A new generation of multi-faceted pharmacists are entering a world filled with disease and insufficient healthcare, secure in the knowledge they learned at one of of the nation's top-ranked schools and ready to make a difference.
That nationally recognized program is Auburn University's own Harrison School of Pharmacy, ranked No. 26 in the nation by the United States News and World Report for cutting-edge programs in the industrial, clinical and educational divisions of pharmaceuticals inside and out of the field.
"The vision really is driven by what the needs are," said D. Lee Evans, dean of the Harrison School of Pharmacy. "Our students go through their four years here focusing really on how to use drugs appropriately and take charge of the whole process in collaboration with other providers."
Though pharmacists have historically been the keepers of medicine and safe distribution, Evans said their contact with patients has been increasingly limited to operating dispensary services.
In a trend that's gained momentum since the mid-20th century, Evans said pharmacists are returning to communities to personally provide immediate care for patients as well as bridge communication gaps between patients and healthcare providers.
"Our mission statement is focused on the primary care aspects of people in a state, such as Alabama, which has a huge portion of its population in rural areas without access to healthcare and where sometimes the only care provider is a pharmacist," Evans said.
Auburn is unique in that its primary pharmacy headquarters, the Walker building, has its own on-campus pharmaceutical clinic to treat University employees and dependents, as well as providing another hands-on experience for students to treat patients in problem-based situations.
Mass media and wireless communication now streamlines the amount of time it takes to update a patients condition, share lab results with doctors and treat individual patients on a day-to-day basis, concepts Evans calls not only practical, but necessary, to improve the outcomes of care.
All students of the Harrison School travel in groups to patients homes or care centers to discuss their medicine, their levels of pain during their treatment and to check up on how their illnesses are progressing.
"Most of my patients are in nursing homes," said Kash Franklin, first-year pharmacy student. "Just to help be there to help them and answer questions, and they really appreciate that."
Improving how medicines are used and the patients adherence to their medication regimen is the central focus of the program, planting students in on the ground floor to start diagnosing illnesses and explaining why its necessary to a patients health in their first year.
Franklin said the Harrison School, which operates out of Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery in addition to its Auburn campus, serves as a model for national and international healthcare provision policies and attracts students and faculty from all over the world.
"I know everyone at Auburn is considered family, but that continues into pharmacy school," said Amanda DiPinho, first-year pharmacy student at the Harrison satellite school in Mobile. "There are people in our classes from LSU, from Alabama and from all the rival schools, but we're all still at the Harrison School of Pharmacy. And we're all still a great family."
Since 1895, Auburn has continued to define and redefine healthcare development and shortening the gap between affordable, accessible medicine and those who need it.
DiPinho said, though the breadth of material can sometimes feel staggering given the short amount of time in which its covered, its application in the real world and patients' reaction to their care reaffirms its students' decision to study at the Harrison School of Pharmacy.
"People don't realize pharmacists are the drug experts when it comes to matters of health, but they're capable of much more," DiPinho said.
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