School of Pharmacy

Improving Patient Care for Tomorrow (ImPaCT Program)

The School of Pharmacy ImPaCT Program (Improving Patient Care for Tomorrow) is a scholarly project where students utilize their didactic knowledge in working through a real world problem to enhance patient care.  Students will identify a problem in pharmacy and identify potential solutions in an academic and objective manner.  While some projects will be research-based, others will be focused on problem-solving or innovation.  The ImPaCT Program will prepare professionals to thrive in changing healthcare environments, cultivate development of innovation, and collaborate with the broader community.   Approximately 30% of projects are presented at local, state, or national meetings or published.  

There are four components of the ImPaCT experience: a didactic class, a scholarly project, an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) ImPaCT rotation, and a poster presentation.

The didactic class is taught in the spring semester of the third professional year.  By the end of the course, students will identify a mentor for the project.  At the beginning of the fourth professional year, a project is identified by the student. This project is defined as an independent, pharmacy-related research endeavor that follows the established guidelines for a scholarly or research paper. Students are expected to develop the idea, search the literature for background information, collect data or develop a solution to the problem, analyze the data or assess the solution, and form an appropriate conclusion based on the results or outcomes.

During a five-week APPE ImPaCT rotation, the student has dedicated time to work on the project resulting in a rough draft for the mentor to review by the end of the rotation. A final paper, 3-minute video, and poster are completed by the middle of the spring term of the fourth professional year. Posters are presented in a public forum at the annual School of Pharmacy ImPaCT Poster and Presentation Day the end of the spring semester.

General categories for the ImPaCT projects include research, business plans, retrospective chart or protocol reviews, innovation in education, surveys, community outreach, or other pharmacy-related topics.