Thank you to ASHP for naming me one the 12 recipients of this prestigious award. The application allowed us to write about increasing awareness and understanding of the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI) among student colleagues. I am proud to share to my essay.
One of the keys
to success is being adaptive to change. The profession of pharmacy is always
changing and progressing, as evidenced by the Pharmacy Practice Model
Initiative.
At my internship
experience this summer, I finally understood what PPMI is all about. I had the
opportunity to sit down and discuss the article “Believing what we know:
Pharmacy provides value” by Burnis D. Breland, with Scott Knoer, PharmD, MS, Chief
Pharmacy Officer of the Cleveland Clinic. Discussing this article with Dr.
Knoer, I realized that I was seeing PPMI in action every day at the Cleveland
Clinic. New technology was being put into place, like a piloted program for
electronically tracking drug boxes and their contents throughout the hospital;
training programs were improving like the new school of pharmacy technology
with didactic course work and rotational experience; increasing residency,
internship, and APPE opportunities, which allows for layered learning;
professional development as seen by the integration of pharmacists on the
floors and rounding with the interdisciplinary team; increasing specialties,
certifications, and defined roles; accountability and opportunity for growth,
feedback, and change with the goal of improved patient care. This is just the
surface of PPMI, and it is time to get all of the health-systems on board.
As a student who
will start APPE rotations in a few months, I cannot recall a time that PPMI was
discussed and explained well in the classroom. This puts the responsibility of
educating students about PPMI elsewhere – it is left undefined. As SSHP
President, I realize that students are the future of our profession. Without
students understanding the importance of PPMI, how can it be our future?
In 2013, I was
on the team of students who decided that it was our time to move PPMI forward.
We planned 5 different speakers from health-systems and the community to speak
on what PPMI means, how PPMI is being used in practice, what we can do as students,
the importance of fostering leadership, and defining strengths and weaknesses
within ourselves and our organization. The week was well received, but students
still did not understand exactly where they fit in or how this will affect
their future.
This year
through SSHP, I am planning our second annual PPMI week for January 2014 with a
few changes. With the help of SNPhA, we are hosting past ASHP President, Jill
Boone, PharmD, FASHP to kick off the week and Chad Downing, PharmD, Marketing Director
with Walgreen’s for the community prospective. With the help of the Ohio
Society of Health-System Pharmacists (OSHP), we are planning a legislative
event to show students the importance of advocating for your profession with
the goal of a letter writing campaign to the Ohio Senate on SB240, the consult
agreement bill. OSHP has also provided our SSHP with a list of health-systems
who still need to complete the PPMI assessment survey. Our chapter is putting
together an outreach where students will reach out to local Directors of
Pharmacy of these health-systems and work through the survey together. The week
will end with a community health-fair with representatives from every pharmacy
organization. We have invited other SSHP chapters in Ohio, so they can share and
reapply ideas with their students. Through the collaboration, and in practice
model fashion, I am hoping that our new events are successful in increasing
awareness of PPMI.
As a student
leader, I have confidence that all my efforts, in a small way, help to move our
profession forward. I am excited to increase my own awareness throughout my APPE
rotations where I can, first hand, see model adaptations, strengths, and room
for improvement. That is the best part of the practice model; there are so many
avenues that will lead us all to the same ultimate goal.