The role of academia in community-based pharmaceutical care

Developing models of pharmaceutical care (PC) for educating students and practitioners represents a fundamental role for schools of pharmacy. Virginia Commonwealth University has sought to facilitate the implementation of PC in the community by hiring faculty to practice in this setting. The mission of the faculty is to implement PC in a community pharmacy practice, to develop clerkship sites for Pharm.D. students, and to evaluate the impact of PC services in the community. Examples of an independent pharmacy model, a grocery chain model, and a retail chain model of care may serve a dual purpose for faculty members, that is, define responsibilities for the academic institution and for the community practice environment.