By COLIN M. STEWART
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
The University of Hawaii at Hilo’s College of Pharmacy announced Thursday it is taking another step on the road to building a reputation as an internationally recognized school of pharmacy in the Pacific.
Officials said that the school’s community pharmacy residency program had achieved accreditation via both the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American Pharmacists Association. Such accreditation is necessary for the program to be considered a valid educational experience, said college spokeswoman Maggie Morris.
Without such accreditation, she added, participation in the program “probably wouldn’t even be considered worth putting on your resume.”
Pharmacy program graduates from around the country who are already licensed but seek more on-the-job training before pursuing careers may apply for the yearlong program, she said. It can give them the edge when applying for jobs in larger markets or those that require applicants with more experience.
Participants are paid, but have a faculty member overseeing their work, just like medical doctors performing residencies, she said.
“Pharmacy residency programs are similar to training that allows medical doctors to gain postgraduate training,” said Anita Ciarleglio, assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmacy Practice, and the residency program director.
She said that the program will help address a shortage of community pharmacists in the state, albeit not as pressing a shortage as that of family physicians.
“I think the shortage is perhaps not as great as it was when the college first began,” she said. “But it is true that with pharmacy, the shortages are in the rural areas, while big cities may have an overabundance. … We’ve been losing our pharmacists to the mainland, so it’s good to have this (pharmacy residency program) in place. It can be difficult to recruit pharmacists and other health care professionals to the more rural areas of the country. By giving them the opportunity to come to a practice site in Hawaii, oftentimes they’ll choose to stay and practice here.”
Since the program’s start in October 2010, participants have gained working knowledge behind pharmacy counters in Maui. So far, five pharmacists have gone through the program at Maui Clinic Pharmacy in Kahului and will be able to get retroactive credit for being part of an accredited program, Morris said.
“Because it was a new program, they had to have complete faith that it would become accredited,” she said.
Those program graduates include two UH-Hilo alums: Tehane Ornellas of the UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy Class of 2011, and Erika Miyahira, of the UH-Hilo Class of 2011. The other grads include: Sheena Jolson, University of Arizona Class of 2010; Amy Baker, University of New Mexico Class of 2010; and Christina Mnatzaganian, University of Arizona College of Pharmacy 2011. Mnatzaganian has since joined the UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy faculty.
Ciarleglio called the women “true trailblazers” for their ability to believe in the program while it was still going through the accreditation process. She added that all five had opted to take jobs in the state, and that the experience garnered through the program would enable them to advance the state of pharmacist care.
“These women are redefining community pharmacy,” she said. “They primarily act as the liaison between the community, the hospital and the physician, and provide a continuity of care that just wasn’t there before.”
Ciarleglio explained that the program began on Maui mainly because of the fact that that was where her practice facility was located, but that organizers expect to offer opportunities on Oahu, Hawaii, and perhaps even Kauai in the coming years.
She added that the fact that the program earned three years of accreditation from the two associations was a welcome surprise, and a sign that the program is going beyond achieving its goals.
“For a new program, I was frankly quite surprised we got these three years. If they had had questions about the program, they never would have given us three years. I feel confident that we have a good program,” she said.