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Personalized medicine uses a patient's individual data to make decisions tailored to their specific wants and needs. In the The Decision Tree, Thomas Goetz describes how patients can be taught to make their own personal health strategy based on the “best practices of genetics, behavioral medicine, information technology and each other.”1 An increased desire by patients to be true partners in their health care decisions and the shift towards encounters and disease monitoring taking place outside the doctor's office or hospital are advancing personalized medicine initiatives. The Innovators Prescription describes a solution to decrease health care costs and increase access by using wireless medical devices, wellness programs, telehealth, medical homes, and retail clinics to deliver health care.2 So how do we prepare pharmacy students to partner with their patients in a decentralized, technology-driven, and more-personalized environment, while keeping a human touch? Fortunately, pharmacy accreditation standards already mandate that graduates be able to provide patient-centered and population-based care. 3 However, strategies to deliver that care are changing and curriculums must keep pace. This viewpoint focuses on 2 areas for consideration as we continue to prepare students for new models of health care delivery.

To design and implement a demonstration project to teach interprofessional teams how to recognize and engage in difficult conversations with patients.Interdisciplinary teams consisting of pharmacy students and residents, student nurses, and medical residents responded to preliminary questions regarding difficult conversations, listened to a brief discussion on difficult conversations; formed ad hoc teams and interacted with a standardized patient (mother) and a human simulator (child), discussing the infant's health issues, intimate partner violence, and suicidal thinking; and underwent debriefing.Participants evaluated the learning methods positively and a majority demonstrated knowledge gains. The project team also learned lessons that will help better design future programs, including an emphasis on simulations over lecture and the importance of debriefing on student learning. Drawbacks included the major time commitment for design and implementation, sustainability, and the lack of resources to replicate the program for all students.Simulation is an effective technique to teach interprofessional teams how to engage in difficult conversations with patients.

Objective. To create, implement, and evaluate a pharmacy course on motivational interviewing. Design. A 3-hour elective course was created to train doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students in brief patient-centered motivational interviewing counseling strategies that have proven effective with the types of health issues most commonly addressed in pharmacy settings. Students were assisted in developing their skills through required readings, interactive lectures, in-class demonstrations and practice sessions, out of class skills practice, one-on-one supervision provided by doctoral level clinical health psychology students, and written reflections on each class session. Assessment. Students demonstrated significant improvement in motivational interviewing skills and a high level of motivation for and confidence in using these skills in their future practice. Students overall assessment of the course and supervision process was highly positive. Conclusion. This patient-centered counseling skills course was feas...

Sir: My colleagues and I thank Dr. Chung for his views; he makes several important points about our article.1 I would like to point out that some of his data, although interesting, reflect dosing in diseases not covered directly in our article. My colleagues and I do appreciate the update of data that was unavailable when we wrote this article.2,3

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely prescribed to treat depression. Although these drugs presumably have the same mechanism of action, they vary in several clinically important ways, including how long they remain in the body and the extent to which they interfere with the metabolism of other medications. This article reviews the pharmacologic differences among SSRIs and how these differences may affect various aspects of treatment, such as dosing, administration, and discontinuation. Understanding the distinct properties of SSRIs may help primary care physicians to design the most appropriate therapeutic plan for individual patients.

2010-11 COS ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD Sudip Das, Immediate Past Chair (Butler) Irish Marken, Chair, (UMKC) Shane Desselle, Chair-Elect (OU) Cindy Koh-Knox, Secretary (Purdue) 2011-2012 COS ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD Trish Marken, Immediate Past Chair (UMKC) Shane Desselle, Chair (Oklahoma) Denise Soltis, Chair-Elect (Drake) Steve Stoner, Secretary (UMKC) COS Activities 1. Denise Soltis (Drake) was elected Chair Elect of the COS and Steve Stoner was elected as Secretary. 2. Final reports for 2010-2011 task forces: Preceptor Development (Chair: Denise Soltis, Drake) Poster accepted for AACP--The Current State of Preceptor Development: Results of a Survey by Preceptor Development Task Force * Denise A Soltis, Maryann Z. Skrabal, Nora Stelter, Bob Talbert, Meri Hix, Michelle Katsiyiannis, Mariana Lapidus, Irena Bond, Christina Seeger, and Trish Marken on behalf of the Preceptor Development Task Force, Council of Sections, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Compounding (Chairs Bill Shrewsbury, UNC) * Compounding in Schools of Pharmacy: A Report of the AACP COS Task Force on Compounding, has been accepted for the 2011 AACP Annual Meeting in San Antonio (Robert P. Shrewsbury, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Primary Author) * Post executive summary to COS site on AACP website * Paper in preparation for AJPE Primer for New Faculty (Chair: Bill Fassett, Washington State) * Shane Desselle will reappoint for 2011-2012 New Pharmacy Faculty Research Awards Program REVISION Task Force (Sudip Das, Chair) * COS Committee will present recommendations for revised procedures and number for COS vote on 7/9/11 and forward the results to the Board of Directors for action Abstract Task Force (Cynthia P Koh-Knox, Chair) * COS will consider the following recommendations from the Abstract Review Task Force at Annual Meeting. Final recommendations will be forwarded to AACP for action. ** Remove the option of Accept or Reject from the options for evaluating abstracts and instead reviewers assign scores only *** Use a minimum cut score for poster acceptance vs. the accept/reject process used now ** Expand the definition of Work In Progress so authors can better determine whether their project is ready for consideration at this year's meeting ** Add evaluation criteria for Work in Progress to rubrics ** Monitor performance of the changes in review process during 2011-12 cycle COS Programming (Julie Szilagyi, Chair) The committee was charged with establishing the Council's programming for the 2011 AACP Annual Meeting and Conference. The committee chair and section representatives communicated initially via conference call and, thereafter, via ongoing email messages. Progress regarding identification of topics, emphasis and speakers was shared at requested intervals and as needed. This resulted in a productive dialogue among the committee members and a good selection of topics for presentation at the July meeting. The committee members would like to suggest that the Programming Committee membership be composed of the Chair-Elects of each Section. The rationale is that these individuals are already responsible for Section programming. Therefore, it is reasonable that they also participate on the Programming Committee SECTION UPDATE (FEB-JUNE 2011) Biological Sciences Section Update (Stephen A. O'Barr--Western University) The Section has been working on ways to include more biological science faculty in the SIG by offering expanded services, which is part of the strategic plan. Part of the new initiative has been by working with the new Graduate Education SIG on enhancing research oriented programming. …