Pharmacy school faculty at DKI COP in Hawaii take a vote of "no confidence" in their current dean

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BackRowChi

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Hey guys! Long time reader, first time poster. I didn't see this posted anywhere else, so I offer it up for your consideration in the hope that you experience a little of the schadenfreude I've enjoyed this morning.

As a P3 at a private COP, I've only heard very faint rumblings about reducing class sizes, school closure, etc., but nothing to the extent of what's happening above. I can only hope this is a microcosm of what's happening behind closed doors nationwide. I've been surprised there haven't been more stories like this and maybe I've missed some.

What are you guys hearing about your current schools and alma maters? Anything to get excited about?

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Hey guys! Long time reader, first time poster. I didn't see this posted anywhere else, so I offer it up for your consideration in the hope that you experience a little of the schadenfreude I've enjoyed this morning.

As a P3 at a private COP, I've only heard very faint rumblings about reducing class sizes, school closure, etc., but nothing to the extent of what's happening above. I can only hope this is a microcosm of what's happening behind closed doors nationwide. I've been surprised there haven't been more stories like this and maybe I've missed some.

What are you guys hearing about your current schools and alma maters? Anything to get excited about?
There was a poster in another thread who was faculty at Sullivan COP that was recently laid off along with several other faculty members due to decreasing enrollment. This is the next step to building a sustainable future for Hawaii COP — layoffs.
 
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This is second hand that one of the colleges north of Chicago in Milwaukee? is down to 15 studs in a new class...
 
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I’m case anyone else is confused, DKI COP = UH Hilo College of Pharmacy.

I had to look it up despite having interviewed and visited there many moons ago.


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I’m case anyone else is confused, DKI COP = UH Hilo College of Pharmacy.

I had to look it up despite having interviewed and visited there many moons ago.


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I worked with a grad from there a couple of years ago..Not only did he owe mega-bucks..but drove the crew crazy to boot..
 
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This is second hand that one of the colleges north of Chicago in Milwaukee? is down to 15 studs in a new class...
15 students. Wow! Going to be interesting to see how low these schools can go before they do a teach out.
 
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15 students. Wow! Going to be interesting to see how low these schools can go before they do a teach out.
How is this even possible tho? Haha if this keeps up for another year or two, the schools will probably bankrupt. Just like the idea that if no one bought gas for one day or if everyone walked out on cvs for one day, these companies will bankrupt.
 
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I can remember when the old HICP tool had like 230 students for their first class. They had so many students begging to go to school and they weren't even petitioning ACPE for accreditation! Now the island has an accredited school and cannot find enough students. That is one hell of a pendulum swing.
 
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There was a poster in another thread who was faculty at Sullivan COP that was recently laid off along with several other faculty members due to decreasing enrollment. This is the next step to building a sustainable future for Hawaii COP — layoffs.
Dammit, another employment option for pharmacist goes down the drain. :laugh:
 
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But they told me that doing a residency and getting a job somewhere like academia would make your career bulletproof.
 
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Hawaii's total population is less than 1.5 million (few people than smaller metro areas like Las Vegas or Jacksonville). You will probably see a trend of declining enrollment with the PharmD programs at public universities in the more sparsely populated western states (think Montana and Wyoming)

They are lucky to have a class size of 50 with decent applicants unless they want to follow the path of unscrupulous private for-profit programs.
 
But they told me that doing a residency and getting a job somewhere like academia would make your career bulletproof.

(Muffled Laughter) Agreed, though the tenure-track faculty would say that a PhD and working any 80 hours a week still isn't bulletproof. It's the old story of the prize for a pie-eating contest is more pie.

More seriously, the history being UH was over the failed HICP AND WICHE increasing the charges to Hawaii for participation. A financial case was made that by opening a school, it would be cheaper than the cleanup. Whether that business case justifies itself later, well, who knows. I will say that I personally hate some of the clinical faculty there at UH for participating in the HICP fraud and then claiming innocence later.
 
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I can remember when the old HICP tool had like 230 students for their first class. They had so many students begging to go to school and they weren't even petitioning ACPE for accreditation! Now the island has an accredited school and cannot find enough students. That is one hell of a pendulum swing.

Funny that this new school is looking for answers in the school's curriculum according to the article. The curriculum ain't the problem.

California kids were looking to go out of state when we didn't have all these damn schools. Similar problems at Roseman, from what I hear, the applicant pool really took a hit.
 
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I remember when kids couldn't get into CA pharmacy schools (when there were like 7-8 schools there), they would go to Hawaii. How the tables have turned.
 
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But they told me that doing a residency and getting a job somewhere like academia would make your career bulletproof.

lol anyone with half a brain knew that advice was bunk (unless you could get tenured professorship at a real university)


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Funny that this new school is looking for answers in the school's curriculum according to the article. The curriculum ain't the problem.

Their NAPLEX pass rates aren't fantastic - 84% / 72% / 82% for the last three years - but you are absolutely correct, this isn't a curriculum problem, it's a "we are 2,500 miles away from the mainland" problem (amongst other problems everyone else is facing too).
 
I’m actually somewhat surprised their applicant pool is down...getting to Hilo is effectively the same time-wise as going to the east coast from California.

Personally, if I had a choice, I’d rather to somewhere named The University of Hawaii (an established public/state school) vs some vocational school that just happened to open a pharmd program squeezed into an office building between Disneyland and a busy freeway on-ramp.


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Their NAPLEX pass rates aren't fantastic - 84% / 72% / 82% for the last three years - but you are absolutely correct, this isn't a curriculum problem, it's a "we are 2,500 miles away from the mainland" problem (amongst other problems everyone else is facing too).


How does being 2500 miles away from the main land affect this? Hawaii is a state, I can't imagine pharmacy practice is that much different from the mainland.
 
How does being 2500 miles away from the main land affect this? Hawaii is a state, I can't imagine pharmacy practice is that much different from the mainland.

It's not a pharmacy practice issue - it's the fact that a lot of students don't want to move a minimum of 2,500 miles from home, be completely isolated on the rainy side of the big island for four years [Hilo is a shipping port and not much else], and get stuck paying $10 for a gallon of milk.
 
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It's not a pharmacy practice issue - it's the fact that a lot of students don't want to move a minimum of 2,500 miles from home, be completely isolated on the rainy side of the big island for four years [Hilo is a shipping port and not much else], and get stuck paying $10 for a gallon of milk.

What 22 year old is drinking that quantity of milk

(I get your point though)

Hilo is charming, but it’s about as back country as you can get.


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It's not a pharmacy practice issue - it's the fact that a lot of students don't want to move a minimum of 2,500 miles from home, be completely isolated on the rainy side of the big island for four years [Hilo is a shipping port and not much else], and get stuck paying $10 for a gallon of milk.
You’d be missing out on a lot of professional development opportunities because you’d literally be living on an island isolated from civilization. Regional/student conferences are nonexistent unless you want to spend hundreds of dollars on travel, interactions with other schools of pharmacy are nonexistent, local internship/speaker opportunities are generic (are there even drug companies based out of Hawaii?), and quite frankly your perspective on pharmacy practice is going to be singular.
 
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Would if be accurate to compare the Hawaii pharmacy school as similar to a Caribbean medical school for pre-meds? It seems that both are "last chance" opportunities for those desperate enough to apply, both are far from the mainlaind, and the potential for professional growth is limited.

Edit: the weather is also nice at both places :)
 
Would if be accurate to compare the Hawaii pharmacy school as similar to a Caribbean medical school for pre-meds? It seems that both are "last chance" opportunities for those desperate enough to apply, both are far from the mainlaind, and the potential for professional growth is limited.

Edit: the weather is also nice at both places :)

Proly not... I am not an expert on Med school admission by any means. However, it’s hard to find students who would be denied from new pharmacy schools in CA, such as west coast, the one in Fresno (believe it’s CHSOP), American University of Health Sciences (Lonf Beach School. Basically everyone who wants to go to a school in CA has the opportunity to, while I don’t believe most Caribbean students can gain admission to a med school in California or perhaps even in the US, which is why they have to go abroad.
 
It's not a pharmacy practice issue - it's the fact that a lot of students don't want to move a minimum of 2,500 miles from home, be completely isolated on the rainy side of the big island for four years [Hilo is a shipping port and not much else], and get stuck paying $10 for a gallon of milk.

I thought we were talking about the low NAPLEX pass rates, and you said it was a pharmacy practice issue vs curriculum issue. How does living away from momma and having to pay $10 for a gallon of milk affect the NAPLEX passing rates?
 
I thought we were talking about the low NAPLEX pass rates, and you said it was a pharmacy practice issue vs curriculum issue. How does living away from momma and having to pay $10 for a gallon of milk affect the NAPLEX passing rates?

Nah man...I joined in when the thread started talking about how UH is looking to examine curricular issues, and shared that the trouble facing UH isn't their curriculum but the fact that they weren't filling their class. Living far away from home, in an isolated environment that is expensive to boot is hurting their admissions more than it is hurting comparable state schools.
 
Nah man...I joined in when the thread started talking about how UH is looking to examine curricular issues, and shared that the trouble facing UH isn't their curriculum but the fact that they weren't filling their class. Living far away from home, in an isolated environment that is expensive to boot is hurting their admissions more than it is hurting comparable state schools.
I heard this year their enrollment has been down to 40 students 19' cohort. Anyone can help confirm this? That's a significantly small number.
 
Raise your hand if you have braved, “The Road to Hana”.

I did, it was horrible and I stepped in a pile of human poo on the side of the road.
 
I heard this year their enrollment has been down to 40 students 19' cohort. Anyone can help confirm this? That's a significantly small number.
They have 48 P1’s.
 
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