The ACPE accredits Doctor of Pharmacy programs offered by Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy in the United States and selected non-US sites. For a Doctor of Pharmacy program offered by a new College or School of Pharmacy, ACPE accreditation generally involves three steps: Precandidate status, Candidate status, and Accredited status. Precandidate status denotes a developmental program that is expected to mature in accord with stated plans and within a defined time period. Precandidate status is awarded to a new program of a College or School of Pharmacy that has not yet enrolled students in the professional program and authorizes the school to admit its first class. The status was awarded during the June 24, 2016, meeting of the ACPE Board of Directors based upon an on-site evaluation conducted on April 27-28, 2016, and discussion with LHSI and College officials.
"Granting of the Precandidate status for our Doctor of Pharmacy program is a significant step in continuing to fulfill our mission, to provide access to compassionate care of the highest quality in an educational environment," said Jack Michel, M.D., Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LHSI. "It is my pleasure to welcome our inaugural class for the College of Pharmacy who now join our School of Nursing students and our medical and dental residents in an innovative model of interdisciplinary collaboration that will help us reduce costs and break down the status quo of the existing interprofessional silos in the U.S healthcare system which makes it the most expensive and inefficient in the world."
The College of Pharmacy will welcome the inaugural class to campus on August 08, 2016. Being the first pharmacy program in Miami-Dade County, more than fifty percent of students in the inaugural class are residents of Miami-Dade County, distinguishing the college as Miami’s College of Pharmacy. "The LHSI College of Pharmacy has assembled a highly experienced and motivated team of professors, administrators and a Dean that have developed a dynamic and innovative curriculum to prepare pharmacists in three years," says Sandy Sosa-Guerrero, FACHE, BSN, MBA-HA, President of Larkin Health Sciences Institute. "Obtaining Precandidate status from the ACPE assures future pharmacy students that the LHSI College of Pharmacy meets all of the standards for the education of pharmacists required for accreditation." She added, "We are extremely excited about receiving Precandidate status and look forward to being part of preparing the next generation of health care providers."
The College of Pharmacy’s mission is to develop an academic community engaged in teaching, research, scholarship and service that prepares pharmacists for compassionate, evidence-based and interprofessional practice in diverse settings. As stated by Dean Gary M. Levin, Pharm.D. BCPP, FCCP, "My goal was to put together an innovative and forward thinking team to develop not just another college of pharmacy, but a unique one that would embrace diversity and social justice, interprofessional education, and an integrated curriculum. Instead of teaching many courses at one time, we have integrated topics into discrete two-week blocks that utilize many active learning strategies so that students are not just provided information, but they apply the information every day as this helps in long-term retention. This also allows students to focus on one major set of concepts at a time, instead of trying to be successful in six courses at a time as is the case in most colleges of pharmacy. By using this approach and taking advantage of the summer months, we are able to deliver a Doctor of Pharmacy program in three years instead of the traditional four years, and also maintain at least 25% more contact time with our students. We are very excited to be the first College of Pharmacy in the region to adopt this approach."
The LHSI College of Pharmacy is the 7th College of Pharmacy in the State of Florida and the first in Miami-Dade County.
Post Views: 750
