Pharmaceutical Care Lab

The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Care Lab (PCL) was established on the Chapel Hill campus in 1993 with the purpose of integrating concepts from the curriculum and producing hands on educational opportunities for students to apply concepts. In 2010 the School created an Asheville campus based at UNC-Asheville. PCL labs are offered at both campuses and consist of five semesters of hands-on learning.

Core Objectives of all PCL Courses

• Compounding- non-sterile and sterile
• Calculations
• Communications
• Drug literature and drug information
• Prescription analysis and Medication Therapy Management (MTM)
• Medication administration and devices
• Professional development

Summaries of PCL courses*

PHCY 401

This course is for first year pharmacy students (PY1) and focuses on developing skills needed to solve drug-related problems. Students are introduced to medical terminology, drug information resources, prescription medications (“Top 200”) and professional development resources and activities.

PHCY 402

This course is for first year pharmacy students (PY1) and focuses on developing skills needed to solve drug-related problems. Students continue to build their knowledge of medical terminology, drug information resources, prescription medications (“Top 200”), and professional development resources and activities. In order to prepare students for their first Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE), this course also emphasizes knowledge and skills required to practice in the hospital pharmacy setting including aseptic technique and sterile compounding in a simulated IV room.

PHCY 403

This course is for second year pharmacy students (PY2) and focuses on further development of skills learned in the first year lab courses. This course also focuses on patient care in the areas of dermatology, endocrinology, and pulmonology.

PHCY 404

This course is for second year pharmacy students (PY2) and focuses on further development of skills learned in the first year lab courses. This course also focuses on patient care in the areas of cardiology, nephrology, and neuro/psych. In order to prepare students for their second Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE), this course also emphasizes knowledge and skills required to practice in the community pharmacy setting.

PHCY 405

This course is for third year pharmacy students (PY3) and is the final PCL course. This course builds on the previous PCL courses while also emphasizing patient care as related to infectious diseases, hematology, and oncology.

*Note non-sterile compounding activities are included in all 5 courses.

Faculty

PCL is currently staffed by 3 full time faculty in Chapel Hill (Anksorus, Scolaro, Shrewsbury) and 1 full time faculty member in Asheville (Forrister). PCL also employs 1 part time faculty member in Chapel Hill (Johnson) and 1 in Asheville (Savage). We also offer a one-year academic fellowship and employ one fellow each year.

Facilities

In Chapel Hill, PCL is housed on the 2^nd floor of Beard Hall

In Asheville, PCL is housed on three floors in Zeis Hall

Educational Impact

The PCL lab series impacts all of the student pharmacists by teaching them crucial skills needed to practice pharmacy and provide the best pharmaceutical care possible to patients. PCL strives to integrate lab learning with didactic coursework and many students report that lab helps solidify knowledge learned from reading and classroom lectures. We incorporate Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) in semesters three-five in order to assess student skill development, especially patient communication.

PCL also has a robust teaching assistant (TA) development program. We hire and train 18 third year students in Chapel Hill and three in Asheville each year to be TAs. The process requires an application and interview with PCL faculty and is very competitive. These student TAs are responsible for teaching first year students in semesters one and two. The student TAs are evaluated on their teaching every semester and receive oral and written feedback. Many of our student TAs go on to pursue residencies and teaching positions after graduation.   PCL also mentors pharmacy resident TAs from UNC Healthcare and other partners. These pharmacy resident TAs are responsible for teaching second and third year students. PCL faculty provide mentoring and evaluations of their teaching and much like our third year student TAs, many of the pharmacy resident TAs go on to pursue clinical faculty positions post-residency.

PCL faculty also serve as faculty mentors for pharmacy students in our honors program who are interested in conducting educational research.

PCL faculty have also served as mentors to four fellows. All four fellows have gone on to full time academic positions in schools of pharmacy around the U.S. All four fellows have had success with publications and all four were recognized by American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) as Walmart Scholars for their commitment to excellence in teaching.

Research Impact

The PCL faculty have presented our innovative teaching techniques at several national meetings, including American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP), and American Pharmacists Association (APhA). We have also published our work in several peer reviewed pharmacy journals. Some specific highlights include:

Heidi Anksorus has been an inpatient pharmacist since 2007 and she has developed several innovative ways to teach students about aseptic technique and preparing sterile compounds. She created a video series for students and several other educational activities. She has published and presented on quality of sterile compounded products at AACP. She is also interested in student-patient relationships and is currently conducting research on teaching students about empathy using social media in the classroom.

Kelly Scolaro has published and presented on the topics of nonprescription therapeutics, clinical services in the community pharmacy, distance education, and skills-lab learning. She is an author and reviewer for APhA’s Handbook of Nonprescription Drugs and has been an active participant in both APhA’s Self Care Institute and P&G’s Nonprescription Medicines Academy for several years. She is also an author for the Pharmacy Student Survival Guide. She also has developed several interprofessional simulation opportunities for students and has presented her work at International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) and authored a chapter in the upcoming book Reflective practices: transforming organizations and systems to improve quality and safety.

Robert (Bob) Shrewsbury is an internationally recognized expert in compounding and serves on the United States Pharmacopeia Expert Committee on Compounding. His website, PharmLabs.com, is also internationally recognized and contains information on various compounding techniques and products. He is the author of several books, including Applied Pharmaceutics in Contemporary Compounding which is now in its third edition.

Posts about simulation activities in the School of Pharmacy

• Tragedy of Miscommunication at End of Life
• Serious Play Conference Comes to UNC
• School hosts workshop on global health innovation for complex emergencies
• UNC and NCSU team up for One Health case
• Scolaro transitions to LECOM Bradenton School of Pharmacy
• UNCsim at IMSH 2016
• Dr Tropsha awarded $2M for “Center for Innovation in Pharmacy Simulation (CIPS)”
• An Interprofessional Future
• Pharmacy academic fellowship ends
• Development of a one-year academic fellowship in a skills lab environment