Overview of the Master of Science in Health-System Pharmacy Program
History
The Master of Science in Hospital Pharmacy was offered at the University of North Carolina from 1969 to 1996. The program was temporarily suspended for a myriad of reasons, but we are proud to begin offering the Master’s degree again beginning in the Fall, 2008. Successful graduate students will join over 200 past graduates who have entered the workforce. Their careers have taken them to numerous pharmacy directorships, hospital executive positions, executive informatics positions, clinical leadership positions, and many more directions, both domestically and internationally.
Program Goal
The goal of the Master of Science in Health System Pharmacy is to prepare pharmacists for leadership positions in health care. In order to accomplish this goal, the program will provide students with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to assume a variety of roles and responsibilities. Our graduates should be able to serve as vibrant, committed professionals with a focus on improving patients’ health, healthcare delivery and the profession of pharmacy. This will occur through both didactic education and experiential opportunities in class and in the workplace.
Competencies
A graduate from the program will:
a) have a vision for the future practice of pharmacy and possess the tools to realize that vision;
b) be clinically competent in the practice of pharmacy;
c) be able to envision, plan, implement, coordinate and monitor pharmaceutical care and operational services;
d) understand and assume the managerial and financial responsibilities in health system pharmacies;
e) be effective stewards of human resources including recruitment, mentoring, evaluating and leading professionals and technical support staff;
f) be adaptive to changes and demands for health system pharmacy practice and the health care environment in general;
g) e) be strategic thinkers and planners who see challenges as opportunities to contribute to improving health care delivery; and
h) be consistently ethical and professional in their practice.
Degree Requirements
Curriculum
The core curriculum for the Master of Science in Health-System Pharmacy Program will consist of course work in advanced topics with human resource management, health systems financial management, medication safety and quality improvement, health systems pharmacy operations and much more.
Core School of Pharmacy Classes:
- Advanced Health Systems Pharmacy
- Medication Safety and Quality Improvement
- Managing the Practice of Pharmacy
- Seminar
- Research
- Elective School of Public Health Classes
- Biostatistics
- Human resources
- Financial management
- Management accounting
- Strategic planning
- Organizational behavior,
- Marketing
- Health law
- Operations research
Supervised Project in Health System Pharmacy
Graduate students will be encouraged to develop extensive skills and expertise in specific segments of pharmacy administration which are of personal interest. The chosen area(s) of interest will be emphasized throughout both the didactic and experiential portions of the program over the two years of study with the guidance of their mentor and academic and experiential program advisors. Students will take a minimum of four (4) credit hours of Supervised Project in Health-System Pharmacy during their second year to accomplish the project objectives which is a requirement for the Master of Science degree.
This project will serve in lieu of a Master’s thesis. The student will need to identify at a minimum a mentor, a faculty advisor, a residency advisor and the topic of their supervised project early in their first year. The project must be completed by May 10 of their second year and their completed paper of their project and findings must be submitted by the aforementioned deadline. The graduate student is expected to choose a project which results in a publication in a peer–reviewed professional journal.
Final Written Comprehensive Examination
A comprehensive examination will be administered to all graduate students prior to the completion of the last semester of their program. The examination is intended to validate their ability to apply the knowledge and experience gained throughout the program in coursework and experiential components of their education and training.
Graduation Requirements
Graduates will meet the Graduate School’s requirements for academic eligibility and the program requirements described in this document, which are:
a.) completion of all required courses with no grades of “F” and fewer than nine hours of “L”
b.) complete the supervised project in health system pharmacy
c.) satisfactory completion of the comprehensive Master's examination.
Additional graduation requirements are listed in the Graduate School Handbook of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (http://handbook.unc.edu/). The Certificate of Residency is awarded by the health-system providing residency training. This will include both a PGY1 pharmacy practice and a PGY2 pharmacy administration residency certificate. Guidelines for completing the residency requirements are provided by each health system pharmacy participating in the program, as well as by the UNC School of Pharmacy.
Practice / Administrative Residency Requirements
Graduate students in this curriculum will be accepted into a two-year residency program to be completed simultaneously with coursework and related program requirements for the MS degree.
The resident will have the opportunity to gain experience and develop expertise in all facets of the provision of comprehensive pharmacy services including direct provision of patient care services, leadership / administrative responsibilities, all aspects of pharmacy operations, medication safety and quality improvement, and scholarly endeavors. It is also expected that the residents will participate in state and national professional association activities.
Masters candidates will be expected to satisfy the requirements of an ASHP-accredited residency
Over the two-year duration of the program residents will complete the learning objectives of both PGY1 and PGY2 residency programs. Rotations will include the essential elements for a pharmacy practice residency to ensure competence as a qualified caregiver is achieved, but elective rotations will be planned based on the experience, needs and preferences of the graduate student as well as the sponsoring organization. Residency programs include the following core training components:
• Clinical Experience
Maintenance of clinical competence during the graduate experience is essential to meeting the competency expectations of the graduate students. Considerable flexibility in pursuing clinical experiences throughout their first and second years will be afforded to sponsoring organizations and the graduate student based on the needs and career aspirations of the graduate student.
• Leadership / Administrative Experience
The majority of the second year will be dedicated to experiential learning and practical application of knowledge and experiences of the first year. During this year the graduate student develops expertise in departmental leadership and administration, quality improvement and patient safety, automation and informatics as it applies to pharmacy services, policy development, interdepartmental relationships and collaboration, human resource management, and current trends in the profession of pharmacy. Additional experiences may be acquired related to association management (NCAP) and regulatory governing organizations (NCBOP, NC Medicaid).
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC), one of the nation's preeminent academic medical centers, is an integrated health care system that operates 1,298 acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care beds, outpatient services, and community health and information centers. The WFUBMC Health System was founded from a partnership between Wake Forest University Health Sciences, North Carolina Baptist Hospital, and Wake Forest University Physicians. Creation of this alliance has extended the scope of care for WFUBMC to include 21 subsidiary or affiliate hospitals and 87 satellite clinics throughout the region. In keeping with its service mission, this regional presence supports an emphasis on the continuum of care which includes primary care centers, outpatient rehabilitation, dialysis centers, home health care, and long-term care centers. This extensive service area contributes to over 31,500 inpatient admissions and 600,000 outpatient visits each year. In addition to making healthcare services accessible across the region, WFUBMC has also demonstrated a commitment to providing the highest quality services throughout the organization by implementing advanced continuous quality improvement strategies including Lean and Six Sigma. Together, WFUBMC component institutions carry out a joint mission of patient care, education, research, and community service. The hospital is consistently ranked as one of America’s Best Hospitals (top 50) by US News and World Report with many centers of excellence including oncology, cardiology, and pediatrics, in addition to operating North Carolina’s busiest Level 1 trauma service.
Department of Pharmacy
The Department of Pharmacy at WFUBMC is a “high touch, high tech” enterprise, consisting of over 250 employees who are responsible for providing comprehensive pharmaceutical care programs and services across the health care continuum. Pharmacists at WFUBMC routinely provide clinical services to patients admitted to more than 30 different services at the medical center. In addition to inpatient services, the department provides a wide array of pharmacy services that span many outpatient settings through a network of retail and ambulatory care pharmacies. An ongoing commitment to providing the highest quality pharmacy services possible is supported by both a long history of advancing clinical pharmacy practice and employing innovative technologies wherever these powerful tools can be most effectively leveraged for safety and efficiency.
Over the past 15 years, the pharmacy residency program at WFUBMC has graduated over 65 pharmacy residents with many taking positions in some of the nation’s leading medical centers and universities. In addition to residency education, the pharmacy department hosts numerous pharmacy students as part of its longstanding relationship with top-ranked pharmacy schools including the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and Campbell University. The Department of Pharmacy’s dedication to pharmacy leadership development is evidenced by the high degree of involvement of WFUBMC pharmacists, both within the organization as well as the profession. WFUBMC pharmacists can be found in leadership positions within state and national pharmacy organizations, in addition to corporate level responsibilities including one of the nation’s first Chief Pharmacy Officers. As health systems continue to evolve, WFUBMC Pharmacy is leading the way in providing pharmacists with the leadership and clinical skills needed to be successful in modern healthcare settings.
Activities/Rotations
Core / required rotations (1 – 2 months in duration)
Financial Management
Pharmacy operations
Clinical services
Director of pharmacy
Required activities:
Budget cycle
Management of student interns
Teach a lecture
Develop a work schedule
Take administrator on call in our department during the second year
Active member of the pharmacy leadership committee for the entire second year
Active membership in pharmacy department committees, medication safety, and P&T
Elective rotations (2 weeks – 2 months in duration)
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center residency electives:
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification (this is a required core rotation for WFUBMC resident)
Continuum of Care Pharmacy (includes Ambulatory, Retail, Home Care, LTC and Affiliate Pharmacy Management)
Pediatric Pharmacy Services
Surgical and Emergency Department Pharmacy Services
Pharmacy Informatics/Automation
Corporate Health System Administration
Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship, Utilization and Epidemiology (CAUSE)
Investigational Drug Services
Health Plan/Prescription Benefits Management
Other residency rotation options:
Other hospitals in addition to your primary placement
State Pharmacy Board/Professional Association Administration (NCBOP / NCAP)
Academic Pharmacy Administration – UNC-CH School of Pharmacy
Pharmaceutical Industry Administration – GSK / Roche / Targacept
Application Process
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Everything detailed below must be completed prior to deadline for your application to be considered.
The Masters of Science Degree in Health-System Pharmacy / Two Year Administrative Residency Program is offered in collaboration with Duke University Medical Center, University of North Carolina Hospitals, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. While everyone who is accepted into the program will receive their Masters of Science Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the residency component is divided across multiple medical center sites.
Interested applicants will need to apply both to the University of North Carolina Graduate School for their didactic component and to the central residency application office at University of North Carolina Hospitals (Stephen Eckel is currently coordinating this application process). This single application for the program’s multiple residency sites is intended to streamline the process for you and reduce confusion.
To be clear, your single residency program application that is sent to UNCH is used by all the program’s residency sites (Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest). You do not need to apply to each site individually once this application has been submitted. You will be asked to evaluate each site as part of the interview process.
There will be 3 primary interview periods where applicants will visit all three sites:
- January 25 – 26
- January 31 – February 1
- February 11 – 12
After experiencing what each site has to offer, you will be asked to submit your preference rankings for each of the program residency sites. A selection committee will evaluate all applicants and take their preferences into consideration before deciding which residents will be made offers for each site. Since the program will not be participating in this years match, offers will be made to selected candidates by February 29, 2008.
Currently there are 2 positions available at UNCH, 1 at WFUBMC, and 1 at DUMC. |
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Deadline for all materials: Apply no later than January 4, 2008 |
Graduate School Application: |
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· Complete a Graduate School application for admission (see web link below)
· Submit the non-refundable $73 application fee
· Three letters of recommendation
· Provide academic transcripts - two official copies: one to the UNC Graduate School and one to the program
· Standardized test (GRE) scores that are current and no more than 5 years old |
Two-Year Residency Program Application: |
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Submit a supplemental application that includes both background information and thought questions. |
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Review the residency websites at the following institutions: |
Application Submission:
Mail the completed application and cover letter by January 4, 2008 to:
Stephen F. Eckel, PharmD, MHA, BCPS
Residency Director
UNC Hospitals
Department of Pharmacy, CB #7600
101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
By E-Mail: seckel@unch.unc.edu
Click here to download application………. MS Admin Application .
Contact Information
If you would like to speak to someone to find out more about the MS Health System Pharmacy Administration program at WFUBMC please feel free to contact one of the following people:
Beth Williams, PharmD, BCPS
Director of Pharmacy
bewillia@wfubmc.edu
336/713-3400
Nate Peaty, PharmD, MS
Operations Coordinator
npeaty@wfubmc.edu
336/713-3113