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University of Wyoming

Student Affairs

 

Policy for Student Complaints Relating to American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) Standards, Policies and Procedures

ACPE is required to demonstrate to the U.S. Secretary of Education its expectations regarding a program’s recording and handling of student complaints. In addition, ACPE must demonstrate a link between its review of complaints and its evaluation of a program in the accreditation process. Therefore, ACPE has adopted the following policy:

 “The colleges and schools of pharmacy have an obligation to respond to any written complaints by students lodged against the college or school of pharmacy, or the pharmacy program that are related to the standards and the policies and procedures of ACPE. The college or school of pharmacy shall establish, implement and maintain a student complaint procedure that affords the complainant fundamental procedural due process. The college or school of pharmacy should communicate the complaint policy to students.”

 “The college or school of pharmacy, or the pharmacy program, shall maintain a file that contains the written complaint, a written record of each step of the complaint procedure and the outcome, except as otherwise prohibited by state or federal law. The files shall be made available for inspection to ACPE at on-site evaluations, or otherwise at ACPE’s written request. The findings of this inspection, and the resulting implication(s) to the accreditation of the professional program, shall be noted in the Evaluation Team Report.”

 In order to comply with the ACPE policy regarding student complaints relating to ACPE standards, policies and procedures the following policy of the School of Pharmacy shall be implemented: 

  1. Student access to ACPE standards, policies and procedures
  2. Communication of complaint policy to students
  3. Procedure for student complaints
     

Student Access, Posting and Communication of Policy

 A copy of ACPE standards, policies and procedures and a copy of the School of Pharmacy policy relating to this issue shall be available in the School of Pharmacy Learning Resource Center. It shall be available for review by any student enrolled in the School of Pharmacy, but may not be removed from the School’s Learning Resource Center. A copy of ACPE standards, policies and procedures is also available on the ACPE web site, www.acpe-accredit.org. A copy of the School of Pharmacy policy is available on the school website.  In addition, a discussion of this policy shall take place during the ordinary orientation process for first professional year students.

Procedure for Student Complaints

 The grievance procedure for students shall require a formal written complaint describing the specific violation of ACPE standards, policies or procedures. The written complaint should include a description of the ACPE standard, policy or procedure in question, grounds for appeal, a summary of the argument, and supporting evidence. This shall be delivered to the office of the Dean of the School of Pharmacy. Upon receipt of a written complaint the ACPE Grievance Committee, composed of the Division Directors, Chairs of the Curriculum and Instruction and Student Affairs Committees and a student representative, shall be convened to review the complaint. A formal, written reply to the student(s) from the Grievance Committee shall include an evaluation of the complaint, a description of any violations, and a proposal for any necessary corrective action. This process shall usually take no longer than 90 days. Decisions of the Grievance Committee that demonstrate arbitrary and capricious treatment or that are fundamentally unfair may be appealed to the Dean of the School of Pharmacy and, as a final step, to the Dean of the College of Health Sciences. This process is the sole avenue for student complaints regarding ACPE standards, policies and procedures.

American Council on Pharmaceutical Education

A record containing student complaints and written records of the complaint procedure and outcomes shall be maintained in the Office of the Dean of the School of Pharmacy, and shall be available for review by ACPE or its representatives upon written request or in the process of an on-site evaluation visit.