Throughout my roles as both a member and an executive-board leader of the University of Iowa Student Society for Health-Systems Pharmacists (UI-SSHP), I have planned and coordinated many chapter events. There is definite room for improvement in our efforts to support and educate fellow students about the ASHP Practice Advancement Initiative (PAI). Unfortunately, our student society has done little to promote student involvement with the PAI, and as a student leader, I have multiple proposals to increase involvement in my local SSHP, as well as among student pharmacists across the nation. It is important to educate and promote the PAI among students, as it serves as an important factor in their empowerment to advocate for pharmacist services as future practitioners. In addition, being involved in the advancement of student pharmacist services is also important as it augments pharmacy school education and professional growth.
First, I would increase the Pharmacy Student Forum’s role with promotion of PAI. As an SSHP leader, I was never informed about the PAI. The Pharmacy Student Forum should work to increase outreach to current SSHP leadership to promote the movement more effectively. While this is already managed by the Pharmacy Student Forum Pharmacy Practice Advisory Group, future charges from ASHP should continue to focus on the PAI, and the Pharmacy Practice Advisory Group should make continued efforts to poll current SSHPs about effective methods of communication to ensure that information about the PAI is put in the hands of motivated student leaders. This may include specific links to the ASHP Foundation PAI webpage for students on ASHP connect and SSHP outreach emails, links to previous videos made by the Pharmacy Practice Advisory Group, or periodic blog advertisements on ASHP connect.
In addition, I would desire to organize a PAI event at either the ASHP Summer Meeting or ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting. At ASHP Midyear in particular, many P1-P3 students look for programming that is informative and valuable. An event that promotes the PAI and how to get involved could significantly alter student roles and empower students to support the initiative among their peers and in their future practice. This event could also specifically recognize the PAI Video Competition winner and showcase other video submissions. These events could also allow student pharmacists to discuss how they have seen the PAI in action on IPPE and APPE experiences, as well as in their workplaces.
In addition to managing outreach at the national level, I would work closely with my local SSHP to create materials for a meeting each semester to educate other students about the PAI. During these events, we would encourage students to describe their ideas for promoting pharmacist services in different settings through interactive cases. In addition, we would invite speakers that have utilized PAI evaluations and integrated new services within their workplace. These speakers would serve as role models to solidify the importance of the initiative and the value of pharmacist services across various practice settings.
I would also encourage local SSHPs to create a new executive board PAI Liaison position. This person would have access to an information page created by the ASHP Pharmacy Student Forum Pharmacy Practice Advisory Group with materials to promote involvement and educate other students about the PAI. This position would interact with other executive board members to promote the PAI Video competition. In addition, this liaison could survey each class of student pharmacists to assess their perception of pharmacist services in different patient care settings. This would provide useful insight of knowledge gaps and how to provide students the necessary tools to promote the PAI at different stages in the pharmacy program.