The search for synergy

Pharmacy practice education has been part of the mission of academic medical center hospitals for a long time. Practitioners, faculty members, students, and pharmacy managers work to develop relationships that support the training of future pharmacy practitioners. Increasing financial and operating pressures created by managed care have caused hospital pharmacies and colleges of pharmacy to re-examine the nature of the relationships that support this training. The University HealthSystem Consortium Pharmacy Advisory Council undertook a survey and commissioned a study of the methods and resources used to support pharmacy practice education. Based on this assessment, relationships were characterized as educational affiliation, affiliated, and fully integrated. The current status and future prospects for each of these relationships are described.