Previously serving as a member and recently as the Chair of the Policy and Legislative Advocacy Advisory Group (PLAAG), within the ASHP Pharmacy Student Forum (PSF), provided me with opportunities and responsibilities that far exceeded my leadership expectations. One of my most memorable experiences was participating in the SSHP Leaders Workshop at the 2014 Midyear Clinical Meeting. I volunteered to assist with the session by serving as a scribe for the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI): Informing and Engaging Students table. My role was to take notes about the ideas, issues, and topics that were discussed during the session, which the PSF Executive Committee and Advisory Groups use for prospective initiatives. The workshop expanded my knowledge beyond policy and legislative advocacy by allowing for collaboration with a member of the PSF Advancement of Pharmacy Practice Advisory Group (APPAG) and other students from all over the country.
While participating in the PPMI discussion at the SSHP Leaders Workshop, I realized that it would be most effective to integrate ASHP’s legislative initiatives with PPMI efforts. By doing so, students will be able to utilize the five pillars of the Practice Advancement Initiative (PAI) to educate legislators about pharmacists’ roles in patient care and responsibility for patient care outcomes. As a Conference Programming Committee Member of the 2016 Student Advocate Training and Legislative Day Planning Committee, I provided input regarding the applicability of programming content. Based on this role and my previous experiences at last year’s inaugural advocacy conference, I have seen how the conference attracts student leader representatives from various states and pharmacy schools. Concurrently, discussion points with legislators include how provider status will allow pharmacists to utilize their training and benefit patients. The training portion of the advocacy conference could include how to communicate with legislators by emphasizing Care Team Integration, Pharmacist Credentialing and Training, and Leadership in Medication Use. Student leaders could maximize their advocacy training by utilizing it as an additional opportunity for education to promote pillars of the PAI.
Members of the PLAAG and APPAG can collaborate on a project to incorporate the varying degrees of PAI engagement within advocacy training. Students will be able to apply their knowledge of PAI immediately during their congressional meetings with their members of Congress. Furthermore, these student leader representatives can share this knowledge with their SSHP chapters and inspire other members of their schools. This would be an effective way to increase awareness and understanding of the PAI across the nation within a short amount of time as well as to create a tradition of advocating for the profession of pharmacy with the pillars of the PAI. To establish PAI as a culture in pharmacy practice settings, it must not be limited as a separate entity within the field of pharmacy. Instead, it needs to be established as a culture by maintaining healthcare environments that incorporate PAI in every process and operation.
PAI is important for students because the training accomplished today has progressed further from dispensing roles and more towards clinical services. Simultaneously, this progression is critical to demonstrate our capabilities as providers to legislators. To be able to utilize the extent of pharmacy licensure, students need to advocate for PAI at all levels of the profession. This advocacy can start at the health-system level and reach as far as the legislative level. By utilizing both the PLAAG and APPAG within the Pharmacy Student Forum, members can work towards creating unity within the field of pharmacy since the PSF is comprised of college of pharmacy students from across the nation. By promoting goals of the PAI and focusing on training student leaders about how to utilize pillars of the PAI to communicate with legislators, I hope to instill deference to expertise amongst pharmacy students and inspire student leaders to explore the pillars of PAI further.