UNT System College of Pharmacy ACPE Accreditation Application

322 Pages·2014·25.24 MB·English

by  Russell Coyle

Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education

Self-Assessment Instrument for the Professional Degree
Program of Developing Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy

UNT
 System
 College
 of
 Pharmacy

March 2014
College or School’s Overview

The college or school is invited to provide an overview of changes and developments related to the program and
the college or school since the last comprehensive on-site evaluation. The summary should be organized by the
six sections of the Standards.

The UNT System College of Pharmacy is a developing college of the University of North Texas
Health Science Center (UNTHSC). The last on-site was in May of 2013. The College was granted
ACPE precandidate accreditation status in June 2013.
Mission, Planning, Evaluation. The College is moving forward with strategic planning toward
the goal of development of a formal strategic plan while currently utilizing a Master Academic Plan for
long term planning and a Strategy Map aligned with the UNTHSC for short term planning. An External
Advisory Board is providing strategic advice and an experienced consulting group will facilitate the
development of a formal strategic plan that will be developed by College faculty, staff, students,
preceptors, and other stakeholders that will be specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, and time-
bound. The College is actively involved in shared governance at the UNTHSC and it is developing
multiple external partnerships.
Organization and Administration. The College believes that its two academic department model
is functioning well under the effective leadership of the department chairs. College Bylaws and
Promotion & Tenure guidelines have been developed and approved by College faculty and the
UNTHSC. A change has been made in the College leadership structure that reduces duplication of effort
while increasing emphasis on interprofessional education. Academic processes have been developed
designed to promote faculty engagement, facilitate effective communication, and provide for a logical
flow of information throughout the organization.
Curriculum. The College is pursuing a goal of extraordinary pharmacy education whose
graduates are lifelong learners that will be effective members of health care teams. The need for students
to acquire knowledge, apply knowledge to solve problems, and communicate solutions to patients and
their families is reinforced throughout the educational program. An integrated pharmacotherapy
curriculum that challenges students to learn subject manner before coming to the class session prepared
to increase their depth of learning is designed to allow students to prepare themselves to be lifelong
learners. The curriculum is the collective responsibility of the faculty and the Curriculum and
Assessment Committees are functioning effectively and in concert. The College is taking full advantage
of its location on an academic health science center campus to integrate interprofessional education into
its curriculum in multiple ways from the beginning of coursework in the first year.
Students. The College admitted its inaugural class of 82 students in August 2013 with PCAT
composite scores above and pre-requisite GPAs equal to national averages; 78 have progressed to the
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spring semester. The students are well motivated, effectively participate in active learning exercises,
willingly share responsibility for continuous quality improvement and are demonstrating development of
professional attitudes and values. The admissions process for the second class is nearly complete with
GPAs higher and PCAT scores considerably higher than the inaugural class. The Admissions office is
functioning efficiently in screening a pool of over 750 applicants and the Admissions Committee is
doing an excellent job of evaluating applicants chosen for interview. The UNTHSC Division of Student
Services provides extraordinary academic and personal support for students and faculty.
Faculty and Staff. The College began instruction in fall 2013 with 17 full time faculty and
projects 25 full time faculty by August 2014. Faculty numbers are projected to grow to maintain a
student to faculty ratio of less than 10 as the program develops. An initial group of 17 staff (8
administrative, 9 research) is projected to be 25 (11 administrative, 14 research) by August 2014. The
College receives support from UNTHSC central services that includes a Student Services staff of nearly
40, a Director of Interprofessional Education, and an Assessment Specialist. A rubric has been
developed and applied to assess and balance faculty teaching loads. College Faculty have been
productive in generating $3.8 M in research funding and in scholarship (32 published papers). The
UNTHSC provides exceptional opportunities for faculty development of teaching, research and
professional skills.
Facilities and Resources. Renovations have been completed that allow the College to operate in
state of the art classrooms, teaching laboratory, offices, conference room, and research laboratories.
Planned renovation of additional office, conference room, and research laboratory space will meet the
needs of the College for the foreseeable future. The College benefits from other excellent facilities at the
UNTHSC that include the library/student learning center, simulation center, model examination rooms,
small group meeting rooms and more. The College has been active in the identification of practice sites
for clinical faculty and the identification of sites for both IPPE and APPE. The College has a strong base
of financial support that includes, in addition to tuition revenues, a State of Texas special legislative
appropriation of $5.4 million for program building prior to eligibility for State of Texas Formula funding
based on student credit hours, State of Texas Health Education Assistance Funds (HEAF) for capital
equipment for teaching and research, UNTHSC building renovation funds, and UNTHSC Pharmacy
Investment funds.
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Summary of the College or School’s Application Process
The college or school is invited to provide a summary of the application and update development process. ACPE does not
require any supporting documentation for the Summary of the Application Process; however, the college or school may
provide supporting documentation (such as, a list of the members of relevant committees) as an appendix in the report.
The process to complete this application began immediately after the summary of the Evaluation
Team Report (ETR) from the May 2013 site visit was received by the College. Defeciencies identified
during the site visit were addressed or plans to address them in a timely manner were developed i.e.
finalizing Promotion and Tenure Documents, finalizing By Laws and Standard Operating Procedures,
clarifying the relationship between the faculty and the curriculum committee, modifying the design of IPPE
etc. Additional policies and procedures were developed utilizing the individual guidelines for the standards
as the framework for their design. In the fall of 2013 a spread sheet of guidelines and standards, must
statements, the comments from the May 2013 ETR, and actions taken to that point to satisfy the standards
was developed. This document provided the guide for a retreat of the Executive Committee in January 2014
to collectively assess progress toward meeting the standards. Areas where further development were
warrented were identified and individuals assigned for follow up. The college benefited from input provided
by two meetings of the External Advisory Board during this process.
Members of the College Executive Committee that consisted of the Leadership Team and an elected
member of the Faculty, were assigned to develop draft narratives for the individual standards in the
application. These draft narratives were reviewed and revised for completeness and form, when appropriate,
by the Assistant to the Dean for Program Development and the Dean. The draft application was sent to an
external consultant hired specifically to assist with preparing the application. The consultant then met for a
day and a half retreat, again with the Executive Committee, to review the document and provide suggestions
for revision. A second draft was prepared with input from the Executive Committee and circulated to all
faculty, all staff, the Provost, the Director of Interprofessional Education, the UNTHSC Center for Learning
and Development Assessment Specialist, the UNTHSC Library Pharmacy Liasion, all external preceptor
members of the Clinical Preceptor Committee, the External Advisory Board, the Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs and Student Success of the UNT System, the Dean of Arts & Sciences of the UNT, and
the external consultant consultant. In addition the application was made available to the entire student body.
Constituencies were given two weeks to review the document and asked specifically to consider
completeness and accuracy, and provide suggestions for improvement. A final version of the application
was then completed taking all suggestions received into consideration. The process from receipt of the 2013
ETR to completion of this application required 10 months.
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Summary of the College or School’s Self-Evaluation of All Standards
Please complete this summary (R) after self-assessing compliance with the individual standards using the Self-Assessment
Instrument.
Focused Much
Meets Less than
Standards Attention Improvement
Expectations Expected
Required Needed
MISSION, PLANNING, AND EVALUATION
• College or school Mission and Goals þ £ £ £
• Strategic Plan £ þ £ £
• Evaluation of Achievement of Mission and Goals þ £ £ £
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION
• Institutional Accreditation þ £ £ £
• College or school and University Relationship þ £ £ £
• College or school and other Administrative Relationships þ £ £ £
• College or school Organization and Governance þ £ £ £
• Qualifications and Responsibilities of the Dean þ £ £ £
CURRICULUM
• The Goal of the Curriculum þ £ £ £
• Curricular Development, Delivery, and Improvement þ £ £ £
• Teaching and Learning Methods þ £ £ £
• Professional Competencies and Outcome Expectations þ £ £ £
• Curricular Core—Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, and Values þ £ £ £
• Curricular Core—Pharmacy Practice Experiences £ þ £ £
• Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning and
þ £ £ £
Curricular Effectiveness
STUDENTS
• Organization of Student Services þ £ £ £
• Admission Criteria, Policies, and Procedures þ £ £ £
• Transfer of Credits and Waiver of Requisites for Admission
þ £ £ £
with Advanced Standing
• Progression of Students þ £ £ £
• Student Complaints Policy þ £ £ £
• Program Information þ £ £ £
• Student Representation and Perspectives þ £ £ £
• Professional Behavior and Harmonious Relationships þ £ £ £
FACULTY AND STAFF
• Faculty and Staff—Quantitative Factors £ þ £ £
• Faculty and Staff—Qualitative Factors £ þ £ £
• Faculty and Staff Continuing Professional Development and
þ £ £ £
Performance Review
FACILITIES AND RESOURCES
• Physical Facilities £ þ £ £
• Practice Facilities þ £ £ £
• Library and Educational Resources þ £ £ £
• Financial Resources £ þ £ £

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Section 1
Mission, Planning, and Evaluation

Standard No. 1: College or School Mission and Goals: The college or school of pharmacy (hereinafter “college or
school”) must have a published statement of its mission, its goals in the areas of education, research and other scholarly
activities, service, and pharmacy practice, and its values. The statement must be compatible with the mission of the
university in which the college or school operates.1 These goals must include fundamental commitments of the college or
school to the preparation of students who possess the competencies necessary for the provision of pharmacist-delivered
patient care, including medication therapy management services, the advancement of the practice of pharmacy and its
contributions to society, the pursuit of research and other scholarly activities, and the assessment and evaluation of
desired outcomes.
1) Documentation and Data:
Use a check þ to indicate the information provided by the college or school and used to self-assess this standard:
Required Documentation and Data:
þ The current mission statement, goals, objectives, and core values for the college or school of pharmacy
Appendix 1.1 College Mission, Vision, Goals, Values
þ The mission statement and goals of the parent institution (if applicable)
Appendix 1.2 UNTHSC Mission & Goals
Required Documentation for On-Site Review:
(None required for this Standard)
Data Views and Standardized Tables:
It is optional for the college or school to provide brief comments about each chart or table (see Directions).

N/A AACP Standardized Survey: Students – Questions 85 - 87
N/A AACP Standardized Survey: Faculty – Question 16
AACP Standardized Survey: Alumni – Questions 42 - 44
N/A
Optional Documentation and Data:
Other documentation or data that provides supporting evidence of compliance with the standard. Examples could include
N/A extracts from committee meeting minutes, faculty meeting minutes, evidence of initiatives that document the mission in action,
etc.)
2) College or School’s Self-Assessment: Use the checklist below to self-assess the program’s compliance with the requirements of
the standard and accompanying guidelines:
S N.I. U
The college or school has a published statement of its mission; its long-term goals in the areas of education, Ÿ
™ ™
research and other scholarly activities, service, and pharmacy practice; and its values.
The mission statement is compatible with the mission of the university in which the college or school operates. Ÿ
™ ™

The college or school’s vision includes the development of pharmacy graduates who are trained with other health Ÿ
™ ™
professionals to provide patient care services as a team.

1 The term "university" includes independent colleges and schools.
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The college or school’s vision and long-term goals include fundamental commitments of the program to the
preparation of students who possess the competencies necessary for the provision of pharmacist-delivered patient
Ÿ
care, including medication therapy management services, the advancement of the practice of pharmacy and its ™ ™

contributions to society, the pursuit of research and other scholarly activities, innovation, quality assurance and
continuous quality improvement, and the assessment and evaluation of desired outcomes.
The college or school’s vision and goals provide the basis for strategic planning on how the vision and goals will be Ÿ
™ ™
achieved.
For new college or school initiatives, e.g., branch campus, distance learning, or alternate pathways to degree
completion, the college or school ensures that:
• the initiatives are consistent with the university’s and the college or school’s missions and goals
• the same commitment to the instillation of institutional mission and academic success is demonstrated to all ™ ™ ™
students, irrespective of program pathway or geographic location
• resources are allocated in an equitable manner
N/A (no applicable initiatives) þ

3) College or School’s Comments on the Standard: The college or school’s descriptive text and supporting evidence should
specifically address the following. Use a check þ to indicate that the topic has been adequately addressed. Use the text box
provided to describe: areas of the program that are noteworthy, innovative, or exceed the expectation of the standard; the college
or school's self-assessment of its issues and its plans for addressing them, with relevant timelines; findings that highlight areas of
concern along with actions or recommendations to address them; and additional actions or strategies to further advance the quality
of the program. For plans that have already been initiated to address an issue, the college or school should provide evidence that
the plan is working. Wherever possible and applicable, survey data should be broken down by demographic and/or
branch/campus/pathway groupings, and comments provided on any notable findings.
þ How the college or school’s mission is aligned with the mission of the institution
þ How the mission and associated goals2 address education, research/scholarship, service, and practice and provide the basis
for strategic planning
þ How the mission and associated goals2 are developed and approved with the involvement of various stakeholders, such as,
faculty, students, preceptors, alumni, etc.
þ How and where the mission statement is published and communicated
þ How the college or school promotes initiatives and programs that specifically advance its stated mission
þ How the college or school supports postgraduate professional education and training of pharmacists and the development of
pharmacy graduates who are trained with other health professionals to provide patient care as a team
þ How the college or school is applying the guidelines for this standard in order to comply with the intent and expectation of the
standard

þ Any other notable achievements, innovations or quality improvements

Interpretation of the data from the applicable AACP standardized survey questions, especially notable differences from national
N/A
or peer group norms
Mission Alignment. The mission of the College of Pharmacy is To educate students to become
exemplary providers of pharmacy and patient care services and through excellence in education, research,
scholarship and outreach to both advance the practice of pharmacy and become a national leader in
improving health. The College mission is closely aligned with the fundamental mission of the UNTHSC “to
improve the health and quality of life for the people of Texas and beyond through excellence in education,

2 Goals should be distinguished between long-term (perpetual) goals that relate to the overall vision and mission of the college or
school, and short-term goals (± two to five years) that are included in the college or school’s strategic plan. Goals within a strategic plan
will align with and support the vision and mission of the college or school.
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research, clinical care, community engagement and to provide national leadership in primary care.” The
College goals fully support all aspects of the mission as it relates to our goal of extraordinary pharmacy
education to prepare “health care team ready” pharmacists prepared to deliver primary care for medication
and lifestyle health management. Additionally, the College embraces the vision of making healthcare better
by contributing to the development of new therapies through cutting edge research. Indeed, the College of
Pharmacy is adding research strength in a number of areas that will increase the research competitiveness of
the UNTHSC. These areas include expertise in lead optimization of drug candidates, formulation
development, and clinical trial design, management, and analysis.
How Mission and Goals Address Education, Research/Scholarship, Service and Practice and Provide
the Basis for Strategic Planning. As it relates to education, our long-term goal is “To produce pharmacy
professionals who fully understand the contributions to health care of other health professionals, who
embrace and can function in a team approach to health care, and who can serve as effective partners in
providing primary care services to improve the health and wellbeing of their patients.” This goal is being
accomplished in conjunction with the UNTHSC Director of Interprofessional Education by developing
collaborative learning experiences with faculty and students of medicine, physician assistant studies, public
health, and physical therapy in the schools and colleges at UNTHSC and with nursing, nutrition, and social
work students from local programs at Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at Arlington;
and developing co-curricular experiences involving students with faculty and practitioners serving in
leadership roles within pharmacy and other health care professions who advance and improve health and the
profession of pharmacy.
As it relates to research and scholarship, our long-term goal is “To conduct and disseminate research
and other scholarly activity that improves the maintenance of health and delivery of health care in Texas
and beyond.” This goal is being pursued by: (i) hiring, supporting and retaining faculty, and attracting
students who add to the body of knowledge in pharmacotherapy by conducting and disseminating cutting
edge research, with a particular emphasis on basic, clinical and translational research; (ii) establishing joint
faculty/student scholarship activities and research/service projects; (iii) establishing practice-based research
networks; (iv) having faculty, students and graduates establish collaborative research with other programs at
UNTHSC that lead to publications in front line peer-reviewed journals, and presentations in local, national
and international forums; and (v) providing in the long term (after the PharmD program is fully established
and several classes graduate) the opportunity for pharmacy students to obtain joint degrees such as
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PharmD/MPA, PharmD/PhD, PharmD/MPH, PharmD/MBA, PharmD/DO, PharmD/MS, in the other
already established colleges of the UNTHSC and/or UNT and UNT Dallas.
As it relates to clinical practice, our long-term goal is “To prepare graduates with life-long learning
skills so they continue to extend their competence through accredited continuing professional education,
evidence-based learning and utilizing clinical guidelines in their practices. This goal is being accomplished
by: (i) incorporating curricular learning activities to train students in the assessment of their knowledge base
and in developing plans to improve areas of weakness; (ii) integrating evidence-based teaching and learning
throughout the curriculum and encouraging students and faculty to strive for discovering and establishing
“best evidence” interventions in pharmacy practice. The UNTHSC Department of Professional and
Continuing Education (PACE), our ACPE accredited provider of continuing pharmacy education, will be
used to facilitate the delivery of post-graduate professional and interprofessional education for pharmacists.
The long-term goals in education, research and clinical practice are very closely aligned with the
visions of the pharmacy profession. Short-term goals are established under a Strategy Map process
developed by the new UNTHSC President, Michael Williams and are described in Standard 7. Short and
long term goals will provide the basis for strategic planning as described in more detail in Standard 2.
Mission and Goal Development and Approval. As a developing program, faculty initially developed
the mission, vision, goals and values of the College (Appendix 1.1). There was involvement by potential
future preceptors through stakeholder meetings during June 2012 that utilized breakout sessions specifically
aimed at providing input into educational objectives from the perspective of the pharmacy practice
community. Additionally, one of the topics for the first External Advisory Board meeting was designed to
obtain input into mission and goals. As the program develops, there will be increasing involvement of all
stakeholders including students, preceptors, and ultimately alumni. Mission, Vision, Goals, and Values will
be revisited whenever the President considers changes to those areas for UNTHSC, during development of
the strategic plan, and every three years thereafter.
IMPROVEMENT PLAN: The values of the UNTHSC are being re-assessed through a values audit led by
President Williams. When this process is complete the College plans to re-examine its values in light of
both the values audit and Standard 1. In addition the College will review and possibly revise its mission
and goals with input from new faculty, students, preceptors, and UNTHSC Administration. This audit will
be incorporated into the strategic planning process described in more detail in Standard 2.

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Mission Statement Publication and Communication. The mission statement is prominently located
on the College of Pharmacy web site. The Vision is also communicated in every email message sent by the
Dean that contains the following statement as part of the standing “Signature” lines: Our vision: "We make
healthcare better". “Our vision reflects the increasing contribution to healthcare that can be provided by
pharmacists trained in the highly interprofessional and primary care environment present at the UNTHSC.
Our vision also extends to the contribution that our faculty and graduates will make to develop new and
more effective pharmacotherapy.” This vision statement is in keeping with the vision for the profession.
Promoting Initiatives to Advance the Mission. The College of Pharmacy demonstrates its
commitment to promoting the crucial role of pharmacy in “making health care better” by actively promoting
three major aspects: (i) health care teamwork through an educational program with heavy emphasis on
interprofessional experiences, (ii) health care access through its education and pharmacy practice/service
programs, and (iii) development of new therapy through its research programs. The message of “making
health care better” is promoted within the UNTHSC, with external stakeholders, and is communicated to all
prospective students by the Dean on the day of their interview. Marketing materials distributed by the
College of Pharmacy also promote this message.
Support for Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Postgraduate Professional Training. IPE efforts
are described in detail Standard 12. Postgraduate training is an area that largely lies ahead for the College.
However, numerous conversations with groups interested in developing pharmacy practice residency
partnerships with our program have occurred. For example we have agreement with four accredited
residency programs in the area to offer a Teaching Certificate Program beginning during the summer of
2014.
NOTEWORTHY: As the only College of Pharmacy based in an area of more than 6.5 million residents,
the need and opportunity for developing quality postgraduate programs and partnerships with existing
programs is apparent.
Applying Guidelines to Meet the Standard. With all standards the Guidelines are utilized to ensure
existing policies and procedures meet the standard and form the basis for newly developed policies and
procedures. As examples, Guidelines 1.1 and 1.2 were used to write the College Mission, Vision and Goal
statements and Guideline 1.6 was used to write the values statements. In addition students are continually
reminded of the need to (i) acquire knowledge, (i) apply knowledge to solve patient problems, and (iii)
communicate solutions to patients and families. The continued reinforcement of the “acquire, solve,
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