UK HealthCare

UK, Norton Healthcare Announce Continuation of Pharmacy Education Partnership

LEXINGTON, KY. (Nov. 18, 2011)The University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and Norton Healthcare have agreed to a three-year extension of a partnership that was launched five years ago to deliver pharmacy education in Kentucky’s largest city. UK’s College of Pharmacy will be maintaining its Clinical Education Center on Norton Healthcare’s downtown campus.
 

Norton Healthcare has pledged $600,000 from 2011 through 2014 to continue funding for the CEC, which provides an opportunity for 25 UK pharmacy students to complete their fourth year of their pharmacy education in Louisville. During their fourth and final year, their pharmacy education is focused on advanced pharmacy experiential training to prepare the student for the workforce or post-graduate residency training.
 

“We appreciate Norton Healthcare for its commitment to the Clinical Education Center and to advancing the practice of pharmacy in Kentucky,” said Timothy Tracy, dean of the UK College of Pharmacy. “We started this partnership in 2006 to improve the clinical educational experience we provide to our students and to advance clinical pharmacy services at Norton Healthcare and throughout the Louisville metro area and beyond. This announcement confirms our joint commitment to those very worthy goals.”
 

The CEC concept was developed between the UK College of Pharmacy and Norton Healthcare in 2006, with the hope it could become a model for other CECs throughout the Commonwealth. The UK College of Pharmacy partnered with the Owensboro Medical Health System (OMHS) to create the Owensboro-Greater Daviess County CEC in 2007.
 

By providing the final year of the PharmD education in Louisville, the hope was that many of the students would remain in the Louisville metro area after graduating from UK. To date, 86 students have completed the Louisville CEC program. More than 60 percent have started their professional career in the local market and more than 30 percent of Louisville CEC students have enrolled in post-graduate residency programs.

Since the CEC’s inception, the number of advanced pharmacy practice experiential rotations has increased from 29 to more than 60, including recent Norton Healthcare rotation expansions in advanced hospital practice, diabetes management, infectious diseases and critical care. These represent key expansions that expand the breadth of training offered in the Louisville CEC market area.   
 

“This partnership with the UK College of Pharmacy has been an unqualified success,” said Stephen A. Williams, president and CEO of Norton Healthcare. “In a constantly evolving health care marketplace, the need for comprehensive pharmaceutical services continues to grow. It is extraordinary to know that one of the nation’s top five Colleges of Pharmacy is located on our downtown campus and that we have access to some of most innovative and creative young minds in the field.” 
 

One Louisville CEC graduate has come full circle since being a member of the first CEC cohort in 2007. Maggie Mangino, a Louisville native and 2008 UK College of Pharmacy graduate, said the Louisville CEC allowed her to network and develop local contacts while she was still in school.
 

“I always knew that I wanted to move back to Louisville,” Mangino said. “The Louisville CEC helped showcase some of the pharmacy opportunities that were available in my hometown.”
 

Mangino completed a residency program after receiving her PharmD from UK and worked in the community for a couple of years before returning to Norton Healthcare for a dream opportunity.  
 

On Sept.1, Mangino returned to Norton Healthcare to lead its “Rx for Better Health” disease management program for employees and their family members who have diabetes. She is helping participants maintain or improve their health while reducing the risk for complications of diabetes.

Likewise, Louisville native Ashley Bormann was a CEC student during the 2007-08 school year, completing pharmacy rotations at Norton Suburban Hospital and Norton Hospital along with other health care organizations in the community.

She received her PharmD from UK in 2008 before completing a one-year residency at the University of Louisville Hospital, which led her to a fulltime position in July 2009 as a pharmacist at Norton Suburban.
 

“It really worked out great for me,” Bormann said. “I knew I wanted to return to my hometown to work as a pharmacist, and the Louisville CEC helped make that possible. This has been a great program for the UK pharmacy students from Louisville.”
 

Since the formation of the Louisville CEC, UK HealthCare and Norton Healthcare have announced a wide-ranging partnership that involves a variety of clinical and research programs. Dr. Michael Karpf, executive vice president for health affairs at UK, said the strong, positive working relationship between the UK College of Pharmacy and Norton Healthcare helped strengthen the UK HealthCare-Norton Healthcare partnership. 
 

“Walking into Norton Healthcare and seeing that UK College of Pharmacy logo is a powerful statement,” said Karpf. “I’m thrilled that our College of Pharmacy and Norton Healthcare have agreed to continue this partnership. It shows how UK and Norton Healthcare are committed to bettering the lives of Kentuckians through excellence in education, research and clinical service.”
 

Students who participate in the program at the Clinical Education Center will continue to complete 70 hours of required pre-pharmacy courses at the institution of their choice prior to admission to the UK College of Pharmacy. They will then spend six semesters at the Lexington campus before completing the remainder of their clinical education and training in Louisville. 
 

Fourth-year pharmacy students are required to complete seven, six-week rotations in clinical pharmacy settings under the direction of community-based voluntary faculty members located at more than 300 rotation sites across the state. Students enrolled in the CEC program generally complete all seven of their required experiential rotations in the Louisville area, which are located at Norton Healthcare facilities, community pharmacies and other clinical settings. Chris Miller, a UK faculty member, serves as the clinical training coordinator for pharmacy students assigned to the program. Miller oversees the clinical rotations of all Louisville CEC students.

 

Media Contacts for UK HealthCare: Ann Blackford at (859)323-6442, (859)312-3587 (cell) or ann.blackford@uky.edu, Dave Melanson at (859) 323-3450, (859)420-3228 (cell) or dmela2@email.uky.edu.

 

Media Contact for Norton HealthCare: Steve Menaugh at (502)629-8646, (502)599-0422 (cell) or steve.menaugh@nortonhealthcare.org