feature story The University of Oklahoma For more than 15 years, the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy has been in a strong partnership with the Claremore Indian Hospital/Indian Health Service. Throughout this time, several pharmacists at the hospital have been appointed as clinical assistant professors with the college and operated in shared positions. These faculty members at the hospital not only have taken on the traditional roles as faculty members of a college of pharmacy, they have also continued to practice clinical pharmacy at the Claremore Indian Hospital. In addition to their traditional educator roles, the faculty members have provided IPPE and APPE rotations at the Claremore Indian Hospital. Each month, an average of five fourthyear students are assigned to the Claremore Indian Hospital to complete a clinical rotation. Throughout the academic year, second- and third-year students complete IPPE rotations as well. The rotations offered at the Claremore Indian Hospital include inpatient adult medicine, administration, research and several different ambulatory care clinics. Faculty advance their teaching skills and their clinical skills at the facility while lecturing and interacting with students. Students benefit from the joint relationship through clinical rotations, receiving mentoring, professional counseling on different aspects of pharmacy career choices, classroom assistance, and guidance with obtaining advanced certifications and residencies after completing their professional degrees. Student outcomes include analysis and discussion concerning rotation evaluations and classroom lectures. At the hospital, evaluation of student involvement is analyzed on a monthly basis to determine how beneficial the learning experience was for the students and whether this experience can be enhanced in any manner. One tangible outcome is motivation to complete residency training after graduation because of experiences at this facility. The university has had several students complete a residency at Claremore or seek other residencies within the IHS because of their time at this facility.
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academic Pharmacy now  Oct/Nov/Dec 2011
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW) School of Pharmacy is engaged in multiple collaborations with tribal governments and the Indian Health Service. Currently, faculty and students at UW are involved in business-strategy and pharmaceutical care partnerships with three Washington tribes; residency and rotation programs with one Washington tribe; and a multi-state, multi-institution research program serving Alaska and Montana Native and rural Pacific Northwest populations. The School of Pharmacy has both a business-strategy partnership and pharmaceutical care partnership with the Nisqually Tribe near Olympia, Wash. Further, it has business-strategy partnerships with the Skokomish Tribe on the Olympic Peninsula and the Shoalwater Bay Tribe in Tokeland, Wash. Each of these collaborations are led by UW clinical professor of pharmacy Dr. Donald F. Downing. The School of Pharmacy’s Postgraduate Year 1 Community Pharmacy Practice Residency Program has a formal partnership with the Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy contracted to serve members of the Tulalip Tribe in Tulalip, Wash. UW clinical associate professor of pharmacy Dr. Annie Y. Lam directs the program. Lam provides guidance and oversight of residency recruitment and training. She works collaboratively with Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy Director Asaad Awan and the pharmacists at Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy to ensure the residents achieve their competency and learning objectives. Through this pharmacy practice residency program, residents are working with tribal members to manage disease states, engage in preventative care and develop communication skills. The services the resident pharmacists are providing include medication therapy management, substance abuse counseling and management, and asthma and diabetes teaching. Finally, the UW School of Pharmacy has a tribal research partnership through the Northwest-Alaska Pharmacogenomic Research Network (NWA-PGRN). UW founded the NWA-PGRN in 2010 to address pharmacogenomic research in American Indian, Alaska Native and rural Pacific Northwest populations. The initial work of the NWA-PGRN is focusing on the pharmacogenetics of warfarin, tamoxifen and tacrolimus treatment.