Luckily, our Board of Trustees met at APhA headquarters in Washington the last weekend of January, not this snow-stricken first one of February. Among the progress made by our Trustees was a review of the current status of pharmacy education.

During our meeting, we were briefed by representatives from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) on the state of the rapidly changing world of education. New schools, rising standards, IPPEs (introductory pharmacy practice experiences) and simulation, and the enhanced continuing professional education credit criterion were all topics of discussion. We also reviewed the evolving concept of Continuing Professional Development, or CPD. You’ll be hearing more about all of these topics in coming months and years.

We are fortunate to have ACPE working to ensure that our country’s pharmacists and future pharmacists maintain the highest educational standards. ACPE is an incredible organizations run by dedicated individuals. Sometimes their rules may seem inflexible or illogical. When that occurs, constructive public debate follows and the process gets better. Ultimately, our patients benefit. Here’s a tip of the hat to a group of dedicated folks at ACPE.

Our staff members at APhA are also working hard to assimilate new rules, criteria, and standards to ensure that we maintain the excellent pharmacists our educational efforts are expected to produce, as measured by the new standards of education and outcomes measurement. Come see what I mean at APhA2010, coming up in Washington from March 12 to 15. And don’t worry–the snow will be gone by then!

In a few days, I’ll be presenting at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Interim Meeting 2010. Those attending this meeting are the folks most intently focused on ongoing improvement in our education of pharmacists. It will be a privilege to visit with them and to learn about their innovations intended to better our profession and patient care. This group is especially creative, so I expect to receive information I can use on Capitol Hill to make our case for pharmacists’ services.

Our team has had numerous discussions with the UN and other agencies involved in Haitian relief efforts. In an unbelievable response to our call for volunteers over the weekend, the Global Action Foundation received 2000 emails and about 600 calls from APhA members. To say the least, the group’s staff members are thrilled but overwhelmed, especially given the chaos and uncertainty on the ground in Haiti and to some degree the Dominican Republic they are also dealing with.

To those pharmacists who volunteered, please know that the Global Action Foundation is working to compile a list of available pharmacists and make decisions on how to proceed. Because of the chaos, priority is being given to volunteers with disaster response experience. But this will be a long-term effort, so the information on all volunteers will be valuable for months to come.

At APhA, we will receive appropriate information so that we can assist the Foundation. We are also exploring ways we can share permissable information with other agencies or organizations that are looking for pharmacists to volunteer for medical missions in the future.

APhA will place a message in Monday’s Focus e-mail newsletter updating everyone on this situation and thanking those who volunteered.

Thanks to those who expressed interest. Stay tuned, and bless you!

So far, we have two comments on my earlier blog post that challenged readers to describe what you do in terms an eighth grader could understand. We’ll be taking your descriptions through the weekend, and then will award a copy of The Practitioner’s Quick Reference to Nonprescription Drugs to the best one.

In case you are unfamiliar with the “prize,” The Practitioner’s Quick Reference to Nonprescription Drugs contains information from the current edition of APhA’s more comprehensive Handbook of Nonprescription Drugs: An Interactive Approach to Self-Care. Information in the quick reference has been edited and formatted to include only the content that practitioners are most likely to need during self-care consultations with patients. The book covers 25 common self-treatable conditions including acne, common cold, cough, fever, and headache.

Take a shot! We look forward to reading your descriptions.

As I write this, we continue to hear more and more stories of the utter despair felt by the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the horrible earthquake they suffered. We all express our sympathy.

But in additon to our prayers, let’s also provide tangible support. Posted on www.pharmacist.com is a link to the American Red Cross. If you would like to help the Red Cross in their relief efforts, donate online, or text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

We will continue to monitor the situation and look for additional opportunities to help.