AHEC Faculty Keeps Pharmacists Updated

Licensed pharmacists in Arkansas are required to have 15 hours of continuing education annually. Fayetteville’s Area Health Education Center continues to provide many of the services needed for pharmacists in Northwest Arkansas.

The local AHEC office, located on the corner of Joyce Boulevard and Arkansas Highway 265 in Fayetteville, offers four programs per year with a total of 11 continuing education hours. Pharmacists from as far away as Fort Smith and Berryville take advantage of sessions, which offer a variety of topics.

“AHEC is committed to a variety of educational endeavors, including providing high-quality continuing education for the pharmacists of Northwest Arkansas,” said AHEC’s Jonell Sabbe, whose office is at the Jones Clinic in Springdale.

Sabbe and Lois Coulter of AHEC’s Fayetteville office are actively involved with all four sessions. The classes are always held on Sundays.

The College of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas Medical School in Little Rock organizes the programs, and AHEC helps sponsor and provides speakers.

The classes are limited to 50 people and focus on a different theme at each session. Some of the 11 topics covered include pediatric immunizations, treatment of disease states that cause pain, pain management issues, nationally recognized guidelines for treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Rick Guyton is director of AHEC for Northwest Arkansas.

Other AHEC offices in Arkansas are in Fort Smith, El Dorado, Texarkana, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff and Little Rock. Another is planned for Helena.

Sabbe also said students in their fourth year of pharmacy school spend the year off-campus, doing month-long rotations at different sites with pharmacists. Sabbe and Coulter are among the options for the students.

The Fayetteville AHEC has 13 faculty members.