In addition to the academic requirements for admission, candidates must possess skills and abilities that will allow them to successfully complete the curriculum and practice the profession of pharmacy. Creighton University Medical Center School of Pharmacy and Health Professions has an ethical responsibility for the safety of patients for whom the students come into contact. Therefore, patient safety is a major factor in establishing requirements for physical, cognitive, and emotional capabilities of applicants for communicational, motor, intellectual-conceptual (integrative and qualitative), behavioral, and social skills and abilities. The School is committed to enabling students with disabilities by reasonable means of accommodations to complete the course of study leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Some accommodations cannot be made because they are not reasonable. For example, the use of a trained intermediary is not acceptable. The use of a trained intermediary is however, not acceptable in many clinical situations in that it implies that a candidate’s judgment must be mediated by someone else’s power of selection and observation.
Observational. The candidate must be able to visually observe and interpret presented information. This will necessitate the functional use of vision, hearing, and somatic senses.
Communicational. The candidate must be able to communicate effectively with patients, caregivers, faculty/staff, and all members of the health care team. These skills include the appropriate use of spoken and written English, hearing, and reading.
Motor. The candidate must have sufficient motor function and skills necessary to perform basic tasks in the training and practice of pharmacy. Examples of such tasks may include the compounding of medicinals, administration of drugs of the provision of basic cardiac life support. Such actions require the coordination of both gross and fine muscular movements, equilibrium, and functional use of the senses.
Intellectual-Conceptual. Problem solving and critical thinking are key skills to proper performance of the responsibilities of a pharmacist. The candidate must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, synthesize, and integrate information that is essential to fully develop these skills.
Behavioral and Social Skills and Abilities. The candidate must be of sufficient emotional and mental health to utilize fully his or her intellectual ability, to exercise good judgment and ethical standards, to complete patient care responsibilities promptly, and to relate to others with courtesy, compassion, maturity, and respect for their dignity. The ability to participate collaboratively as a professional team member is essential. The pharmacy student must display emotional health in spite of a stressful work, changing environments, and clinical uncertainties. The pharmacy student must be able to modify behavior in response to constructive criticism. He/she must exhibit behavior and intellectual functioning which does not differ from acceptable standards.
The applicant should evaluate him or herself for compliance with these technical standards. Your submission of the online application will serve as your testimony that you are in compliance with these standards.
At the Creighton University Medical Center 2006 Commencement, Fr. John P. Schlegel, S.J., Creighton University President stated, "Your professors have challenged you to be leaders in your professions. As a student, you were expected to go beyond the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary. Your patients will expect no less of you. Do not disappoint them. Ethics, service, and excellence: These three words have been consistent across the 127 years of Creighton's existence; they serve as the foundation for what we do today. You will carry these with you; they are marks of a Creighton health care professional."
Tom Lenz, Pharm.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Director of the distance pathway, wrote a 416-page textbook entitled "lifestyle Modifications in Pharmacotherapy" published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
