Thomas D. Zlatic, editor. Clinical Faculty Survival Guide. Lenexa, KS: American College of Clinical Pharmacy; 2010. 334 pp, $40.95 (softbound). ISBN 9781932658736.

As I read Clinical Faculty Survival Guide and recalled my personal experiences as a new faculty member, I realized how much I needed and would have welcomed a resource like this book. In the foreword, Michael Maddux stated that the purpose of the Guide “is to provide practical information, advice, and encouragement that will help [clinical faculty] succeed” in teaching, clinical practice, service, and scholarship. In my opinion, the editor and contributing authors achieved this goal. The Guide includes 21 chapters that are organized in 3 parts: Academic Clinical Pharmacy: An Introduction; Academic Roles for Clinical Faculty; and Personal and Professional Development. Part 1 opens with a thought-provoking chapter devoted to professionalism and is followed by a chapter that provides a general overview of faculty positions and factors that affect long-term success and satisfaction in these positions. I would recommend chapter 1 to any pharmacist at any stage of career development. Chapter 2 would be useful to any pharmacy resident or graduate student who is contemplating an academic career. Part 2 consists of 15 chapters that are organized into 4 sections: Academic Roles for Clinical Faculty (chapters 3-7), Teaching and Precepting (chapters 8-13), Research and Scholarship (chapters 14-16), and Service (chapter 17). Chapters 3 through 5 describe the major types of clinical faculty practice sites, including acute care, clinic or office-based practice, and community pharmacy. Chapter authors provide practical advice and insights about establishing each type of practice, understanding the culture of the practice site, avoiding pitfalls, and positioning oneself to achieve long-term success. Chapter 6 includes an overview of collaborative practice and an example template for a collaborative practice agreement. Chapter 7, which describes professional credentialing, provides a framework for considering the breadth and nature of patient care in one's practice site and determining which types of advanced credentials are most relevant. This chapter complements the overview of continuing professional development (CPD) that is presented in Chapter 21 and would be useful for planning CPD activities related to one's faculty position. In the section “Teaching and Precepting,” Chapters 8 through 13 are devoted to classroom teaching, precepting in the practice site, active-learning strategies, instructional technology, facilitating development of professionalism in students, and mentoring. These chapters are solid introductions to their respective topics. Each contains practical information that a new pharmacy educator can rely upon for guidance, suggestions, and creative encouragement. The remaining 2 sections in Part 2, which address research and scholarship (chapters 14 through 16) and service (chapter 17), are invaluable. The contents of these excellent chapters will complement advice from administrators, supervisors, and mentors. Finally, Part 3 addresses personal and professional development with sections devoted to leadership (chapters 18 through 20 on personal, organizational, and project leadership, respectively) and continuing professional development (chapter 21). Like the chapter on professionalism, I would recommend the chapters about personal leadership and CPD to any pharmacist. Clinical Faculty Survival Guide has both strengths and weaknesses. The absence of an index is a major weakness that is likely to limit its usefulness. The Guide contains information that a busy faculty member needs often during the first months or years in a position. Without an index, some of the most valuable and useful contents will be inaccessible without reading the entire book. Important examples include the catalog of individual active-learning strategies, timelines related to developing a program of scholarship, advantages and disadvantages of various instructional technologies, and useful lists or principles related to faculty roles. Occasionally, a topic appears in one chapter with a statement that additional information appears in another chapter, but page numbers, chapter titles, and section headings are not available to guide the reader. Becoming a successful faculty member is challenging. Some skills, such as networking and negotiating, are identified by several chapter authors as critically important. However, these discussions seem to assume that the reader has these skills. Overall, the book lacks practical advice and strategies for developing these skills. Many clinical faculty members begin their first appointments soon after completing postgraduate residency training as they are making the transition from the role of student/trainee to that of autonomous practitioner. The Guide is limited in its treatment of challenges or difficulties that may be unique to this time, such as defining boundaries between self and students, participation in student activities, confronting self-doubt or fear, and developing resilience in the face of unanticipated student evaluations. Nevertheless, the limitations present in Clinical Faculty Survival Guide are outweighed by its strengths. The authors' expertise, experience, and understanding of the joys and challenges of academic positions are evident in every chapter and in each topic addressed. Although they did not include all possible relevant topics, all the topics included weigh heavily in importance for new faculty members. Chapter authors present these in a manner that conveys that they care about the long-term satisfaction and success that new faculty members experience. Overall, the Guide presents a holistic view of faculty life situated in a context of lifelong personal and professional development. As a reader somewhere between my first day as a pharmacy educator and the seasoned practice of these authors, I appreciate and still can learn much from their counsel and the roadmaps for success that they described. I would recommend this book to all new clinical faculty members and to anyone contemplating a career as a pharmacy educator.