The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 

About: The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education is an academic journal published by American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Pharmacy & Pharmacy practice. It has an ISSN identifier of 0002-9459. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 4477 publications have been published receiving 83967 citations.

Opportunities and Responsibilities in Pharmaceutical Care.

Abstract: Pharmacy's opportunity to mature as a profession by accepting its social responsibility to reduce preventable drug-related morbidity and mortality is explored. Pharmacy has shed the apothecary role but has not yet been restored to its erst-while importance in medical care. It is not enough to dispense the correct drug or to provide sophisticated pharmaceutical services; nor will it be sufficient to devise new technical functions. Pharmacists and their institutions must stop looking inward and start redirecting their energies to the greater social good. Some 12,000 deaths and 15,000 hospitalizations due to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were reported to the FDA in 1987, and many went unreported. Drug-related morbidity and mortality are often preventable, and pharmaceutical services can reduce the number of ADRs, the length of hospital stays, and the cost of care. Pharmacists must abandon factionalism and adopt patient-centered pharmaceutical care as their philosophy of practice. Changing the focus of practice from products and biological systems to ensuring the best drug therapy and patient safety will raise pharmacy's level of responsibility and require philosophical, organizational, and functional changes. It will be necessary to set new practice standards, establish cooperative relationships with other health-care professions, and determine strategies for marketing pharmaceutical care. Pharmacy's reprofessionalization will be completed only when all pharmacists accept their social mandate to ensure the safe and effective drug therapy of the individual patient.

Presenting and Evaluating Qualitative Research

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to help authors to think about ways to present qualitative research papers in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. It also discusses methods for reviewers to assess the rigour, quality, and usefulness of qualitative research. Examples of different ways to present data from interviews, observations, and focus groups are included. The paper concludes with guidance for publishing qualitative research and a checklist for authors and reviewers.

Response rates and responsiveness for surveys, standards, and the Journal.

Abstract: The Journal has regularly published the results of survey research. As an academy we seem to be very interested in learning what our faculty members and students think, how they perform, and what is going on at other schools and colleges of pharmacy. A survey is often the best approach to acquiring that knowledge. However, the Editors believe that survey research published in the Journal has varied in quality and that standards for survey research can be used to improve the quality of research in the academy and the quality of papers published in the Journal. With that in mind, a decision was made in early 2008 to clarify expectations for survey research manuscripts submitted to the Journal. In Volume 72, Issue 1 of the Journal, Draugalis and colleagues1 presented an excellent paper detailing “best practices” for survey research manuscripts. These standards are now recommended to authors and reviewers, and will be used by the Editors in making decisions regarding acceptance of manuscripts. One item addressed in the paper1 was the importance of response rates to questionnaire research, while another issue dealt with sample representativeness. The Draugalis et al1 paper and an examination of previously published survey research manuscripts in the Journal has led to the application of more stringent expectations for manuscripts published in the Journal.

Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education 2013 Educational Outcomes

Abstract: An initiative of the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (formerly the Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education) (CAPE), the CAPE Educational Outcomes are intended to be the target toward which the evolving pharmacy curriculum should be aimed. Their development was guided by an advisory panel composed of educators and practitioners nominated for participation by practitioner organizations. CAPE 2013 represents the fourth iteration of the Educational Outcomes, preceded by CAPE 1992, CAPE 1998 and CAPE 2004 respectively. The CAPE 2013 Educational Outcomes were released at the AACP July 2013 Annual meeting and have been revised to include 4 broad domains, 15 subdomains, and example learning objectives.

Physiology of the autonomic nervous system.

Abstract: This manuscript discusses the physiology of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The following topics are presented: regulation of activity; efferent pathways; sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions; neurotransmitters, their receptors and the termination of their activity; functions of the ANS; and the adrenal medullae. In addition, the application of this material to the practice of pharmacy is of special interest. Two case studies regarding insecticide poisoning and pheochromocytoma are included. The ANS and the accompanying case studies are discussed over 5 lectures and 2 recitation sections during a 2-semester course in Human Physiology. The students are in the first-professional year of the doctor of pharmacy program.