The Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology – Section Advisory Group (SAG) on Pharmacy Informatics Education hosted a networking session on Wednesday, December 5th during the Midyear Clinical Meeting. The goals of the session were to discuss early exposure to informatics in Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE), as well as Informatics and clinical decision support training during Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE). The session was packed, and the participants generated valuable ideas and insights for educating student pharmacists.
The discussion first focused on IPPE; participants split into separate groups, by table, to discuss experiences and thereafter share with the larger group. For students at the introductory pharmacy practice level, it was expressed that there is a need to:
- Understand interoperability of systems and health information technology within a health system.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the entire medication-use process (workflow) in order to explain how informatics fits into the process.
- Observe and describe health information technology used by pharmacists in a health system.
Additionally some time was spent discussing informatics within the didactic curriculum. Participants that were students, residents and practicing pharmacists, observed the following:
- Standardization of an informatics curriculum across Schools/Colleges of Pharmacy would be ideal; many sites struggle with providing adequate resources to spend with students.
- Although many Schools/Colleges offer informatics as an elective course, it was expressed emphatically that informatics should be required and part of the core curriculum.
- Understanding the basics of project management and describing the importance of working with an interdisciplinary team.
Lastly, with the time remaining, participants shifted the conversation to APPE and preparing student pharmacists for either entry-level pharmacy practice or post-graduate training. The participants highlighted the following ideas:
- Describe health-system medication-use systems and explore informatics solutions to operational and/or clinical issues.
- Developing and implementing Clinical Decision Support (CDS) initiatives within a health system
- Patient safety/medication safety principles and their relationship to informatics and health information technology.
In conclusion, the lively and helpful discussion highlighted ideas that be used to educate student pharmacists about informatics at the didactic, IPPE and APPE levels. I encourage clinical pharmacist informaticists to utilize ASHP Connect to continue this important conversation and share your ideas and expertise regarding informatics education.
Special thanks to Martiza Lew, PharmD (Vice-Chair) and Gina Moore, PharmD, MBA (SAG member) for helping facilitate this session! More information from the Networking Session can be found here.
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