Best Practices in Establishing and Sustaining Consortia in Pharmacy Education

Objective. To describe best practices, necessary resources, and success or lessons learned from established consortia in pharmacy education.Methods. Using semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis, interviews with members of established consortia in pharmacy education were conducted until saturation was reached. Themes were analyzed and meaningful descriptions of consortia characteristics were developed using systematic text condensation.Results. Thirteen interviews were conducted. The primary purpose for forming a consortium was identified as threefold: share ideas/best practices; facilitate collaboration; and perform shared problem-solving. For experiential education consortia, two additional purposes were found: share capacity for practice sites, and promote standardization across programs. When investigating best practices for established consortia, three main themes were identified. These included strategies for: (1) relationship building within consortia, (2) successful outcomes of consort...