Appalachian College of Pharmacy

Last updated
Appalachian College of Pharmacy
Appalachian College of Pharmacy logo.jpg
TypeThree-year accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy school
Established2003
President Michael McGlothlin
Dean Susan L. Mayhew
Academic staff
28
Students150
Address
1060 Dragon Road,
Oakwood, VA 24631
,
Oakwood
,
Virginia
,
USA
Campus Rural
Website http://www.acp.edu/

The Appalachian College of Pharmacy (ACP), formerly known as the University of Appalachia, College of Pharmacy, is a private doctoral pharmacy school located in Oakwood, Virginia. The school, established in 2003, is Virginia's only three-year accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy program. [1] ACP's mission is to improve the health outcomes of rural and underserved communities, particularly those in Central Appalachia, through education, service, and scholarship. [2]

Contents

History

In 2003, citing a need to address a higher than normal age adjusted mortality rate (42% higher locally as opposed to the rest of Virginia) and a national pharmacist shortage, local leaders in Buchanan County, Virginia began to explore the possibility of founding a new pharmacy school in the region. Spurred by the existence of the Appalachian School of Law, the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors commissioned County Attorney Frank Kilgore to found the University of Appalachia, College of Pharmacy. The school matriculated its first class of students in August 2005, with Edgar R. Gonzalez as president and founding dean, [3] and graduated its first class in May 2008. [4]

In March 2009, in order to facilitate its application for accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the school changed its name from the University of Appalachia, College of Pharmacy to the Appalachian College of Pharmacy. This change was made because the previous name did not "accurately represent the singular stand-alone nature of the College’s operations." [5]

ACP, like the Appalachian School of Law, was envisioned to become an economic redevelopment tool for the region. Since the college opened, an apartment complex, multiple multi-family housing units, restaurants, and a Walmart have opened less than fifteen miles from the college. The school has been estimated to have added $20 million per year to the local economy. [6]

Academics

ACP is one of fewer than twenty colleges of pharmacy in the United States that offers a three-year accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy program (Most Doctor of Pharmacy programs take four years to complete). A minimum of 140 credits and more than 1,700 hours of experiential coursework are required for graduation. The majority of experiential coursework occurs during the third year of study, while didactic coursework is conducted during the first two years. [7] [8]

Accreditation

ACP received full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) in January 2010, [9] after becoming eligible after the first class of students graduated in May 2008. The college was awarded full accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in December 2011, [10] rendering students eligible to apply for Title IV federal financial aid. [7] Additionally, ACP is certified by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to operate in Virginia and confer the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. [11]

Admissions

ACP requires that applicants apply online via PharmCAS (the Pharmacy College Application Service). Each applicant must also complete and submit a supplemental application directly to ACP. [12] Beginning in April 2014, international applicants, not living in the United States, became eligible to apply. [13]

Facilities

The college's first campus, known as the Slate Creek campus, was located four miles (6 km) east of Grundy, Virginia. This facility opened in 2005 to the inaugural class as their primary facility for study and closed in June 2009 when the college moved all operations and activities to its present location.

The college's Garden campus, located in Oakwood, Virginia, opened in the fall of 2006 as the academic facilities for the second class of students enrolled at ACP. Garden Hall, a building constructed in the Georgian architectural style by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1940 and the former site of Garden High School (1940-2000), comprises 25,000 square feet and was fully renovated in 2005 with a new student laboratory, library, offices, boardroom, faculty and student lounge, and student gymnasium.

In January 2008, construction of an adjoining building began at the Garden campus to consolidate the college onto one campus. McGlothlin Hall, now the primary academic building, opened in June 2009, adding two student lecture halls, eight breakout rooms, and a faculty laboratory, more than doubling the size of the college campus, with an additional 30,000 square feet. An Office of Research opened in June 2013 in McGlothlin Hall, at which time additional laboratory equipment was purchased to support research involving cancer biomarkers and drug targets.

Two nearby buildings of more than 10,000 square feet, former sites of the Hagy Café and United Central Industrial Supply Company, were purchased in September 2013 and are being renovated to expand overnight accommodations and research and medication management services to Central Appalachia. The campus now totals more than eight acres.

NAPLEX Pass Rates

The class of 2021 had a 66% first attempt pass rate compared to a national rate of 84% and placed the college in lowest 5% of all pharmacy programs. In 2019, 79.4% of students from Appalachian College of Pharmacy passed the NAPLEX on the first attempt compared to a national rate of 87.9% The Class of 2015 achieved the highest first-attempt pass rate for the North American Pharmacists Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) thus far for Appalachian College of Pharmacy graduates, at 95.89%, higher than the national average (92.64%) for 2015 and the highest of all colleges of pharmacy in Virginia (94.44%). The Class of 2015's first-time pass rate for their professional licensure exam is the second successive year of record-breaking NAPLEX first-time pass rates for ACP and again the highest first-time pass rate for all Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs in the state of Virginia. ACP's Class of 2015 achieved the second-highest NAPLEX® first-time pass rate of all accelerated, three-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree programs and in the top-third of all colleges of pharmacy in the United States.

The Class of 2014's overall pass rate for the North American Pharmacists Licensure Examination was 95.83%, with 95.65% of students passing in their first attempt. The Class of 2014 also achieved overall and first-attempt pass rates that were higher than the national averages (94.48%, 94.88% respectively) for 2014 and the highest 2014 pass rates of all colleges of pharmacy in Virginia. [14]

Post Graduate Year 1 (PGY-1) Pharmacy Residency Program

A PGY-1 community-based residency program began in July 2011 and was expanded in July 2012 from one residency position to three. It received full accreditation from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) in spring 2014. As of 2022, nine pharmacists have completed residencies. [15]

Student life

Community service

The college implemented the innovative Pharmacists in Community Service (PICS) student program, where each student must volunteer a total of one-hundred and fifty hours of community service during their three years of enrollment (fifty hours each academic year) as a requirement for graduation. [16] Students are required to complete one hundred hours of community service before beginning Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) rotations their third year. With approval from the Experiential Education Director prior to service, students can choose or develop their own volunteer activities and serve at their own pace, granted that one hundred hours have been completed by the end of their second year. Of the total one-hundred fifty hours, one hundred community service hours must be health-related, fifty of which must provide patient care, as part of the college's mission to improve the health-related needs of rural and underserved communities. Among the activities students have contributed to are the Appalachia Service Project, Blessings in a Backpack, March of Dimes' March for Babies, Open Airways project, Relay For Life, Remote Area Medical clinics, and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

In July 2011, the college opened the Mountain Care Center, a community clinic that provides health screenings, medication therapy management, and a prescription assistance program for community residents who are uninsured and unable to afford their medications. In addition, health and wellness programs such as smoking cessation and nutrition counseling are available. A nurse practitioner, affiliated with the Health Wagon, joined the clinic in 2014 on a part-time basis.

Student organizations

ACP has eleven student organizations: [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharmacist</span> Healthcare professional

A pharmacist, also known as a chemist or a druggist, is a healthcare professional who specializes in the preparation, dispensing, and management of medications to ensure safe and effective use, while also providing medication counseling and guidance to patients and healthcare providers. Also, pharmacists often serve as primary care providers in the community, and may offer other services such as health screenings and immunizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Lloyd College</span> Liberal arts college in Pippa Passes, KY, US

Alice Lloyd College is a private work college in Pippa Passes, Kentucky. It was co-founded by the journalist Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd and June Buchanan in 1923, at first under the name of Caney Junior College. Founded as an institution to educate leaders in Appalachia locally, it became a bachelor's degree-granting institution in the early 1980s. Alice Lloyd College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

A Doctor of Pharmacy is a professional doctorate in pharmacy. In some countries, it is a doctoral degree to practice the profession of pharmacy or to become a clinical pharmacist. In many countries, people with their Doctor of Pharmacy are allowed to practice independently and can prescribe drugs directly to patients. A PharmD program has significant experiential and/or clinical education components in introductory and advanced levels for the safe and effective use of drugs. Experiential education prepares graduates to be practice-ready, as they already have spent a significant amount of time training in areas of direct patient care and research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwestern University</span> American graduate university

Midwestern University (MWU) is a private medical and professional school with campuses in Downers Grove, Illinois and Glendale, Arizona. As of the 2020–21 academic year, a total of 2,987 students were enrolled at the Downers Grove campus and 3,902 were enrolled at the Glendale campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine</span> Osteopathic medical school in Virginia, USA

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, and Monroe, Louisiana. VCOM also recently added Bluefield University to its list of campuses. Founded in 2002, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students in June 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Ohio Medical University</span> Public health sciences university in Rootstown, Ohio

Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) is a public medical school in Rootstown, Ohio. It specializes in graduate education in medicine and pharmacy but also has a College of Graduate Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appalachian School of Law</span> Private law school in Grundy, Virginia

The Appalachian School of Law (ASL) is a private law school in Grundy, Virginia. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and offers a three-year Juris Doctor degree to approximately 128 full-time students. The school was founded in 1994 and admitted its first class of students in August 1997. ASL was started and brought to Buchanan County, Virginia as a tool of economic development for the region. ASL emphasizes professional responsibility and alternative dispute resolution in its curriculum and requires students to complete 25 hours of community service per semester in order to graduate. Each student is also required to complete an externship before graduation. According to ASL's 2021 ABA-required disclosures, 31% of the Class of 2020 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. ASL was also the site of a triple homicide that took place on January 16, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cebu Doctors' University</span> University in Cebu, Philippines

Cebu Doctors' University, also referred to by its acronym CDU and colloquially Cebu Doc, is a private nonsectarian coeducational higher education institution located in Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines. It was founded in 1973 at Cebu City as Cebu Doctors' College (CDC), the school was formally renamed in 2005 as Cebu Doctors' University (CDU). It is organized into eight colleges, a Graduate school, and as of 2016, a Senior High school.

A Bachelor of Pharmacy is a graduate academic degree in the field of pharmacy. In many countries, this degree is a prerequisite for registration to practice as a pharmacist. Since both PharmB and PharmD are prerequisites to license in most western countries they're considered equivalent. In many western countries, the foreign graduates with BPharm, PharmB or BS Pharm practice similarly as PharmD graduates. It is analogous to MBBS vs. MD where MBBS is foreign equivalent of MD. It is training to understand the properties and impacts of medicines and developing the skills required to counsel patients about their use.

The University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center (AHC) is a collection of health colleges and institutions of the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. It trains health care professionals and provides research and patient care. AHC has strong ties to UC Health, which includes the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and West Chester Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine</span>

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) is a private medical school and academic health center in Erie, Pennsylvania. LECOM has a Branch Campus in Bradenton, Florida and additional locations in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and Elmira, New York. Founded in 1992, LECOM confers medical (D.O.), dental (DMD), podiatry (DPM), pharmacy (PharmD) degrees, as well as masters and doctoral degrees in the health sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell University School of Pharmacy</span> Pharmacy school in North Carolina, U.S.

The Campbell University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences is an American pharmacy school founded in 1985 by Dean Ronald Maddox and located in Buies Creek, North Carolina. The College is one of seven schools that compose Campbell University. In 2009, the school's name was changed to Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Southern Philippines Foundation</span>

The University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) is a private, non-sectarian university in Cebu City, Philippines.

College of Pharmacy is part of the University of Arizona, a public university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. It is the only pharmacy school at a public Arizona university and one of four health professions colleges at the Arizona Health Sciences Center campus. The college is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences</span> American medical school in Yakima, Washington, USA

Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU) is a private medical school in Yakima, Washington. Founded in 2005, the university's inaugural program was the first new medical school to open in the Pacific Northwest in sixty years. PNWU grants the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree and graduated its first class of physicians in May 2012. It is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

The basic requirement for pharmacists to be considered for registration is often an undergraduate or postgraduate pharmacy degree from a recognized university. In many countries, this involves a four- or five-year course to attain a bachelor of pharmacy or master of pharmacy degree.

Marshall B. Ketchum University is a private university focused on graduate programs in healthcare and located in Fullerton, California. MBKU expanded from the Southern California College of Optometry which was founded in 1904. The university was officially established as a multidisciplinary university with the addition of School of PA Studies in 2011 and College of Pharmacy in 2013. Along with Hope International University, the campus bookends the north and south sides of the Cal State Fullerton campus respectively.

Saint James School of Medicine (SJSM) is a private for-profit offshore medical school with two basic science campuses, one in British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, and the other in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, it is considered one school with two campuses. Saint James confers upon its graduates the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy</span> Pharmacy school in Hawaii, United States

The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy is one of six colleges within the public University of Hawai'i at Hilo. The school awards a four-year Doctor of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.) and is by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences</span>

The USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is the pharmacy school of the University of Southern California, originally established in 1905 as USC College of Pharmacy. On November 17, 2022, the University of Southern California released an announcement stating that the school will be renamed the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and will receive a $50 million endowment for student scholarships, faculty recruitment and integrating a university-wide research infrastructure related to biomedical innovation across USC’s University Park and Health Sciences campuses. The School is led by Dean Vassilios Papadopoulos.

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  2. ↑ "Serving the Underserved". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  3. ↑ Gonzalez, Edgar R. "School of Pharmacy Newly Opened in Southwest". Virginia Capitol Connections Quarterly Magazine. Fall 2005.
  4. ↑ "First UACP Class Graduates 67, from ACP college newsletter, The Script" (PDF). Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  5. ↑ "University of Appalachia Changes Name to Appalachian College of Pharmacy". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Archived from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  6. ↑ "Colleges bring coal country a fresh mine of resources". Roanoke Times. 11 August 2006. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  7. 1 2 "ACP Course Catalog". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  8. ↑ "ACP Awarded Full Accreditation article from ACP college newsletter, The Script" (PDF). Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  9. ↑ "ACPE Report of Proceedings". Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  10. ↑ "COC Colleges and Universities, Institution Details". Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  11. ↑ "Private & Out-of-State Colleges & Universities Certified to Operate in Virginia". State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  12. ↑ "Application Process". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  13. ↑ "International Application Process". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  14. ↑ "Appalachian College of Pharmacy is Leading the Way". WCYB.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-21. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  15. ↑ "PGY-1 Residency Program". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  16. ↑ "Pharmacists in Community Service Program". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  17. ↑ "ACP Student Organizations". Appalachian College of Pharmacy. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.