In recognizing the need for pharmacists to impart their expertise and knowledge to others, the Clinical Teaching Certificate program helps pharmacy residents hone their skills as mentors, preceptors and academicians. The year-long program helps to produce life-long educators through development workshops, hands-on learning activities and opportunities to create educational experiences in academic and clinical practice settings.
The program is led by codirectors Brandon Bookstaver, ‘04, associate professor and director of Residency and Fellowship Training and Brie Dunn, associate dean for Outcomes Assessment and Accreditation for the College of Pharmacy.
The program offers two tracks — academia and precepting — and teaches robust skills, according to Bookstaver.
We cover the gamut of meaningful skills for both tracks including developing a syllabus for a didactic course, transitioning from a resident to a new practitioner and getting them engaged in the classroom.
Brandon Bookstaver, Pharm.D. Director, Residency and Fellowship Training
“We cover the gamut of meaningful skills for both tracks,” he says, “including developing a syllabus for a didactic course, transitioning from a resident to a new practitioner and getting them engaged in the classroom.”
Reagan Barfield, ‘19, is a clinical assistant professor and program coordinator for the Tandem Health-UofSC Postgraduate Year 1 Residency program. She believed her passion for medicine and teaching would translate into direct patient care, but that changed when she precepted her first student.
“I enjoyed that first experience of teaching in a clinical setting and the interaction I had with the student,” Barfield says. “That led me to ultimately pursue the academician track, which helped prepare me for effective precepting and grew my confidence in the classroom.”
Kayla Antosz, ’19, joined the College of Pharmacy in October as a clinical instructor and lead antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist for the Antimicrobial Stewardship Collaborative of South Carolina. She also found her way to academia through the CTC program.
“As a resident, I was originally interested in the precepting track. Taking part in this program was the perfect time to dive in and explore all the opportunities,” she says.
Dunn, who handles logistics and assessments for the program, says it is helpful to participants to have someone who can share their experiences.
“There is an opportunity for alumni who are already serving as preceptors to step in as mentors,” she says.
The program serves residents from across the state, including the Columbia VA Health
Care System, Hawthorne Pharmacy, Lexington Medical Center, McLeod Regional Medical
Center, Medicine Mart, Premise Health, Prisma Health Richland, Prisma Health Upstate,
Spartanburg Regional Medical Center and Tandem Health.
To learn more here about the Clinical Teaching Certificate program, please contact Brandon Bookstaver at bookstaver@cop.sc.edu.