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Engaging Students with the Practice Advancement Initiative

By Jenna Summerlin posted 06-03-2018 23:20

  

The profession of pharmacy is a constantly changing field. The pharmacist’s role continues to evolve as practice environments progress to meet the demands of an ever-changing health care landscape. One thing remains true, however, and that is pharmacists continue to improve patient care as an integral member of the health care team. The Practice Advancement Initiative (PAI) is a way pharmacists can mobilize pharmacy practice by utilizing institution-specific resources and technology to improve patient outcomes. As pharmacists, we must recognize the importance of our own training as medication experts and take responsibility for the outcomes related to the use of medication in our patients. This responsibility is something that should be emphasized early on in pharmacy education in order to strengthen the impact this important initiative will have on future pharmacists. Students are creative and visionary and by increasing understanding and improving awareness of PAI, they can assist our profession’s leaders with the promotion of this meaningful initiative. Additionally, students that can speak intelligently regarding PAI and its value should be more marketable to health-systems employers upon graduation.

When it comes to engaging students, there are three essentials goals that must be met in order to produce the desired outcome. Students should understand the reasoning, visualize the results, and be able to relate to the issue before them. Students must know the “why” behind what they are doing and the timeline by which they are to accomplish the goals. The PAI can provide ways to increase the role of pharmacists within health-systems, thereby increasing opportunities for students in our profession, which is a great incentive to get involved. Students are motivated by the promise of positive results; therefore, these should be clearly presented in order to generate movement toward the goal. Student pharmacists are typically high achievers, with many responsibilities and little free time. They must understand the vision, engage with the idea, and be able to visualize positive outcomes. The last thing, and in my opinion the most important component of engaging student pharmacists with PAI, is making it relatable to a student learner. When students believe something doesn’t apply to them, they will immediately lose focus and direct their attention elsewhere. When professors or profession leaders make something applicable to students, engagement and dedication to the task at hand increases dramatically. Making the PAI meaningful to students now, should impact both their understanding of and engagement with the PAI in their future careers.

Students will best engage with a new concept through various interactions designed to increase understanding of what the PAI is, how it can be utilized, and that it is intended to encompass ambulatory care practitioners, inpatient practitioners and pharmacy management, as well as hospital C-suite leaders. It is advantageous to start with a presentation from a group of non-pharmacy health care professionals who can speak directly to the way pharmacists have improved the team dynamic within the institution. This demonstrates the value and influence of pharmacists as members of the team. This “outside view” should encourage students to strive toward better understanding and utilization of PAI resources. This will also compel students to attain the advanced credentialing in order to provide direct patient care. It is also critical for students to be exposed to perspectives from all fields of pharmacy in reference to how the PAI has helped them mature as pharmacists and therefore lead to improved outcomes in patient care. Student pharmacists are hesitant to spend time on things if they don’t believe they will use it in their practice site, therefore, making the PAI applicable to every area of pharmacy should increase student engagement tremendously. A final programming suggestion would be to have faculty or health-systems preceptors and students partner together to discuss ways students could incorporate the PAI into their practice now as a student in the classroom, as an employee, or as a rotation student. The discussion should be student led with the faculty or preceptors on hand to help guide and encourage student idea development. Ideally, students would leave the discussion with ideas that could immediately be implemented in their respective area of pharmacy. Idea generation with immediate implementation will be critical to keep students excited about the possible impact of this great initiative.  

 

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