HEALTH CARE ETHICS SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
Response to:
Request for Comments on Deliberation and Bioethics Education
FR Doc. 2015—09079
Dear Dr. Lee:
On behalf of the Health Care Ethics Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American
Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), we wish to thank you for the opportunity to
comment on the recent HHS statement regarding Deliberation and Bioethics Education.
Our SIG is composed of over 300 pharmacy educators and practitioners whose mission
is to “serve as a resource for members of the AACP to exchange ideas and innovations
in teaching, research, and patient care related to health care ethics.”
We are pleased that the Commission recognizes the integration of bioethics education
across different professional contexts. The incorporation of bioethics into pharmacy
curricula is a vital and vibrant aspect of contemporary pharmacy education. Pharmacists
are evolving into proactive, interdisciplinary team players who strive to keep the patient
at the center of their practice. As such, the ethical complexity of pharmacists’ practice
settings is growing, which demands high quality ethics training during their student
pharmacist years. With this brief background, you can imagine how intrigued we were
with the request for comments and for you to become aware of the work that we in
academic pharmacy do with student pharmacists regarding ethics education.
For example, accreditation standards for the Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs set
by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education in February 2015 identify ethics as
an important part of the training of pharmacists. More specifically, ethics education is
included in the following required element and standards that apply to all 132 accredited
pharmacy schools in our nation:
• Appendix 1 Required Elements of the Didactic Portion of the Doctor of
Pharmacy Curriculum (Social/Administrative/Behavioral Sciences): “Ethics:
Exploration of approaches for resolving ethical dilemmas in patient care, with an
emphasis on moral responsibility and the ability to critically evaluate viable options
against the needs of patients and other key stakeholders.”
• Standard 11 Interprofessional Education, Key Element 11.1: “All students
demonstrate competence in interprofessional team dynamics, including
articulating the values and ethics that underpin interprofessional practice,
engaging in effective interprofessional communication, including conflict resolution
and documentation skills, and honoring interprofessional roles and
responsibilities.”
• Standard 12 Pre-Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Curriculum, Key
Element 12.5: “Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences expose students to
common contemporary U.S. practice models, including interprofessional practice
involving shared patient care decision-making, professional ethics and expected
behaviors, and direct patient care activities.”
Additionally, the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Report of an Expert Panel
released in May 2011 stated that values/ethics are one of the four main competencies for
interprofessional collaborative practice. This report reflected the collective thoughts from
leaders in the pharmacy, nursing, medicine, dentistry, public health, and osteopathic
medicine educational associations.
Indeed, numerous interprofessional bioethical issues exist related to health care practice
which pharmacy students, practitioners, educators, and researchers now face or will face
in the future. We would welcome the opportunity to be part of the interprofessional
discussions and efforts in this area.
Sincerely,
Robert Cisneros, Ph.D., Chair
Associate Professor
Campbell University, College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Thomas Campbell, Pharm.D., Immediate Past Chair
Associate Dean
Lipscomb University, College of Pharmacy
Ronda Bryant, Pharm.D., Chair-Elect
Assistant Professor
Lipscomb University, College of Pharmacy