UNC DOCTOR OF PHARMACY PROGRAM
At NORTHWEST AHEC
AHEC faculty:
Karen S. Oles, Pharm.D., MS., BCPS, CPP. Pharmacy Education Coordinator, Clinical Associate Professor, UNC School of Pharmacy, Associate Professor, Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
336-713-7011, koles@wfubmc.edu
Rebecca Edwards, Pharm.D., BCPS. Pharmacy Education Coordinator, Assistant Professor, UNC School of Pharmacy, Instructor, Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
336-713-7002, redwards@wfubmc.edu
Pharmacy Certificate Program Information
About the Northwest AHEC Pharmacy Program
Northwest AHEC, a department of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, encompasses a 17-county area in the north-central part of the state. The largest city is Winston-Salem. The majority of clinical clerkships are at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC) in Winston-Salem, which consists of an 830-bed teaching hospital and a medical school. The medical school is part of Wake Forest University Health Sciences, a $100-million research community, with much of the funding coming from the National Institutes of Health. Wake Forest University Health Sciences has research centers in cancer, drug abuse, human genomics, hypertension and vascular disease, investigative neuroscience, stroke, ultrasound, women’s health, the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health and many other disciplines. Wake Forest is partnering with Virginia Tech to open a School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. The School of Medicine recently celebrated its centennial, and for 62 of 100 years we have been affiliated with North Carolina Baptist Hospital. Today, the school and the hospital together make up the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, which contains a Level I Trauma Center, the Brenner Children’s Hospital, the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging, and the Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Center. An outpatient Oncology Center has just been completed.
North Carolina Baptist Hospital is listed as one of “America's Best Hospitals” in four categories by U.S. News & World Report in the July 12 issue of the magazine. The magazine lists 50 hospitals in each of 17 categories. North Carolina Baptist Hospital -- the teaching hospital of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center -- ranks 24th nationally in urology on the latest list, 26th in geriatrics, 28th in cancer, and 46th in ear, nose, and throat.
Clinical clerkships at WFUBMC include Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant, Critical Care, Nephrology, Surgery, Infectious Disease, Nutrition, Pediatrics, Cardiology (CCU and ward services), Neonatology, Emergency Department, Renal Transplant and Ambulatory Care. One Medicine and one Ambulatory Care clerkship are required to be accomplished at the Medical Center. There is also a Drug Information clerkship. There are currently four pharmacy practice residents at WFUBMC, one Critical Care resident and one Infectious Disease resident. There are potential slots for a Drug Information resident, Organ Transplant resident and Oncology resident in 2005-6.
Broughton Hospital in Morganton is a state psychiatric hospital and offers clerkships in inpatient psychiatry. The VA Medical Center in Salisbury offers clerkships in Ambulatory Care, Geriatrics and Psychiatry (focus on outpatient services). There is an ambulatory care residency at the VA. There is also an Ambulatory Care clerkship at the VA Outpatient Clinics in Winston-Salem. The J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center in Morganton is a state intermediate care facility/mental retardation (ICF/MR) serving a developmentally-delayed population. There is a long-term care consultant (geriatric) clerkship, based out of Hickory. Thomasville Medical Center in Thomasville and Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory offer multispecialty clinical clerkships. Most of the clinical clerkship preceptors have Doctor of Pharmacy degrees with residency experience and board-certification. There are opportunities to participate in research projects for interested students.
Other clerkship sites are in Lexington, Salisbury, Elkin, Mt. Airy, North Wilkesboro, Boone, Banner Elk, Hickory, Morganton, Kernersville, Thomasville, Statesville and Valdese. Introductory and Advanced Community Clerkships can be found at independent pharmacies, chain pharmacies and unique sites such as Winston-Salem Health Care, an HMO-type setting. Thirteen independent and four chain pharmacies serve as student training sites in the region. Three of the independent community pharmacies specialize in compounding. Home health services are provided by one of the independent pharmacies. Nursing home consultation is provided by one independent pharmacy and one hospital. There are 12 small-medium sized hospitals; services typically include aminoglycoside dosing, evaluation of antibiotic selection, adjustment of doses based on creatinine clearance and drug information. Two large (approximately 800 bed) hospitals (Forsyth Medical Center and North Carolina Baptist Hospital which is part of WFUBMC) are located in Winston-Salem.
Student apartments are available in Winston-Salem, Boone, Hickory, Salisbury, and Morganton; most of the clerkships are within a 40 minute drive of student housing. Other housing may be found with host families.
Seminars occur approximately twice monthly and last about 4 hours. Seminars usually consist of 2 student topic presentations and an interactive case-based session on topics such as OTC medications, cardiology, infectious disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, etc. Other seminar topics include statistics, drug literature evaluation, journal club, and residencies/fellowships/resume writing. There is required homework for seminars. Students present two one-hour topic presentations annually at Student Seminar. Each student will present two 20-minute case presentations annually at the combined UNC/Campbell Case Discussion Session that usually occurs twice per month. One-third to one-half of the students (of approximately 12 students) from Northwest AHEC enter residency training.
We have a Clinical Scholars Program. We take students in either an Ambulatory Care or Inpatient track. Students are mentored by faculty and current residents regarding application to residencies and other post-doctoral training programs. The major focus is research projects, since most clinical learning occurs in seminar and on clerkships. Student research projects in 2002-3 included: (1) an evaluation of factors affecting influenza vaccination rates, (2) cohort analysis of the effects of celecoxib on serum creatinine and hypertension, and (3) cross-sectional analysis of the effect of topiramate on serum bicarbonate. Projects in 2003-4 included: (1) the efficacy of fluconazole as antifungal prophylaxis in autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell transplants: a retrospective comparison and (2) comparison of intravenous vitamin A delivery in intralipids versus total parenteral nutrition.
The focus of our teaching is to develop clinical practitioners who will enter either an ambulatory care or inpatient environment.