Cedarville Magazine
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11
Challenges
As individuals are taking ownership for their personal care, they
are finding the health care system challenging to navigate. Costs
for health care and prescription drug insurance have continued
to rise, placing financial burdens on patients and their families.
Patients are looking for answers to many questions; however, in
many cases, they do not even know what questions to ask. The
amount of information is daunting. How is a patient to know why
a test was ordered and if it was really needed? How would he know
if he’d been overcharged for the test or if his doctor had correctly
interpreted the results? How does a patient know when she should
pursue a second opinion? Could a $5 medication be used in place
of a $100 medication? Is there solid evidence that the prescribed
medication actually works?
Further, patients need to knowwhy they are taking a particular
medication and whether it will interact with other medications,
non-prescription medications, vitamins, herbs, and foods they eat.
Patients need an advocate, and in many of these circumstances, a
trusted pharmacist can help.
People can embrace challenges as either barriers or
opportunities.The challenges of the health care systemhave created
significant opportunities for Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy.
God has brought together a team of individuals who depend on
prayer and embrace the centrality of Christ, the foundation of
the Word of God, and the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit
to influence lives. We have a unique opportunity to develop and
train pharmacists to meet our society’s increasing needs. We are
training future pharmacists who will bring a message of hope to
a world looking for answers ... even the core question of how to
heal the soul.
Influence
Many Christian pharmacists have good intentions to come
alongside their patients to see best possible outcomes, but they
often struggle with how to be a true “light” (Matt. 5:14–16) in our
health care system. Like Christian professionals in every field,
some dim their lights out of fear of persecution, while others
have become aggressive laser lights causing pain and fear among
Christians and non-Christians alike. Some shine their lights while
on the mission field only to switch them off when they return to
their daily practice setting.
The School of Pharmacy’s faculty and staff are working
intentionally to shape students’ perspectives about what it means
to live for Christ and let their faith manifest in their practice
settings. We seek to provide the right balance of addressing
patients’ physical and emotional needs, but also helping patients
explore their spiritual needs. Our graduates should be ready to
address our society’s most difficult questions (cultural, ethical, and
political) by applying biblical wisdom to those challenges. They
should foster humility and embrace collaboration. The quality of
their interactions should cause their patients to see the light of
Christ reflected in them.
As a hospice pharmacist, I had a 4-year-old patient who was
struggling with pain. His parents, physician, and nurse relied on
me to provide solutions to bring him comfort at the end of his life.
As we worked together to care for the child, I had opportunities
to share that my compassion and care were rooted in my love for
and dependence upon Christ.
Plan
Our mission is to train students to become top pharmacists in the
profession. Our motivation and desire is quite different than other
schools. We recognize that our students, outcomes, and impact
are all from God. We desire simply to be good stewards of the
resources God has entrusted.
To accomplish this significant task, we have built the following
priorities into Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy:
1. Through the undergraduate Bible minor and biblical
integration across the curriculum, pharmacy students have a
biblical foundation prior to entering the professional program.
The professional curriculumwill build upon this foundation.
2. The curriculum is a hybrid of team-based learning, problem-
based learning, and “faith-integration fostering” active and
collaborative learning necessary for lifelong practice skills.
Learning must continue the day after graduation — self-
initiated and collaborative education is vital for survival in
the current health care system.
3. Students are intentionally exposed to the unmet needs in
the health care system, including underserved populations
and patients with significant financial hardship, to foster
compassion and innovative strategies to meet those needs.
4. One-third of the curriculum occurs outside of the classroom
to ensure application of classroom skills in an appropriate
manner.
5. Christian pharmacists from many different areas of
practice (e.g., community, hospital, long-term care, family
medicine, hospice, cardiology, oncology, infectious disease,
research, wellness) speak to our students to broaden their
understanding of how faith and practice can intersect.
6. All students conduct a multiyear research project to foster
critical and innovative thinking.
7. All students take a business and leadership module where
innovative ideas can be shaped into business models for
implementation. Students are encouraged to operate above
the market by creating the companies, organizations, and
positions to meet the unmet needs of our health care system.
8. Times of prayer, mentorship, devotionals, service, fun,
encouragement, and challenge are all integrated into the
professional program experience to provide the balance that
supports lifelong success.
We are hopeful that our graduates will desire to serve Christ,
love others, wholeheartedly serve people, and be a great and
influential resource within the health care system. We believe we
are building a program that develops exceptional practitioners
who will care for patients and take the saving message of Christ
to a hurting world.
Marc Sweeney
is Assistant Academic Vice President, Dean of
Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy, and a Professor of Pharmacy Practice.
He received his B.S. in pharmacy at Ohio Northern University, his
Pharm.D. from The Ohio State University, and his M.Div. from
Southwest Bible College and Seminary. He has served at Cedarville
since 2008. You may contact him at
