Meeting & Agendas

Meeting called to order by Elizabeth Huss. Philip Johnston, Advisory Board Chair, welcomed the board members and asked them to introduce themselves. Members and guests introduced themselves.

Lisa McCartney announced that the next meeting scheduled for October 5, 2012. Tentative time noon – 2 p.m. She invited everyone to please attend.

With no more topics to discuss, Carissa Vinson motioned the meeting to adjourn and Kim Stengel and seconds the motion. The committee members voted to adjourn the meeting.

Committee members reviewed last meeting minutes from October 7, 2011. Eileen Klein motioned to accept minutes as written. Richard Espinosa seconds the motion. The committee members voted to accept the minutes as written.

Lisa McCartney, Department Chair for the Pharmacy Technician program, opened the discussion for members to share updates and information regarding their sites. Lisa Thibodeaux, George Mullins, Carissa Vinson, and Kim Stengel shared about new initiatives, and challenges facing their individual practice settings. Richard Espinosa asked the question to Lisa McCartney regarding HEB. Lisa McCartney said she could not place three students because HEB wants Spanish speaking trainees. Lisa is going to get with Pat Recek and see if they can meet with HEB.

Lisa McCartney announced that the ACPE Providership had been approved Lisa also announced that she would be attending an ACPE workshop in Chicago this June 2012. Lisa reported that 11 students attended the initial Instructor’s Compounding course. The 2012-2013 offerings will include the Instructor’s Course, Sterile Compounding and Aseptic Technique, and Basic Extemporaneous Compounding. PPMI and CREST summit initiatives all indicate that graduation from an ASHP accredited pharmacy training will be a requirement for taking the PTCE. ACC is well positioned for the coming changes.

Lisa McCartney opened discussion for summer PHRA cohort entries. Lisa stated she plans to recruit new sites. Marcy May stated that the advantage for summer is that labs are usually available in the summer. Renee Acosta commented that 12 hours may be a heavy load for 11 weeks. Lisa McCartney asked the members to think about cohort and to be ready to discuss at the next SWOT meeting.

Macy Moreno, Administrative Assistant to the Pharmacy Technician program, presented current enrollment. There are currently 64 students in program. Fifteen students are graduating in spring 2012. As of today, we have 10 applicants for the fall 2012 semester.

Eileen Klein spoke about the changes to Federal Financial Aid. Federal Financial Aid not likely to fund the PHRA certificate program because it does not lead to an AAS or BA degree. Due to legislative laws the meningitis requirement is also causing colleges to lose students. Lisa McCartney suggested that we push students to apply for scholarships to help with the program expenses.

Lisa McCartney announced that she wanted to discuss her list of rationales for creating an AAS degree option for ACC’s Pharmacy Technician program. Lisa also proposed an AAS degree which is a stepping stone to UT Pharmacy school. After a few comments regarding the new degree proposal, Philip Johnston asked that members be prepared at next meeting to discuss this matter further.

Lisa McCartney announced that in 2015 the CE requirement for CPhT is changing to require that 15 of the mandatory 20 hours be technician-specific, ACPE-accredited CE. Lisa also announced that the Math, Reading and Writing requirements had been changed. The new numbers will clarify the scores we want to see for all three. Marcy May said that she can already see that the difference in the students, they are now coming into 1309 with a good knowledge of basic math skills.