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Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

Professional Affairs
What Are Toolkits?

by Karin Terry, PharmD, CPPS, Member, Division of Professional Affairs

Hopefully you have seen the ICHP Toolkits that are under the Resources Tab on ICHPnet.org. If you have not, let us introduce them to you!

What is a Toolkit?

According to the Oxford Dictionary: tool·kit / tool kit/ - is a set of tools, especially one kept in a bag or box and used for a particular purpose. For the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists (ICHP) and other organizations, a toolkit is a collection of resources for our membership to use for learning about a specific situation and how to approach it.

Why does ICHP have Toolkits?

ICHP develops and maintains toolkits as a resource for our members. These toolkits are intended to provide practical guidance and advice that pertains to an issue or situation of importance to the member in his/her practice of pharmacy.

How does ICHP decide on the need for a Toolkit?

Topics for toolkits are identified by the Division of Professional Affairs and the ICHP Executive Committee. Factors taken into account prior to developing a toolkit include the intended audience of the toolkit, the scope of the toolkit, and the availability of resources specific to our membership, among other things. The Division of Professional Affairs recently reviewed all of the toolkits on ICHPnet.org. During the review process, some toolkits were updated, and others were eliminated. Those eliminated either lacked current applicability to our ICHP members or contained information that is commonly referenced from another location within ICHPnet.org or other pharmacy websites. We want our toolkits to be current and helpful to our membership!

What Toolkits are available? What are examples of situations where a Toolkit would be helpful to me?

Career Search - This toolkit contains tips on preparing for a job search including the interview, CV preparation and potential positions.
Community Outreach - Includes resources and prepared presentations for community outreach events, including high school career planning.
Student Chapter - Contains various documents for starting and maintaining an ICHP student chapter.
Student Internships - Information on how to start an internship program at an institution and information for students on internships.
Technician - Has continuing education and information for pharmacy technicians. **This toolkit will soon be eliminated in favor of the information being available on the Technician page under the Members tab.**

How often are Toolkits updated?

The Division of Professional Affairs is responsible for regular periodic review and update of the Toolkits. The review of the Toolkits occurs at least every two years.

Does ASHP also have toolkits?

While not called “Toolkits”, ICHP members can find similar information on the ASHP website under the Practice Resources and Professional Development menu. There were a couple of ICHP toolkits, such as residency and preceptor toolkits, that we recently eliminated in favor of these ASHP resources. ASHP has more updated information for these topics, and we wanted to make sure to direct our members to these great resources.

Please let us know if you have additional ideas for toolkits and member resources. Send us an email to members@ichpnet.org.