The North Carolina Area Health Education Center program: an overview

North Carolina has been at the forefront of the planning, development, and operation of area health education centers (AHECs). These centers have dramatically improved health manpower education and training at all professional levels. In effect, the North Carolina Area Health Education Center Program is a major decentralization and coordination of medical, dental, pharmacy, and public health education and regionalization of nursing, allied health education, medical residency training, and continuing education. The program links each of the university health science centers in North Carolina to major community hospitals that form a regional network with other institutions. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy has a major role in the AHEC program. A full-time faculty is located in each AHEC. In addition to providing and coordinating clinically oriented pharmaceutical services and functioning as a resource in all matters relating to drugs, they are extensions of the school's faculty. The North Carolina AHEC Program approach offers pharmacy an excellent opportunity to maximize the pharmacist's contributions to society through education and practice.