Influence, impact, and innovation

When we launched Imagine MUSC 2020 in 2015, no one imagined a 2020 like this one. But that strategic plan prepared us well for it. As the MUSC College of Pharmacy enters a new era this fall, it is the perfect time to think about a future in which influence, impact, and innovation are the hallmarks of our program.

Imagine MUSC 2020 was focused on MUSC’s values and goals. The next strategic plan will be focused on outcomes and the way we achieve them. These three elements – influence, impact and innovation – are integral both to how we teach our students and to how they’ll use that training.

For example, we want to prepare students to:

• Have a substantial impact on the lives of their patients.
• Wield influence in the profession and their communities.
• Be innovative in their businesses, technology and patient care.

COVID has made it clear how important it is that we practice what we preach. To deliver the same high-quality program under the constraints of COVID safety guidelines requires that our faculty be innovative in their teaching, our preceptors adapt rotations to continue to influence students, and our clinicians and researchers have impact in treating, preventing and eradicating coronavirus.

We’ve applied those same characteristics in planning for fall semester, in which most didactic classes will be remote and most labs will be in person. This summer, our faculty has worked hard to prepare their courses for remote learning in which students will have the same level of interaction and engagement as in person. We’ve expanded lab sections to accommodate social distancing and invested in face shields, masks, gowns, gloves, cleaning equipment, and other supplies to ensure safety. Our experiential team and preceptors have discovered new ways of offering rotations. We’ve explored ways to unify the incoming students by modifying orientation and our White Coat Ceremony to keep those traditions alive while adhering to rigorous safety measures.

Imagine MUSC 2020 has ended at a fortuitous time, right as we reach a junction in how we all work and live. Transitioning into a new strategic plan with a focus on impact, innovation, and influence gives us hope for a bright future.