Pharmacy accreditation update

The Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAP), a national organization involving educators and Pharmacists, is responsible for developing and maintaining Canadian standards for pharmacy education.

By Stephanie Mulhall

Accredited programs are reviewed at least every seven years, at which time the program does a self-study and has a site visit by accreditors.  The pharmacy program at the University of Saskatchewan is a fully accredited program with its next site visit scheduled for October 24-26, 2016. We will be seeking accreditation for both the Bachelor of Science in pharmacy (B.S.P) program, as well as the Pharmacy Doctoral (PharmD) program. The new degree program has been approved by the Board of Governors, University Council and confirmed by University Senate. Regular updates on the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum development process are available at: http://words.usask.ca/pharmd.

In Winter 2015, we were informed by CCAPP of our accreditation site visit (October 2016).  In January we formed an Accreditation Committee:

  • Dr. R. Dobson, Associate Professor
  • Dr. Y. Shevchuk, Associate Dean Academic,
  • Dr. B. Semchuk, Manager, Clinical Pharmacy Services
  • Dr. K Mansell, Division Head, Pharmacy
  • Dr. J. Alcorn, Associate Dean Graduate Studies and Research
  • Paul Melnyk, Pharmasave Central Region Pharmacy Operations Manager
  • J. Poteet, Third Year Pharmacy Class Representative
  • T. Raiche, SPNSS Co-President
  • S. Knowles, Executive Assistant to the Dean
  • S. Mulhall, Coordinator, Assessment and Evaluation, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition

Since that time we have:

  • reviewed the thirty-five accreditation standards and the material that might be needed to prepare the self-study
  • began collecting the material for preparation of self-study report
  • prepared a time-line for completion of report
  • determined a communications plan for keeping stakeholders informed of the process
  • began writing the self-study report (we are in the process of working through each of the standards

For more information on the accreditation process, please contact Dr. R. Dobson at 306-966-6363;roy.dobson@usask.ca