Preceptor Resources

NACDS/APhA Pharmacist Preceptor Program

March 10, 2008

Updated September 27, 2010

Dear Pharmacy Preceptor:

The Deans of the seven schools of Pharmacy in Pennsylvania want to share our collective appreciation for your hard work and dedication in contributing to the education of our student pharmacists. We write you under the umbrella of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Pharmacy Schools, a group organized to work toward better coordination of experiential teaching and other educational activities in our State.

To comply with recently released Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accreditation standards for U.S. schools and colleges of pharmacy (termed Standards 2007), we are requesting that you do the following:

Complete the APhA/NACDS program entitled "The Community Pharmacist Preceptor Education Program." While the title suggests it is aimed at community pharmacists, it is a general program with applicability for preceptors in any setting.
Identify the schools for whom you serve as a preceptor.

To attain or maintain preceptor status for any school in Pennsylvania all preceptors will be required to complete this free program, which provides 3 contact hours of ACPE-approved continuing education credit. The new details of how to complete this are as follows, from APhA & NACDS:

The Community Pharmacist Preceptor Education Program will now only be available in an on-line format; however, it will be accessible at both www.pharmacist.com and www.nacds.org and will be available on approximately June 4, 2010. Original printed booklets are still available at the APhA Bookstore on www.pharmacist.com. Pharmacists can use this version to review the material and then obtain their CPE credits as outlined below.
Pharmacists wishing to obtain continuing pharmacy education credit for the activity will now go to www.pharmacist.com/education and select the activity title on the CPE Quick List. Complete CPE instructions will be included in the revised monograph.
APhA and NACDSF will continue to provide the CPE credit for pharmacists completing this activity at no charge.
The Coalition has agreed that all preceptors must complete this program.

More information onthis program is available on www.pharmacist.com under the section entitled "New Online CPE."

Standards 2007 requires that pharmacy preceptors receive orientation, ongoing training and development. As we implement the standard for preceptor training we are concerned that preceptors who teach for multiple schools may be unduly burdened by differing requirements. Therefore, the Coalition has endorsed the APhA/NACDS program as the minimum requirement for participating as a preceptor at any of the seven schools. As the role of the pharmacist becomes more patient-focused, our reliance on experiential education becomes even more important. Thank you again for your invaluable contributions to our programs. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact any of us or your experiential contact at your respective school.