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DETROIT--With major funding from CVS Corp. and chain drug entrepreneur and philanthropist Eugene Applebaum, Wayne State University's newly expanded college of pharmacy has begun offering its students one of pharmacy education's most advanced practice settings in a realistic pharmacy laboratory. The result, said school officials, is a big leap forward in the way new and upcoming pharmacists are prepared for a patient-focused retail career.

Designed as a centerpiece of the newly opened Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the CVS/pharmacy Professional Practice Laboratory resembles, in part, a retail pharmacy and patient care center. Built through a $1 million contribution from CVS, the lab features a realistic pharmacy work station for processing prescriptions and interacting with patients, combined with a suite of private rooms for one-on-one patient counseling and disease management.

"It really is designed to prepare pharmacists for the future," said Beverly Schmoll, dean of the College of Pharmacy at Wayne State. "It has space for consultation so students can learn how to consult with patients on health issues and on their therapeutic regimes. And there are separate rooms right off the main lab for consultation and assessment."

Schmoll said the new facility is large enough to train 36 students at one time. It includes a pharmacy work station and patient prescription counter where the school is "hoping to have an automatic dispenser donated" by a pharmacy technology supplier, she said. In addition, the lab includes a sterile compounding station.

"The lab is designed in such a way that the students assume a lot of responsibility for their own learning and their own projects," said Schmoll. "So it's a combination of working with faculty and doing things on their own. It's really a unique way of learning and very different from what you would see in most schools of pharmacy. The students seem to be responding very positively."

Jack Kramer, senior vice president of community relations and government affairs for CVS, expressed satisfaction at the results of the company's donation. "When CVS entered the Detroit market in 1998" through its purchase of Arbor Drugs, he said, we were impressed with the outstanding reputation Wayne State University's College of Pharmacy had for educating pharmacists and other health care professionals. We are very proud to be their partner in enhancing the education of their students through the CVS/pharmacy Professional Practice Laboratory. We are also proud that the laboratory is located in a facility named after our colleague, Eugene Applebaum."

As reported earlier, Applebaum, who founded Arbor in 1963 and served on CVS' board before retiring, donated $5 million to the new pharmacy school facilities and was on hand for the grand opening Oct. 10.

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