Mona Tsoukleris
sure we were providing pharmacists with practical skills and knowledge they could immediately put to use. The courses include interactive learning features. Some use the ACCLAIM feature that allows the learner to upload video of themselves performing a skill developed in the course. Instructors then provide in-video individualized feedback, which adds to and personalizes the learning experience.”
Chronic Challenges Timing of the Knowledge Enterprise couldn’t be more crucial. One out of every two persons in the U.S. currently lives with a long-term chronic condition. And the numbers continue to climb annually in total cases, cause of death, and overall health care costs. An estimated 75 percent of the $2 trillion spent annually in the U.S. on health care is attributed to chronic conditions, such as asthma. While some 26 million Americans have asthma, one study published last year in the Journal of Asthma noted that the overwhelming majority of parents with children who had the condition didn’t know how to use the treatments they were prescribed and weren’t equipped to teach their children. And these were children who’d been hospitalized in the past year because of their asthma. Through Knowledge Enterprise courses, pharmacists can gain the knowledge and skills needed to help patients best manage their asthma and teach patients proper inhaler use. Through the portal, they learn how to counsel patients on behavioral changes, medication adherence, and smoking cessation. Part of the exercise is showing that they themselves know proper technique, which they first learn — then demonstrate — visually by recording themselves and submitting the video through the portal. Because instructors can offer personalized feedback, pharmacists can quickly put these skills to use in their daily interactions with patients. Sherry Moore, BSP, a pharmacist at Halethorpe Pharmacy in Arbutus, Md., and a School of Pharmacy preceptor, sees an increasing need to be more clinically focused in dealing with patients day to day — and it’s a role that she’s embracing. “With a growing percentage of patients diagnosed with and trying their best to manage chronic lifelong conditions like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease, one of the most notable challenges for both patients and pharmacists,” Moore says, “is the ever-changing climate of what works best for who and how to stay abreast of the latest and greatest treatment protocols, regimens, and devices at our disposal.”
Staying Up to Date In a world where illness is treated with an abundant and evergrowing array of medications, pharmaceuticals can be life-saving and life-enhancing. On the other hand, they can bring their own assorted side effects and complications when used either solo, in combination with other drugs, or ineffectively. Those affected are often overwhelmed, confused, or hungry for accurate and relevant health information. Patients are asking more questions, making attempts to do research, and assessing their treatment options. “You really have to be on top of your game,” says Moore, a pharmacist since 1995. “I saw the need to expand my role as a clinician and in counseling patients, and the School of Pharmacy’s Knowledge Enterprise provided a convenient, trustworthy, and cutting-edge platform for getting the information I need to help my patients.” Knowledge Enterprise courses require an investment of time ranging from as little as an hour to as many as 20-plus. Some courses are individual; others are part of a larger cluster that offers more intensive training within a specific area of expertise. The learning environment is robust, self-paced, and user-friendly with plenty of opportunities to test-drive new skills before applying them to practice. Each module also is updated regularly to reflect emerging research and user feedback. A onetime portal fee guarantees unlimited access, turning each learning experience into a sustained lifelong learning opportunity. The Knowledge Enterprise works in concert with the School of Pharmacy’s continuing education program, which provides live, in-person programs for practicing pharmacists. “The Center for Innovative Pharmacy Solutions was founded with the goal of developing innovative pharmacy programs that challenge the ’status quo’ in health care,” says Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner, PharmD ’83, BCPS, CDE, FAPhA, professor and chair of PPS and executive director of CIPS. “The CIPS Knowledge Enterprise allows us to disseminate our practice models and train other pharmacists in new evidence-based treatment Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner modalities.” “It’s definitely given me more insight,” Moore says of the training she completed through the Knowledge Enterprise. “The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy is helping to push the profession forward,” Moore continues. “The School is teaching its students that you have to be more clinical and now, through the Knowledge Enterprise, it is taking that message to pharmacists who have been in the workforce for a while.” b summe r 201 4
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