In 2009, ACCP released its first Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit to guide colleges and schools of pharmacy in their curricular development efforts.¹ Since the 2009 toolkit was published, new medical disorders and syndromes have been identified or become more prevalent. Therefore, the 2016 Educational Affairs Committee, led by Terry L. Schwinghammer and Andrew J. Crannage, took on the challenge of updating the toolkit in order to assist colleges and schools of pharmacy in developing, maintaining, and modifying their curricula.²

The 2016 committee identified disease states responsive to drug therapy by reviewing current biomedical literature, textbooks, and documents from national and international professional organizations. They also examined current pharmacy curricula and surveyed the ACCP Practice and Research Networks regarding content priorities. Diseases and content topics were organized by organ system and grouped into practice competency tiers.

• Tier 1: Consists of 87 topics that should be sufficiently addressed to prepare all students to provide collaborative, patient-centered care upon graduation and licensure
• Tier 2: Consists of 133 topics that are generally taught in the professional curriculum but that may require students to acquire additional knowledge or skills after graduation (e.g., residency training) to achieve competency in providing direct patient care
• Tier 3: Consists of 56 topics that may not necessarily be taught in the professional curriculum. Therefore, graduates may find it necessary to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills on their own to provide direct patient care, if required in their practice.

The Pharmacotherapy Didactic Curriculum Toolkit will continue to be updated and can be accessed at www.accp.com/docs/positions/misc/Toolkit_final.pdf.

^1. American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Slain D, Wong-Berringer A, Blake B, Bumgardner M, Rowen R, et al. Pharmacotherapy didactic curriculum toolkit 2009. Available from www.accp.com/docs/positions/misc/pharmacotherapytoolkit.pdf.
^2. American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Schwinghammer TL, Crannage AJ, Boyce EG, Bradley B, Christensen A, et al. 2016 ACCP pharmacotherapy didactic curriculum toolkit. Lenexa, KS: ACCP. In press.