College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences receives grant from Baptist Healing Trust
Janel Shoun-Smith |
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Lipscomb University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences received a 2012 grant from The Baptist Healing Trust for use in further developing the Applied Christian Values in Pharmacy course taken by all Lipscomb student pharmacists.
The College of Pharmacy and Health Science’s grant was for $20,885 and will be used for continuing the development of a three-year course that teaches ethics, values, legal perspectives and compassionate patient care to students in the College of Pharmacy. This grant is also supporting the implementation of a similar course to fourth-year student nurses in the Lipscomb School of Nursing.
The Baptist Healing Trust, which fosters access to compassionate health care in Middle Tennessee through its grant making and programs, also helped fund the original creation of the Applied Christian Values course three years ago. Recently the trust awarded funds totaling almost $2 million to 50 local nonprofits for a variety of health-related projects, according to Trust President and CEO Cathy Self.
The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences was selected as a recipient due to its focus “on achieving academic excellence and commitment to Christian service while educating individuals for careers in health care delivery,” according to the Baptist Health Trust release.
The Baptist Healing Trust grant will fund the creation of a way to assess how student pharmacists’ views change after taking the course and being introduced to topics such as patients’ world views and beliefs, compassionate care, grief, suffering and ethics, said Joe Deweese, co-coordinator of the course and assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences.
“The course we are continuing to develop is very unique among colleges of pharmacy, so quantitative assessment is key to our continued growth and success,” Deweese said.
Pharmacy faculty look to increase the confidence of each student pharmacist in his or her own skill set related to handling difficult situations.
“It is critical to the college’s mission for our students to have an understanding of a Biblical world view and a Christ-like model of compassionate care. The Applied Christian Values course is an important way we can fulfill that part of our mission for our students,” said Deweese.
Recipients of the Baptist Healing Trust grants include nonprofit organizations from all over Middle Tennessee working to create access to quality, compassionate health services for the community’s most vulnerable. This year’s grants bring the collective grant making of the Baptist Healing Trust to more than $57 million since 2002.
The Baptist Healing Trust was created when Baptist Hospital in Nashville was sold to St. Thomas Health Services, a ministry of Ascension Health, in St. Louis, Mo.
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