AACP Statement on Commitment to Clinician Well-being and Resilience
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) is deeply committed to collaborating with other health profession organizations and stakeholders to promote positive well-being and resilience among health care providers, educators, and students. AACP recognizes that stress and anxiety can have devastating consequences on mental health, student learning, patient care, and the community at large. AACP has adopted two policy statements to demonstrate its commitment to well-being in pharmacy education.
- AACP believes that all administrators, faculty, staff, preceptors, student pharmacists and alumni should contribute to a culture of wellness and resilience in pharmacy education.
- AACP encourages schools and colleges of pharmacy to proactively promote overall wellness and stress management techniques to students, faculty, and staff.
AACP Initiatives
AACP has also pursued several initiatives to assist colleges and schools of pharmacy in their efforts to reduce and prevent burnout, depression, and suicidality among administrators, faculty, clinicians, students, and staff:
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In July 2019, AACP hosted the National Consensus Conference on “Enhancing Well-being and Resilience among the Pharmacy Workforce” led by the American Pharmacists Association and in partnership with the Accreditation Council on Pharmacy Education, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
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The AACP 2018 Fall Institute and 2019 Spring Encore Institute were dedicated to “Strategies to Promote a Culture of Well-being among Students and Faculty” and designed to help teams from colleges and schools of pharmacy develop or enhance mindful programs to support well-being among students, preceptors, and faculty.
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The 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 AACP Student Affairs Standing Committees addressed charges related to student wellness and resilience, and focused on the consequences of burnout and declining resilience, the culture shift around wellness, creation of community around times of grief, partnerships with member organizations to create campus cultures that promote overall well-being, and strategies to help students to manage stress in healthy ways.
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The AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program supports and contributes to the development of leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education, and threads the topics of wellness and resilience throughout its curriculum.
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AACP has hosted related webinars, including “Resilience: An Essential Component of Today’s Pharmacist” and “Mental Wellness: Addressing our Students’ Mental Health and Emotional Needs”.
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Faculty Well-being: Stay Grounded in the Busyness of Life
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Mental Health Crisis: What Do I Do Now?
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Implementing a Multi-Modal Approach for Student Well-being in the Pharmacy Curriculum
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- The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE), the scholarly publication of AACP, has featured multiple articles on related topics, including grit, depression, stress, mindfulness, burnout, mental health, self-care, and anxiety.
AACP will continue to pursue other related inter and intraprofessional initiatives, including a new webinar series focused on strategies and tools that is scheduled to begin in November 2018.
About AACP
Founded in 1900, AACP is the national organization representing pharmacy education in the United States. AACP is comprised of all accredited colleges and schools with Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, including more than 6,400 faculty, 62,500 students enrolled in professional programs and 5,100 individuals pursuing graduate study. The mission of AACP is to advance pharmacy education, research, scholarship, practice and service, in partnership with members and stakeholders, to improve health for all. AACP envisions a world of healthy people through the transformation of health professions education.