By Franklin R. Cole, Ph.D. - College of Pharmacy - Idaho State ...

The central theme of the Pharm.D. program is
the delivery of pharmaceutical care, which is
the responsible provision of drug therapy for
the purpose of achieving definite outcomes
that improve a patient’s quality of life (Hepler
& Strand, 1990). Pharmaceutical care involves
the process through which a pharmacist collaborates
with a patient and other professionals
in designing, implementing, and monitoring
a therapeutic plan that will produce specific
therapeutic outcomes for the patient. This
in turn involves three major functions: (1)
identifying potential and actual drug-related
problems; (2) resolving actual drug-related
problems; and (3) preventing drug-related
problems.
The philosophy of pharmaceutical care requires
practitioners to utilize their knowledge
and skills in order to identify individual patient-specific
problems and create effective
solutions for these problems. The practice of
pharmaceutical care requires the skill of
pharmaceutical diagnosis, which is the problem-centered,
cognitive process used to identify
patient-specific drug-related problems
(Culbertson et al., 1997).
General Abilities In preparation to meet these
overall goals, students must acquire general
abilities in the following six areas:
1. Critical Thinking Abilities - In the acquisition
and application of scientific
concepts, pharmacy students must
learn how to think critically. Pharmacy
students must develop abilities
that involve asking questions, defining
problems, examining evidence, analyzing
assumptions and biases, avoiding
emotional reasoning and oversimplification,
considering other interpretations,
and tolerating ambiguity.
2. Problem-Solving Abilities – In the
process of developing critical and scientific
thinking skills, pharmacy students
must learn and practice problem
solving. In particular, they must be
able to reflect how such skills could
and will help them transfer fundamental
scientific concepts to the clinical
setting via the application of sound
scientific principles to solve relevant
pharmacy-related problems.
3. Professional Communication Abilities
As part of the acquisition of problemsolving
abilities pharmacy students
will master, in parallel, a set of professionally
relevant and useful communication
skills such that their critical
thinking and problem-solving strategies
can be further enhanced through
the skillful and appropriate use of oral
and written communication. This
complex skill includes: delivery of
clear and accurate information; congruence
between one’s verbal and
nonverbal messages; appropriate assertiveness;
use of feedback to assess
comprehension; and ability to communicate
with a variety of populations.
Pharmacy students should understand
that the ability to communicate with a
layperson is just as important as the
ability to do so with a fellow health
care professional or practitioner. As
professionals, pharmacists must be
able to do both adequately.
4. Resource Utilization – Pharmacy students
will learn and master the process
of searching for, retrieving, evaluating
and managing information from
a variety of professional resources (including
computerized data bases,
Internet resources, current/historical
literature, and continuing education
programs) to acquire the knowledge
necessary to develop and implement a
solution to a specific pharmacy-related
problem, irrespective of practice setting.
5. Responsibility and Patient Outcomes
Students must be able to accept responsibility
and accountability for patients’
pharmacotherapeutic outcomes.
This activity entails: a) the recognition
that there are various points in the
process of patient care at which the
pharmacist intervenes; b) the provision
of appropriate intervention
strategies; c) the generation and maintenance
of appropriate patient records
2006 College of Pharmacy Student Handbook 10