AACP is deeply saddened by the University of Charleston's decision to close its School of Pharmacy. We recognize the difficult circumstances that led to this decision, despite the school’s dedication to providing a high-quality education.
Pharmacy Schools Are Essential to Meeting Growing Demand for Pharmacists’ Services
ACT Educators Badge Program
ACT Pharmacy Collaborative Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation Educators Badge
Applications are Closed
Please note: If accepted into the program, a required fee of $149 will be charged.
Badge Competencies
- Recognize opportunities and challenges within the evolving health care system to advance pharmacy services within community pharmacy.
- Demonstrate evidence-based change practices that drive implementation of pharmacy services.
- Support community pharmacy practice transformation through the application of educational resources and collaborative knowledge.
- Persuasively communicate the value of advanced pharmacy services in the community pharmacy to relevant stakeholders.
Participants in the first cohort shared feedback on reasons to participate in the program. Here are some of their perspectives:
- “[This program is a] primer on practice transformation efforts in community with opportunities to apply and share your learning to make an impact on community partners and academic colleagues.”
- “Regarding community pharmacy, it gives you a space to talk about things that matter with people who (1) care about the problem (2) have tools to address it and (3) can assist you with your goals.”
- “Great way to identify others who are doing similar services and look for ways to collaborate and/or learn from each other.”
Eligibility
Currently employed as a faculty/staff member at a college/school of pharmacy or serving as a preceptor for a college/school of pharmacy.
Timeline
Participants will be given notice of acceptance into the program by Dec. 31, 2024 at the latest. Upon acceptance into the program, participants will be given access to AACP Learn where all program information and resources will be housed. All required activities must be completed between January 1, 2025 and June 30, 2025, unless otherwise noted below (e.g., engagement/implementation and dissemination activities). All evidence must be uploaded on AACP Learn by June 30, 2025. Digital badges will be disbursed by mid-July 2025.
Required Activities and Evidence
Required Activities | Evidence of Completion |
Knowledge and Training | |
ACT Foundational Modules in Community Pharmacy Transformation
| Self-attestation + session evaluation Participants will be invited to submit alternate evidence of this knowledge (e.g., presenting or lecturing on topics covered in the modules), if desired. Please contact the program coordinator, Miranda Steinkopf (msteinkopf@aacp.org), if you would like to pursue this option. |
Attend at least 4 ACT Pharmacy Collaborative Monthly Webinars
If a participant is unable to attend 4 webinars during the allotted time period, they will have the opportunity to replace up to 2 webinars with attendance at a Networking/Office Hours Session (1 webinar = 1 networking/office hours session). | Attendance tracked via Zoom. |
| Complete at least one elective learning activity. Suggestions TBD, but will include activities like listening to a podcast, reading a news/journal article, or watching a video. | Self-attestation Answer: Do you recommend adding your elective to the “Suggested Electives” list? Why or why not? |
Engagement/Implementation | |
| Complete a site visit to a community pharmacy and use the Flip the Pharmacy Community Pharmacy Self-Assessment Tool | Upload a photo from visit and a brief reflection statement about the impact of the visit on you and/or the pharmacy. |
Complete at least one of the following*:
*Engagement/Implementation activities listed above that were completed July 2024 – June 2025 can be used as evidence to achieve these requirements. | Please upload a brief description (100-250 words max) of the additional engagement/implementation activity you completed, including its impact, and the date it was completed. |
Dissemination* | |
Complete at least two of the following:
| Upload a poster, manuscript, meeting agenda, reflection, or web link, as appropriate based on your activity choices. |
*Evidence of dissemination within 3 years prior to the time of Badge application will be accepted.
NEW: Optional Networking & Office Hours Sessions
In response to participant feedback, we are offering more ways for you to connect with others participating in badge program. A total of 3 Networking & Office Hours Sessions will be offered every other month between January and June 2025 (dates/times TBD). During these sessions, participants will have a chance to connect with others in the program on timely community pharmacy practice topics to ask questions, solve problems, and find opportunities to collaborate. Program advisory group members (see list below) will also be available during these sessions to answer questions about the program, assist in making connections to help get requirements done, and provide advice on current work.
Note: If a participant is unable to attend 4 ACT Pharmacy Collaborative Monthly Webinars during the program period, they will have the opportunity to replace up to 2 webinars with attendance at a Networking/Office Hours Session (1 webinar = 1 networking/office hours session).
Badge Verification Review
AACP staff will review and determine that all badge requirements have been met. Once eligibility requirements are verified, a digital badge will be awarded.
Program Advisory Group
Megan Smith (Lead), Radhika Devraj, Gale Garmong, Sarah Oprinovich, and Traci Poole
2023-2024 Inaugural Badge Recipients
Recipients of the ACT Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation Educators' Badge proved their commitment to and competencies in community pharmacy practice transformation through knowledge, training, engagement/implementation, and dissemination activities.
Click on the tile below to see the full list of recipients.
Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation: Curricular Framework
Vision
Pharmacist graduates of all colleges/schools of pharmacy will be able to drive practice transformation, equipped with the knowledge and skills to immediately contribute to the design, implementation/delivery, evaluation, and improvement of sustainable patient care services alongside the provision of dispensing services in community pharmacies nationwide.
50 Stories From 50 States Challenge & Multimedia Library
50 Stories from 50 States Multimedia Library
This map represents all the pharmacies' stories in the multimedia library that were received through the 50 Stories from 50 States Challenge. Explore the stories in the library by navigating to the regional pages via the tiles mid-way down the page below.
What is ACT?
About the Collaborative
The ACT Pharmacy Collaborative is an operational learning and ACTing collaborative between colleges/schools of pharmacy and community pharmacy practices, including clinically integrated networks of community-based pharmacies.
Collaborative Goal
Support the transformation of community-based pharmacy practice from a product-based care model to a community-based pharmacy care delivery model. The ACT Pharmacy Collaborative will:
ACT - Past Initiatives
2019 National Day of Service
Purpose:
ACT (Academia-Community Transformation) Pharmacy Collaborative
ACT Pharmacy Collaborative
This is an operational learning and ACTing collaborative between colleges/schools of pharmacy and community pharmacy practices, including clinically integrated networks of community-based pharmacies. The Collaborative goal is to support the transformation of community-based pharmacy practice from a product-based care model to a community-based pharmacy care delivery model. The operations of the Collaborative are now run through AACP within the AACP Transformation Center.
The ACT Pharmacy Collaborative will:
Engaged Colleges/School of Pharmacy
A total of 116 colleges/schools of pharmacy are currently committed to and engaged in the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative. Each schools/colleges has a designated ACT Champion, serving as the main community pharmacy contact person.
Partners
Founding Partners: Community Pharmacy Foundation, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, CPESN, and AACP
Collaborative Partners: National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), and American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
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Collaborative Culture
The ACT Pharmacy Collaborative culture is focused on networking highly engaged faculty with community pharmacy leaders nationwide to mobilize efforts and amplify the collective work to advance community pharmacy practice. The Collaborative works “in the moment” with agility to meet the needs of practice advancement by connecting faculty and students to projects and programming that are needed in practice. The Collaborative focuses on both “short-term wins” to accelerate awareness of issues (i.e. COVID-19 intern match program, map of pharmacy closures), and long-term development of tools and resources (i.e. 50 stories from 50 states, ACT research group). The Collaborative further focuses on supporting the work of the national associations by connecting and encouraging faculty expertise to needed association committees, working groups, and leadership (i.e. development of the ACCP Community-based PRN).
Signature Programs
Community Pharmacy Centers of Excellence Program
This program recognizes colleges and schools of pharmacy based on work they are doing to lead community pharmacy transformation through teaching, service/advocacy, scholarship, and leadership support.
Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation Badge Program
This program aims to provide a fun, contemporary way to connect community pharmacy practice leaders and educators, ultimately leading to recognition of educators with proven competencies in community-based pharmacy practice transformation.
Community Pharmacy Student Scholar Leaders Program
This program engages student pharmacists nationwide who aspire to be leaders in community pharmacy practice.
Featured Resources and Initiatives
Pharmacy Closures Map
Pharmacies are often the most accessible point of healthcare in a community, and the alarming rate at which both corporate and independent pharmacies are closing poses a grave public health risk. This map from the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative highlights only a fraction of these closures across the country, providing media stories where available about how each closure is affecting local communities.
50 Stories from 50 States Challenge & Multimedia Library
The 50 Stories from 50 States Multimedia Library, an initiative from the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative, showcases the vital patient care services that community pharmacies are providing nationwide. The written narratives, videos and photos can be used in educational and advocacy efforts to showcase pharmacists’ increasingly complex and crucial role in healthcare.
ACT Curricular Framework
The ACT Pharmacy Collaborative developed a consensus Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation Curricular Framework for colleges/schools of pharmacy to utilize as they revise courses and curricula to meet the changing expectations for delivery of patient care services in community pharmacies nationwide. This document presents a curricular framework for community pharmacy practice transformation as a recommendation to all colleges and schools of pharmacy. We invite you to use this Framework to engage faculty and administrators on curricular design and outcomes to help drive practice transformation.
ACT Patient Casebook Challenge
Colleges and schools of pharmacy nationwide were invited to participate in the 2020 ACT Patient Case Challenge. The goal of this Challenge was to collect and share impactful cases that demonstrate enhanced patient care provided by pharmacists and student pharmacists in community pharmacies. Collected cases were compiled into an online workbook available for use by colleges and schools of pharmacy. Key components of the cases include that they are based on an actual patient encounter, represent enhanced patient care services in a community pharmacy, integrate documentation using eCare Plan Standard language, and that they demonstrate value.
Access the ACT Patient Casebook
Access the Challenge Participants
To learn more on the background of the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative, please download the ACT Blueprint here. For any questions, please contact aacpcenter@aacp.org.
ACT Resources and Initiatives
Featured Resources and Initiatives
Pharmacy Closures Map
Pharmacies are often the most accessible point of healthcare in a community, and the alarming rate at which both corporate and independent pharmacies are closing poses a grave public health risk. This map from the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative highlights only a fraction of these closures across the country, providing media stories where available about how each closure is affecting local communities.
ACT Colleges/Schools of Pharmacy and Champions