Developing Clinical Practice Skills for Pharmacists

Kimberly A. Galt, Pharm.D., Ph.D.(c), FASHP Professor of Pharmacy Practice Associate Dean for Research, School of Pharmacy and Health Professions, Director of the Creighton University Health Services Research Program (CHRP)Kimberly A. Galt, Pharm.D., Ph.D.(c), FASHP, is Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Associate Dean for Research, School of Pharmacy and Health Professions, and Director of the Creighton University Health Services Research Program (CHRP) in Omaha, Nebraska. Galt received her pharmacy degrees from the University of Michigan. She has developed and managed pharmacist's primary care consultative ambulatory practice sites in the private and Veterans Affairs systems, supervised specialized clinical pharmacy services, and practiced general hospital, community and long-term care pharmacy. Her post-graduate training has emphasized outcomes research, integration of computing technologies into research, teaching and clinical healthcare practice uses within the health professions, and research methods. She is nearing completion of her doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln as a Qualitative, Quantitative, Psychometric and Mixed Methods research methodologist. Dr. Galt is actively conducting research in patient safety with an emphasis on the impact of health information technology in both policy and practice. Her research includes a 2 year study on research enhancement through capacity building and a 3 year study on e-prescribing and clinical informatics with hand held technology and medication safety in primary care. These are both sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). She is actively studying patient safety challenges and improvements in pharmacy practice, the impact of e-prescribing on pharmacies, and the impact of Medicare Part D on pharmacies and patients in the state of Nebraska. She has served as an expert panel member on AHRQ Panels for Health Center IT, Medication Gap Research, AHRQ Practice Based Research Network Resource Center, and AHRQ's Health IT Demonstration Grant and Planning Grant portfolio. Gault is a member of the Health Information Technology National Resource Center Steering Committee for AHRQ (2005-2008) and a member of the Health Care Technology and Decision Sciences Study Section, AHRQ (2005 - 09); she served as a Special Emphasis Panel reviewer for NIH. Galt chaired the Inter-professional Taskforce to Develop a Patient Safety Curriculum for Creighton University involving 18 individuals from a variety of health and professional disciplines. An interdisciplinary course is in its fourth year and being offered campus wide to students interested in healthcare related patient safety. She is currently Co-Chair of the State of Nebraska e-Health Council.