerable amount of time this semester focusing on issues related to the practice of pharmacy and issues related to the pharmaceutical industry (broadly defined). We will invest our time discussing many of the social and behavioral aspects of what it means to be a patient and consumer of health care.

To meet this overall purpose, the course is divided into three separate, but related, units:

Pharmacy and the Health Care System - This unit deals with the historical development of the practice of pharmacy and its evolution to today’s patient-centered approach to practice. After reviewing the historical development of pharmacy and the principles of pharmaceutical care, issues surrounding pharmacy education, pharmacy organizations, and controls on the practice of pharmacy will be discussed.

Health Issues and Psychosocial Factors Facing Pharmacy - This unit covers the nature of health, disease, illness, and sickness in our society. Following a definition of these terms, several morbidity and mortality figures pertinent to pharmacy and health care in general are discussed. Patient response to illness and behavior in the healthy state are also discussed, with an emphasis on pharmacist involvement in health promotion.

Medications and the Medication Use Process - Following a review of the drug development and approval process, this unit focuses on the issues surrounding the use of medications in our society, specifically focusing on patient medication consumption patterns, prescribers, the meaning of the prescription, and the use of non-prescription medications.

There is more to the practice of Pharmacy and the application of the pharmaceutical sciences than you can ever learn, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Ask questions. Read, read, read, and most importantly think, contemplate, reflect on what Pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences are and what they do and why they are important. Decide now that your academic goal is to get out of your time here all that you can. We look forward to talking Pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences with you.

Course Objectives

During the course, students may expect to:

Understand the historical development of the profession of pharmacy from its earliest beginnings to its adoption of pharmaceutical care as the everyday practice philosophy of the profession.
Understand the principles of professional behavior and how professionals are developed,
Recognize ethical issues related to the development, promotion, sales, prescription, and use of drugs and apply ethical principles to resolve ethical dilemmas faced in modern pharmacy practice.
Compare and contrast health, disease, illness and sickness.
Understand disease causation and basic epidemiologic principles.
Calculate and use various rates that are commonplace in the public health arena.
Recognize disease and mortality distribution patterns in the United States as a whole and in the southeastern region, and Mississippi and how the practice of pharmaceutical care can influence these patterns.
Understand how theoretical models can be used to identify potential causes of poor quality medication use.
Understand the drug discovery, development and approval process and its impact on the availability and cost of pharmaceuticals in the United States.
Recognize the prevalence of drug overuse, underuse, and misuse and its ramifications in the U.S. health care system.
Recognize the various steps associated with the medication-use process and create strategies for managing and improving the medication-use process for patients.
Compare and contrast nonprescription medications and prescription medications with respect to their characteristics, approval processes, cost, and use among the US population.

The Faculty of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi has approved general educational outcomes (abilities) and professional education outcomes (abilities) for students in the pharmacy program. The faculty believes that acquisition of these abilities is necessary to become an effective provider of pharmaceutical care. The following lists the general and professional education abilities covered in this course.

General Education Abilities Covered in this Course: Major emphasis (M) and Minor emphasis (m)

Critical Thinking, Analysis and Decision-Making - The student can find, understand, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information and make informed, rational and responsible decisions (m).

Communications Skills - The student can communicate with various audiences by written, verbal and electronic media for a variety of purposes (m).

Mathematical Competence - The student is proficient in the expression of quantitative relationships and can perform the needed mathematical operations to infer their consequences (m).

Social Skills - The student can make judgments informed by historical, social, economic, scientific, and political contexts and is respectful of the cultural differences between those of diverse ethnic, sexual, age and religious groups (m).

Self and Social Awareness - The student demonstrates an understanding of self and others, which enhances personal and professional relationships (m).

Ethics - The student can use clearly defined ethical principles as a basis for conduct in personal and professional settings (M).

Citizenship and Leadership - The student understands the individual’s role as a member of professional and civic affiliations and exhibits the capacity to contribute to and to assume leadership roles within these communities as appropriate (m).

Self-Learning and Lifelong Learning Abilities and Habits - The student exhibits intellectual curiosity, takes responsibility for gaining new knowledge and skills, can self-assess, and adapt to change, and exhibit creativity in developing these habits (m).

Professional Education Abilities Covered in this Course: Major emphasis (M) and Minor emphasis (m)

Apply ethics and value systems to practice (M).

Perform effective biomedical literature search and retrieval (m).

Display sensitivity to differences in ethnicity, gender, value or belief systems (m).

Serve as reliable and credible source of drug information (m).

Demonstrate understanding of the influences of legislation on pharmacy practice (m).

Demonstrate understanding of the roles of professional organizations (M).

Expectations

Attendance at all scheduled class periods is expected, however, no attendance records will be maintained. Periodic unannounced quizzes will be given throughout the semester and students will NOT be given the opportunity to make up these quizzes. As a matter of courtesy, please notify the course coordinator if it will be necessary for you to be absent from class.

The expectations on the part of the instructors in this class is that students will come to class prepared and will be active participants in the presentation/discussion, rather than passive receivers of information. Questions are welcomed during class sessions and input from students will be sought by those responsible for that day's material.

Students are asked to observe common classroom courtesy. Eating is prohibited in TCRC 1044 and drinking beverages should be limited to those described by the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs. Sleeping, reading material unrelated to class, doing unrelated work, and talking that is unrelated to the discussion at hand will not be tolerated. Cell phones should not be brought into the classroom. In the event that a cell phone rings during class, the student will be asked to leave. Possession and use of cell phones in EMERGENCY SITUATIONS is permitted but should be discussed with the course coordinator in advance.

Although the value of technology in pharmacy school is not being debated, the course coordinator believes that there are appropriate times and places for its use. During class, DO NOT HAVE YOUR INTERNET CABLE CONNECTED unless instructed to do so by the course coordinator. This policy does not prohibit students from using their notebook computers for note-taking purposes.

Students are expected to be dressed in appropriate professional attire as is described in The University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy Student Handbook with no exceptions. Additionally, each student is expected to wear his or her white lab coat to each class session. As part of this course, we will discuss professions and professionalization. As we will discover, professional culture and organizations are part of what defines a profession. The culture of a profession is made up of values, norms, and symbols. Symbols include insignia (like the Bowl of Hygeia and the and the mortar and pestle), vocabulary, and dress (white lab coat). Any questions as to what constitutes professional attire can be directed to the course coordinator.

Each year, students inquire as to whether possession of materials obtained from students who have taken PHAD391 in previous years is permissible. The following outlines what constitutes acceptable possession and use of materials passed down from past classes.

Old tests and quizzes

Old tests and quizzes do not circulate and their possession constitutes a violation of the Honor Code of The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. If there is any doubt as to whether a student possesses a prohibited document, contact the course coordinator immediately after its discovery.

Class notes and slides

The possession of class notes from previous classes is permissible, but not recommended when used as a sole source of preparation for exams and/or quizzes.

Completed assignments

While the School of Pharmacy, the Department of Pharmacy Administration and Dr. McCaffrey do not have any ownership rights to assignments completed during the conduct of PHAD391, students are urged strongly against possessing these documents. The expectation in PHAD391 is that students work independently unless otherwise directed. The possession and use of assignments completed by other students clearly violates this principle.

It is the responsibility of any student with a disability who requests a reasonable accommodation to contact the Office of Student Disability Services (915-7128). Personnel from the Office of Student Disability Services will then contact the instructor through the student by means of an Instructor Notification of Classroom Accommodations form. The Instructor will then be happy to work with the student so that a reasonable accommodation for a disability can be made. This contact with the Office of Student Disability Services should be made as soon as possible after classes begin such that the appropriate preparation for the student may be planned.

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