HUNTINGTON (AP) - The prescription abuse epidemic will be a focus for students at Marshall University's new pharmacy program.
University officials have pointed to the continued need for pharmacists in commercial and hospital settings and in research, while also touting the economic impact the pharmacy school can have for the region.
But what may be as or more important is how these new students will learn to work in the midst of the prescription drug abuse epidemic - with ground zero being West Virginia and other parts of the Appalachian region.
And that was not lost in the design of the four-year program, said Dr. Robert Stanton, the director for the Office of Experiential Learning. The program includes an education component that puts students out into the community in their first semester.
"We believe that's a critical component to the overall education of a clinical pharmacist," Stanton said. "There will be education components with our students going to high schools. We also have volunteer requirements, including drug take-back days and an education component for parents and grandparents." Students also will be called upon to start cataloging the drugs collected during the takeback days, said John Schloss, a professor and chairman for Pharmaceutical Science.
Ethics and law classes that focus on behavior and legal requirements are offered early in the curriculum, while also providing a component of additional training for prescribers on opiate medications.
"You can discuss issues in the ethics and law classes, but it doesn't hit them until they do the clinics and the drug takebacks," Stanton said.
Schloss has helped two other pharmacy programs get off the ground in different parts of the country. Both, he said, incorporated aspects of prescription drug abuse and a pharmacist's role in fighting it.
"I have in the very recent past seen how pharmacy schools can interface and make a difference in the prescription drug epidemic," he said.
Dr. Kevin Yingling, the founding dean for the School of Pharmacy, called the educational environment one of "consistent focus on adult and active learning in a studio concept that identifies us in a unique way." Stanton said he wants students to be up to date on the latest state and federal laws, including changes this year in West Virginia regarding amounts of pseudoephedrine that can be dispensed and how quickly providers must update the prescription database through the Board of Pharmacy.
He also said that a national prescription monitoring program must be put in place to curtail people from doctor shopping not just in Florida but by traveling across state lines here in West Virginia.
"Pharmacists, like it or not, will be principal professionals at the heart of making it work," he said.
This focus, in the context of health care, can be considered new. Yingling and Stanton, two seasoned pharmacists, said there wasn't much discussion on prescription drug abuse during their schooling because there wasn't nearly the level that exists today.
Huntington native Todd Picklesimer just graduated from the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy and is finishing his rotations at the VA Medical Center in Wayne County.
His view of the prescription drug epidemic is that it's something you don't see until you start interacting with actual patients .
"You always have an imagination of the person you think is abusing" someone coming into the pharmacy and getting a huge amount of pills " and you wonder if it is for a legitimate medical purpose," said Picklesimer, who earned his undergraduate degree from Marshall.
But it's not simple. And the responsibility is heavy, he said.
"I think once you start school and put on that white coat and become an intern, you have that responsibility," he said. "You start to realize it's on your shoulders when you get into school." He said among the most important parts of his education was realizing the pharmacist-patient relationship can be just as important as the doctor-patient relationship. He said for the people who are getting legitimate painkiller prescriptions, it is especially important to know what you are treating" both in the hospital and community pharmacy.
He also agreed with Stanton and Schloss in the role pharmacists can play in battling the prescription drug epidemic. He said it can be as simple as double-checking with prescribing doctors to taking seriously the continuing education that is required each year to maintain a license.
Dr. Sheila Kyle, the director of the nursing school at St. Mary's Medical Center, said the hospital has stressed for years the importance of pharmaceutical knowledge in its program.
Nursing might get overlooked in the drug abuse problem, but nurses are charged with administering drugs to patients in hospitals. Kyle said they also must study each patient's medical history to make sure they are being medicated correctly.
"With any type of medication, nurses are educated to understand drug action, drug laws, classifications, anything that makes them addictive or potentially dependent," Kyle said. "Legal things always drive our actions." But she added that nurses at all levels, from the hospital to the doctor's office, must be aware of the potential for abuse.
"It all goes back to a really good understanding of the nursing process," Kyle said. "It's really stuff we've always done, but we're more aware of it today with prescription drug abuse.
"That's why it's a whole team approach," she added. "The nurses record information and it's shared with the pharmacy and physician."
About 80 MU pharmacy students will take part in a white coat ceremony Sunday, Aug. 12, followed by a week of orientation, with classes starting Monday, Aug. 20.
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