Over the past month I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about
PPMI and educating my classmates on the ongoing ASHP movement to truly
advance practice. At our SSHP meeting this month, I tried to give a 5
minute crash course on what was going on in Texas with Summit meetings
and how students could learn more on the PPMI website.
I was excited to give the talk about PPMI at the meeting and I wanted
my enthusiasm to be contagious… but did they receive the message? That
is the question I continue to ask myself, even two weeks post-meeting.
So, what do I wish every student knew about PPMI?
- ASHP President, Diane Ginsburg, was the first person who truly inspired me to learn more about PPMI. Her inaugural address
at the ASHP Summer Meeting 2010 gave me goose bumps. Until her speech, I
didn’t realize the impact that PPMI would have on me as a future
practitioner. For those who were not in attendance I urge you to read
it… and I entice you with the following quote:
“Our colleges and schools are producing
highly educated and trained graduates, but the way our practice sites
are run and how we practice pharmacy are not changing fundamentally. We
promise students the chance to practice their art of patient care, but
most will not get that opportunity with our current practice model.”
- Keeping our current practice model would be easy… but would we hurt
our profession in the process? Will hospital administrators replace
pharmacists with robots and bring in other healthcare professionals to
manage our pharmacies? I am deeply troubled by the thought that a
non-pharmacist could be telling me how to do my job. Would that be best
for patient care? In my opinion, no.
- With responsibility comes accountability. Summit participants
discussed the importance of pharmacists becoming providers with the duty
of prescribing appropriate therapy regimens for patients. Wouldn’t that
be a win for the drug experts?! At the same time, pharmacists would
need to be willing to become accountable and take ownership for their
actions. This isn’t just standing our ground with our decisions, but
means dealing with consequences of our actions.
- We all have something to learn in this process. Everyone from
students to seasoned practitioners are weighing in on the best possible
way to advance the practice of pharmacy. Right now, we’re still in the
planning stages… PPMI in its infancy. The hard part of this process will
be implementation. When my Dean suggested some reading to me a few
weeks ago, there was a title that caught my eye: Leading Change by Dr. John Kotter. Within the book, Dr. Kotter describes his 8 Step Process for Implementing Change,
all of which are applicable to PPMI implementation. I challenge every
student to read these steps and think about which step we are in now and
which steps are ahead of us.
- Please help ASHP spread the word! If you are passionate about PPMI,
tell other students, preceptors, faculty, technicians, etc. You are the
future of the profession! Be optimistic and enthusiastic!
So, I’m not sure if the students received the message I was trying to
send to them about PPMI, but I’m not going to give up. I will continue
to bring up PPMI at meetings, in class, and when I go on rotation next
year. I hope other students will do the same... because I would hate for
any student to miss out on impact they can have on advancing the
profession.