SULLIVAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES AWARDED GRANT TO EVALUATE END OF LIFE CARE
LOUISVILLE, KY – The Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has been awarded a $4,000 grant to conduct local research on end of life pharmacy care.
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) awarded The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant (SOTL) to Sullivan University faculty members Dr. Katie Leslie, an associate professor and director of the Sullivan University Center for Health & Wellness, and Dr. Kate Probst, a clinical pharmacist at the Center for Health & Wellness.
The grant will provide funding for the doctors’ project, Evaluation of an Interprofessional Academic-Practice Partnership in End of Life Care. The grant was one of only 12 SOTL grants awarded nationally this year. Sullivan will conduct the research through a partnership with Hosparus Health of Louisville, which provides palliative and hospice care.
“This project aligns perfectly with the College’s focus on scholarly teaching and the creation and dissemination of new knowledge around pharmacy educational initiatives,” said Dr. Misty Stutz, an associate professor and chair and assistant dean of Clinical and Administrative Science at Sullivan. “The relationship the College and Center for Health and Wellness has developed with Hosparus is a great example of the how the College works effectively with a community partner to advance the roles of pharmacists in the care of patients.
“I am extremely proud of the work of Drs. Probst and Leslie in putting together this study to further validate the impact that pharmacists and student pharmacists make on an interprofessional team and in the care of patients,” Stutz said.
Dr. Leslie became director of the Center for Health & Wellness in August of 2018 and made developing a robust research agenda within the center a top priority.
“To receive grant funding from a prestigious national organization like AACP in such a short time frame is energizing and highlights the innovative nature of the learning experiences that we offer our students and our work with community partners,” Dr. Leslie said. “This also provides a national platform to showcase our contributions to academic pharmacy.”
Central to the mission of the Center for Health & Wellness, the purpose of this project is to evaluate this interprofessional academic-practice partnership in end of life care, examining student learning experiences, the value-added contributions of student pharmacists and a pharmacy preceptor into an end of life practice model, and patient medication outcomes.
Grant funds will be used to facilitate data collection for a multi-lensed assessment of student learning, student pharmacist and pharmacy preceptor value, and patient medication outcomes. Results from this study may assist other colleges of pharmacy in implementing sustainable community partnerships and learning experiences for student pharmacists.
The project serves as an opportunity to intentionally research student learning, highlight the impact of student pharmacists on an interprofessional care team with a community partner, and evaluate patient outcomes.
“Ultimately, I hope that findings from this study lead to initiatives that improve health outcomes for individual patients as well as the communities we serve,” Dr. Leslie said. “I want to emphasize that this project would not be possible without the support of our partners at Hosparus, or the work of Dr. Kate Probst in developing this partnership and the valuable learning experiences for our PharmD students.”
About Sullivan University College of Pharmacy
Sullivan University’s Doctor of Pharmacy program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 190 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 2850, Chicago, IL 60603-4810, 312-664-3575; FAX 866-228-2631, website www.acpe-accredit.org
Policies and regulations pertaining to the accreditation process are available on the ACPE website: http:www.acpe-accredit.org or by calling the ACPE office at 312-664-3575.
About Sullivan University
Sullivan University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award Associate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097, call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Sullivan University or visit them online at www.sacscoc.org.
The University offers numerous certificates, diplomas, and degrees in career-oriented programs, ranging from business, pharmacy, human resources, I.T. and cyber security, supply-chain management, culinary and baking and pastry arts, hospitality studies, conflict management, nursing, allied health sciences, HVAC-R, interior design, and legal studies. Sullivan University has campuses in Louisville and Lexington, an extension in Fort Knox on the U.S. Army Post, and Centers for Learning in Louisa, Mayfield and Carlisle. Sullivan University also has many programs available partially or wholly online. For more information, visit www.sullivan.edu.
