(Note: Internship is suspended for 2010)

The George P. Provost Editorial Internship is a postgraduate training program conducted at the headquarters offices of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists according to standards, policies, and procedures developed by the George P. Provost Editorial Internship Committee of the Society and coordinated under the direction of the Committee chairman.

Objectives

1. To improve the quality of the published pharmaceutical literature.
2. To train pharmacists for careers in pharmaceutical journalism.
3. To improve the writing and publishing skills of the intern.

Qualifications and Selection of the Applicant

• The applicant shall be a pharmacist who has graduated from a school of pharmacy.
• The applicant shall have demonstrated interest in editing and writing.
• The applicant must have acceptable English language skills.
• The applicant shall be recommended by his/her present or former employer(s) or preceptor(s) and/or his/her college faculty or dean.
• Selection of the applicant shall be the responsibility of the Editorial Internship Committee, composed of the individuals from the ASHP staff responsible for its various publications and appointed by the Executive Vice President of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Internship Training Schedule

• Pharmaceutical publishing, general
• American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
• American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information
• ASHP News Center
• Special Publishing Division
• World Wide Web
• Communications

The training schedule shall consist of a minimum of 1000 hours’ training time extending over a period of at least 25 weeks. Training hours shall be allocated to the various assigned activities according to their relative complexity, value, and interest to the intern.

Following the orientation rotation, the remaining months will be assigned to a specific area selected by the intern in consultation with the chairman of the Committee.

In addition to receiving instructions and experience in the areas listed in section IV.A., the intern will attend, at the discretion of the Committee chairman, relevant meetings of the publications staff and membership meetings related to the publications of ASHP. When feasible, the intern will also attend, with members of the ASHP staff, meetings involving outside agencies, organizations, vendors, and other groups having a bearing on the publication responsibilities of ASHP and other pharmaceutical publishing enterprises.

The intern will attend and actively participate in all publication staff meetings and will serve as an observer or participant on specified staff committees and task groups.

The intern will ordinarily attend the ASHP Annual Meeting or the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, depending on the specific months of the internship.

Emphasis will be given to on-the-job training aspects of the internship. So far as possible, the training schedule and assignments will be patterned to permit the intern to pursue in depth those activities in which he or she is most interested.

Educational Objectives

The following are specific educational objectives that the intern is expected to achieve during his or her internship:

General

1. Describe the development and structure of the biomedical literature.
2. Discuss the role of the editor in the process of disseminating knowledge.
3. Discuss major contemporary issues related to editing and publishing.
4. Discuss major trends in the technology of information dissemination.
5. Describe ASHP as a professional organization.
6. Identify the four primary objectives of ASHP's publications program.
7. Compare and contrast ASHP with other pharmaceutical publishers.
8. Place publications in perspective with other ASHP operations.

American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy

1. Identify the essential elements of a research report that should be included in an abstract of the published report.
2. Identify at least three potential sources of reviewers of a manuscript submitted for publication consideration.
3. Compare the income generated by advertisements in ASHP's scientific publications with income brought in by other ASHP activities and other types of publications that accept advertising.
4. Contrast staff-generated editorial material with that acquired from outside authors (either solicited or unsolicited) and describe the steps and timetables associated with each.
5. Identify the editorial tones of the various publications including AJHP, News & Views, Midyear Clinical Meeting and Summer Meeting publications, and supplements, and describe the factors that help achieve them.
6. List the array of material covered in each of the publications and explain the rationale for including each item.

American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information and Database Services

1. Describe the process of drug information analysis used in preparing AHFS Drug Information monographs.
2. Compare and contrast the AHFS Drug Information editorial process with that of other ASHP publications.
3. Compare and contrast the AHFS Drug Information production process with that of other ASHP publications.
4. Describe differences in format, content, and capabilities between the printed version of AHFS Drug Information and the electronic versions.
5. Compare and contrast the format, content, and editorial policies of AHFS Drug Information, FDA-approved drug labeling, and other major drug monograph publications.
6. Describe the major media/formats currently used for providing full-text drug information (e.g., the internet/intranet, desktop applications, online via telecommunications, CD-ROM, handheld devices, microfiche).
7. Define an online-searchable information database and contrast this with "software.
8. Compare a bibliographic database with a full-text database and state the main objective of a full-text file.
9. Describe ASHP's online databases.
10. Define a database vendor, list major U.S. vendors, and give an example of a database producer/vendor agreement (identifying necessary contract terms).
11. Formulate and conduct an online search in a bibliographic database and in a full-text file.
12. List examples of database products and derivative products other than online files and their print equivalents.
13. Describe medical informatics and its importance to ASHP’s strategic publishing directions.
14. Compare the differences among SGML, XML, and HTML data structures and the ramifications for ASHP’s publishing activities.
15. Describe the strategic importance of media-neutral data structuring for ASHP publications, including repurposing of data and content management.

ASHP News Center

1. Discuss the basic role of a news-reporting group in a professional association
2. Become familiar with the interview process for writing news articles.
3. Identify channels for communicating news and discuss their attributes.
4. List the services provided by the News Center.
5. Compare the purposes of a news article and an authored article in AJHP.

Special Publishing

1. Discuss the Special Publishing mission statement and business plan.
2. Describe the acquisitions, development, and production processes for Special Publishing. At the completion of the program, the Intern should be able to compare and contrast these processes with those of other ASHP publishing divisions.
3. Describe the special considerations of developing, marketing, and supporting electronic products.
4. Discuss the financial contribution of Special Publishing to the overall ASHP budget and how this factors into the evaluation of potential projects.
5. Explain the rationale for pursuing projects currently in development.
6. Describe in general terms the types of business arrangements between Special Publishing, its contributors, and vendors.

World Wide Web Communications

1. Become familiar with the Internet and the issues relevant to publishing on the Internet (e.g., using browsers, search engines, communication mechanisms, user statistics, hyperlinks).
2. Understand the main issues relevant to medical publications on the Internet (e.g., copyright, validity of data, impact on income, readership control).
3. Understand the formatting and layout issues that are unique to an electronic versus a paper publishing medium (e.g., space, hyperlinks, pull-down menus, archival strategies, dynamic publications).
4. Explain the special considerations associated with Internet-based products and publications.
5. Explain the general differences between Internet and Intranet applications.
6. Discuss the role of Internet Service Providers and the technical framework required to maintain a Web site at the association level.
7. List the most common roles of Web sites in the publishing business.

Completion of Training

• The intern shall meet regularly with the chairman of the George P. Provost Editorial Internship Committee to review internship activities and progress.
• Before the start of an extended assignment in a specific publications area of ASHP, the intern and the chairman shall develop specific written objectives for that assignment.
• The intern shall write a brief report at the conclusion of each of the initial orientation rotations in ASHP publication areas. The report must discuss the extent to which the educational objectives have been met.
• The intern shall write a brief report at the conclusion of any rotations with other publishers or organizations. Each such report must discuss how the external rotation contributed to the educational objectives of the internship program.
• The intern shall prepare and deliver a one-hour seminar to the ASHP staff on a contemporary subject related to pharmaceutical journalism.
• The intern shall prepare a final report covering the full scope of training under the program. The report must discuss the degree to which the training met the stated educational objectives of the program and the specific objectives of the intern. A draft of this report must be submitted one week before the conclusion of the internship. The final report is due on the last day of the internship.
• The intern shall submit initial and final rotation reports for copy editing prior to submitting the reports to the chairman of the Committee. The role of the copy editor is to help the intern learn to improve his/her own writing skills.
• All reports must be submitted to the chairman of the George P. Provost Editorial Internship Committee.

Certification

The Society shall award the intern an appropriate certificate upon satisfactory completion of the George P. Provost Editorial Internship.

Application Information and Procedures

• BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
• EDUCATION AND TRAINING - Institutions, locations, years attended and dates of graduation, types of training or major subjects, degrees and certificates (college and postgraduate only).
• PROFESSIONAL AND RELATED EXPERIENCE - Institutions or organizations, locations, dates, types of work, and position titles.
• ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIPS - Professional, honorary, service, and social.
• PUBLICATIONS - List references or submit reprints of published articles.
• HONORS OR AWARDS RECEIVED
• REFERENCES - Two letters of recommendation should be submitted by any two of the following individuals: current preceptor, former preceptor, employer, college teacher, dean.
• PERSONAL OBJECTIVES - A brief description of the applicant’s future goals and aspirations and why he/she believes the George P. Provost Editorial Internship will benefit him/her in attaining them.

A personal interview at the applicant's expense, either at the Society's headquarters offices in Bethesda, Maryland, or at a mutually agreed-upon alternative location, may be required before a final decision can be made. It is encouraged that interested applicants participate in the Personal Placement Service at the Midyear Clinical Meeting and conduct an initial interview at that time.

Appointments normally begin on July 1 and terminate on December 31 of the same year.

Applicants will be notified of the selection committee's decision not later than the last business day of February for appointments beginning the following July.

Appointment as a George P. Provost Editorial Intern will carry with it an appropriate stipend and fringe benefits, including the following:

• Social Security (Intern will be required to pay his/her share through payroll deductions)
• Group hospitalization, major medical, and dental insurance for Intern (family coverage may be obtained, for which the Society will pay 50 percent of the premium), to begin on the first day of the month following the effective date of the Internship.
• Group (term) life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and travel accident insurance (when traveling for Society purposes).
• Long-term disability insurance.
• Up to six days’ sick leave.
• Attendance at specified ASHP meetings and continuing education programs at Society expense during the training year.
• Except as noted above, fringe benefits will be provided at no cost to the intern.

Mail letter of application to:

C. Richard Talley, Chair
George P. Provost Editorial Internship Committee
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
7272 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814

(Note: Internship is suspended for 2010)