December 27, 2013
Proving that a University of Michigan College of Pharmacy education doesn’t begin and end in the clinic, Michigan P4 students, Patrick Spoutz and Laura Schultz, climbed the North Ridge of Mt. Baker while on rotation in Seattle, Wash. Mt. Baker, located about 31 miles east of Bellingham, Wash.

Collaboration between the University of Michigan Health System and the College of Pharmacy has been a mainstay for nearly a century. The secret to this successful marriage? A shared mission to deliver exceptional patient care.

By Patrick Spoutz
Fourth-year PharmD Student

My time at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy has been full of surprises. Early in the third year therapeutics course sequence, I was astonished to be taught by one professor in the morning, and, that afternoon, rotate through her practice site in the hospital. It soon realized that my professors were everywhere.

That’s one of the amazing things about the College: Most of the clinical faculty teaching our core courses maintain active practices in their area of specialty.

As my P3 year progressed, I learned a great deal about the special relationship between the College and University of Michigan Health System (UMHS).

One of the first things I discovered was that most of the College’s clinical faculty draw some of their salary from the College, and the rest from UMHS. Their time is split in a similar fashion, spending parts of their day at the hospital and part of their day at the College — moving seamlessly between the two.

That is not the norm at other colleges of pharmacy, explains John Clark, PharmD, director of pharmacy services at UMHS. “You rarely see clinicians who take care of patients in the morning, and teach therapeutics or some other pharmacy-related discipline in the afternoon,” he notes. “It takes a special individual to do both, well.”

And it only works because the leadership of both organizations is committed to the same educational, operational, and philosophical goals.

“If you were to place the mission statement of UMHS and College of Pharmacy side-by-side, you’d have a hard time telling them apart,” states James Stevenson, PharmD, chief pharmacy officer at UMHS; associate dean in the College; and chair of the College’s department of clinical, social, and administrative sciences. More than anyone else at U-M, Stevenson embodies the integrated operations approach that defines U-M’s pharmacy education model.

I decided to test Dr. Stevenson’s claim, and found that the mission statements are strikingly similar. Both institutions place a premium on exceptional patient care; both believe that the high-road to better leadership is through rigorous training and education; and both share a deep commitment to innovation, the driving force of medical progress.

Clinical Assistant Professor and Clinical Pharmacist at UMHS, Allison Blackmer, PharmD, is one example of a faculty member who combines patient care, education, and original research. Dr. Blackmer specializes in pharmacotherapy and parenteral nutrition support in pediatric patients. Her pediatric patients require a complex combination of medication therapy and intravenous nutrition. These experiences directly influence her scholarly work.

“My didactic and experiential teaching allows me to bring real, clinically-relevant patient cases to the classroom setting,” she says. Similarly, Dr. Blackmer’s collaborative research with the multidisciplinary team who share in the day-to-day care of patients enables her to involve students in clinical research projects.

“The fact that Michigan PharmD students are working shoulder-to-shoulder with professional scientists teaches them invaluable lessons about the research process and, more broadly, about complex problem solving,” states Dr. Blackmer.

Deeply engrained in the pharmacy practice model at U-M is the emphasis on delivering “the best patient care possible.” A lofty goal, brought within reach by clinical faculty practicing at the forefront of their fields. It’s a responsibility faculty take personally.

I can speak from experience about the exceptional efforts clinical faculty make to keep their teaching materials up to date.

On one occasion, a clinical professor downloaded a series of slides from the Internet, days before a lecture, in order to include a drug just approved by the FDA. By staying on top of clinical developments for the sake of students, clinical faculty are simultaneously preparing themselves for their next day of practice. As Dr. Clark puts it: “There’s no better way to learn something than teach it.”

The co-evolution of pharmacy practice in the College of Pharmacy and UMHS has produced significant institutional advantages. Since both organizations function within the same operational system, there are fewer barriers to affiliation agreements, resource management, and other partnership opportunities.

“In the end, it is not the University’s reputation in isolation that advances the cause of world class patient care and education,” Dr. Stevenson states. “It’s the strong, supportive relationships among faculty, administrators, students, and staff that enable the College and U-M Health System to develop pharmacy leaders who are prepared to shape the future.”