Article
PQA Launches EPIQ (Educating Pharmacists In Quality)
PRESS RELEASE
A Comprehensive Program for Health Care Professionals and Students
Springfield, VA (August 13, 2014) -- The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) announced today the release of its Educating Pharmacists In Quality (EPIQ) program. EPIQ is designed as a resource used to train practicing pharmacists, healthcare professionals, and pharmacy students in measuring, improving, and reporting quality of care in pharmacy practice.
EPIQ is now available on the PQA website, featuring 26 online modules with corresponding training videos, which serve as a source of complimentary continuing education (CE) credit for pharmacists. Session materials may also be downloaded in full for live CE use or professional development training. "EPIQ was developed to meet the need of pharmacists and other stakeholders both to understand quality and the role it plays in today's health care climate, as well as to guide practical implementation of the principles of quality improvement inside of real practice settings," stated Sam Stolpe, Director of Quality Strategies at PQA.
EPIQ materials are also available for pharmacy faculty and students as a turnkey, 26 session course which can either be utilized in its entirety as one-hour lectures within a full semester course, or separated into individual sessions to be integrated into an existing class. Each session contains a lecture PowerPoint, instructor guide, interactive activity set, and assessment questions. "EPIQ contains educational resources that can be used by individual pharmacists, preceptors, or pharmacy educators," said lead developer Dr. Terri Warholak of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. "It is completely self-contained, and sessions are tailored for use in a variety of settings, including community pharmacies, health-systems, and managed care settings. EPIQ was developed to include comprehensive materials for various pharmacy quality or safety training needs. Its major subsections cover the critical quality topics facing today's practitioner, such as quality improvement, medication safety and error reduction, and quality measures."
EPIQ is authored by the following individuals:
- Terri L. Warholak, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at The University of Arizona, College of Pharmacy, and investigator within the Center for Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomic Research;
- Vibhuti Arya, PharmD, Assistant Clinical Professor at St. John's University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences and advisor to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene;
- Ana Hincapie, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical & Administrative Sciences at California Northstate University College of Pharmacy;
- David Holdford, RPh, MS, PhD, FAPhA, Professor and Vice-Chair of Graduate Education in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science at Virginia Commonwealth University; and
- Donna West-Strum, PhD, Chair and Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Administration at The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.
The development of EPIQ was made possible through the generous support of Abbvie and Merck.
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About PQA
Established in 2006, PQA represents pharmacy providers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, academia, consumer advocates, community pharmacies, health technology vendors, pharmaceutical research and manufacturing companies, and other stakeholders interested in improving the quality of the medication-use system.
PQA's mission is to:
Improve the quality of medication management and use across health care settings with the goal of improving patients' health through a collaborative process to develop and implement performance measures and recognize examples of exceptional pharmacy quality.
PQA provides a leadership role in identification and selection of metrics for evaluating the quality of the medication-use system, provides education on quality improvement, and connects pharmacists to healthcare improvement initiatives. For more information about the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, please visit www.PQAalliance.org or contact us at 703-690-1987.
CONTACT:
Maria Scarlatos, PharmD
Executive Fellow
Pharmacy Quality Alliance
703-690-1987
