CAPSule_Sept-Oct 2014

Published by the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students | UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER Issue | 2014

CAPSule Editor:

Design Coordinator:

Final Reviewers:

The CAPSule, published bi-monthly, is the official newsletter of the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students. It features a variety of articles submitted by members of the organization regarding new

achievements, event highlights, updates, committee spotlights, and much more! If you are interested in contributing to the next issue of the

CAPSule, email [email protected] for more information.

Amy Li

Phillip Transou

Students Trang LeminhKenny KangSarah Todd

Dr. Macary MarciniakDr. Phillip Rodgers

Faculty

CAPSule | Table of Contents | Sep. - Oct. 2014

American Pharmacists Month Trang Leminh

UNC Student Pharmacists Discover Their Voices at the APhA-ASP Midyear Regional Meeting Jenny Levine

Leadership Development and Collaboration at the NCAP Student Leadership Conference Jonny Clark

Women’s Health Saves the TaTas Catherine Buckthal

The Pharmacist’s Role in Veterinary Patient Care Erica Earnhardt

¿Qué Pasa, SpanishRx? Sebastian Cerdeña and Cecilia Robaina

Unique Ambulatory Care Experience at the Northern Navajo Medical Center Michele Kislan

Rotation Station: Working at the Interface of Clinical Pharmacy and the Healthcare Marketplace Marti Guidotti

Spotlight: Refining Collaborative Practice through the Clinical Skills Competition Jennifer Voelker

PRN: Pharmacy Policy Updates Isabell Kang

PharmDeclassified: Lesson 1 Jennifer Ku

Keep Doing What You’re Doing Ina Lui

The CAPSule Asks

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Article by Trang Leminh Photos courtesy of Adam Corey and Lydia Wang

ctober is an eventful time here at the UNC Eshelman School of Phar-

CAPSule | September - October 2014

macy because it is American Pharma-cists Month (APhM)! APhM is a time where we bring awareness to the profes-sion of pharmacy, recognize pharma-cists for the dynamic contributions they

O make to health care, and showcase the talents of our ever-changing profession. This year, we are proud to announce that Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and Governor Pat McCrory have proclaimed October as American Pharmacists Month in both

Evan Colmenares, Trang Leminh, and Jenny Levine proudly present the local and state proclamations for American Pharmacists Month with CAPS adviser Dr. Marciniak.

Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina for the first time in school history! We greatly appreciate that the leaders in our community recognize the impact that pharmacists have on their patients.

As we look back on this past month, we can highlight the accomplishments of our chap-ter through our patient care projects and outreach events. APhM buttons were distrib-

uted to local pharmacists to thank them for their hard work and dedication. Our two Karing with Kroger events allowed student pharmacists to reach out to over 40 patients to monitor blood glucose and blood pressure, in addition to self-care counseling and making vaccine referrals. Through our collaboration with the School of Medicine, we successfully registered 82 bone marrow donors with our “Delete Blood Cancer” event. Students also participated in an online Facebook and Twitter campaign by posting phar-macy facts each day to spread awareness to friends and family. Around town, signs with pharmacy facts could be found on all public transportation buses,

and, as a new initiative, we distributed coffee sleeves to local coffee shops for our com-munity to learn more about pharmacy. Other events included our annual PharmaS-weets event, SPAN advocacy pit sits, immunizations through campus health, and a bake sale for Celiac Disease awareness.

American Pharmacists Month could not have been a success without our CAPS mem-bers, faculty and staff. Thank you for your support and participation throughout the month. We look forward to next year!



UNC Student Pharmacists Discover Their Voices at the APhA-ASP Midyear Regional Meeting

record-breaking 126 UNC student pharma-cists attended the American Pharmacists

This year, chapters were given the opportunity to create roundtable discussions. From UNC, Jennifer Ku (PY2), Policy Vice President, hosted a roundtable called, “Ex’SPAN’ding Your Chapter’s Advocacy Efforts.” Jenny Levine (PY3), APhA-ASP Chapter President, and Sarah Todd (PY3), CAPS Executive President, hosted a roundtable called, “Under My Umbrella: How to Avoid Getting Wet While Working as Part of an Umbrella Organization.” Other sessions included:• Chapter Leadership Workshop featuring Dr. David Steeb• CV Workshop• Generation Rx Workshop• Leadership Training Series

• Provider Status Workshop• Career Panel

First-year chapter members become engaged in the policy process by discussing each policy submitted by chapters in Region 3.

In addition, MRM is where the process of policy discussion and approval begins. Each chapter brings forth a policy proposal, which may eventually be discussed during the APhA-ASP House of Delegates. The House is comprised of one repre-sentative from each chapter. In order to discuss all 23 policies, UNC organized

by Jenny Levine | Photos courtesy of Trang Leminh and Jonny Clark

AAssociation – Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) Region 3 Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM) in Atlanta, GA. Region 3 is the largest region within APhA-ASP and encompasses schools and col-leges of pharmacy throughout the Southeast. The event was held at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel & Convention Center with 800 student pharmacists present, making it the largest MRM to date! From UNC, there were 53 PY1s, 45 PY2s, 27 PY3s, 1 PY4, including 32 students from the Asheville campus.


7 to 9 chapter members, each group facilitated by one member who took note of the group’s decisions to pass or not pass each policy. After all were discussed, the facilitators came together representing their groups to decide the chapter’s votes. It was very exciting to see everyone so engaged with the policy process this year!

UNC’s policy proposal submission was decided by the chapter’s Second Annual Policy Competition hosted by Student Po-litical Advocacy Network (SPAN). For the first time ever, Asheville students submit-ted a policy which ended up winning the competition! The policy proposal, passed during the Closing Business Session at MRM, is as follows: “APhA-ASP supports legislation to remove liability and legality issues surrounding prescribing and dis-pensing naloxone.” APhA-ASP promotes the training and use of naloxone antidote kits to help address rising opioid-related drug overdose rates.

UNC students gather to decide how to vote on a policy during the Closing Business Session.

Above: Operation Self-Care co-chairs for the 2013-2014 school year, Leslie Walters (PY3) and Lauren Shelmerdine (PY3).

Also at MRM was the APhA-ASP Re-gional Patient Care Project Awards Presentation, from which UNC did not come home empty-handed. UNC earned the Operation Self-Care Region 3 Patient Care Award! Opera-tion Self-Care co-chairs for this reporting cycle for the 2013-2014 school year were Lauren Shelmer-dine (PY3) and Leslie Walters (PY3).

This year, Evan Colmenares (PY2) ran for the office of Regional Del-egate. As he has been very inter-ested in the policy process and advo-cacy for the profession since his PY1 year, even running for Regional Del-


Below: UNC student pharmacists wearing their chapter t-shirts at the Friday Night Welcoming Social.

MRM Liaisons: Kristin Aloi (PY2) and Briana Moore (PY3)

Student Recognition Certificates: Kye Grooms (PY3-

Asheville) and Briana Moore (PY3-Chapel Hill)

Regional Delegate Candidate: Evan Colmenares (PY2)

Chapter Delegate: Alexandra Cervantes (PY1)

Chapter Nomination Committee Representative:

Corey Cicci (PY1)

Policy Discussion Facilitators:

Delegate: Evan Colmenares (UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy)

Member-at-large: Monroe Crawley (University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College of Pharmacy)

Midyear Regional Meeting Coordinator: Alexander Tu (Belmont University)

PY1s: Alexandra Cervantes, Connor Fowler,

Izzy Kang, Colleen McCabe

PY2s: Amanda Gorman, Jennifer Ku

PY3s: Emily Eddy, Chandler Gurley

Chapter Members to note:

2014-2015 Elected Region 3 Officers:

Evan Colmenares (PY2) with his Regional Delegate poster at Meet the Candidates.

egate at the 2013 MRM, his passion for the position was ultimately rewarded. He was elected as Region 3 Delegate for the 2014-2015 year. We are so excited and proud of him!For more information on APhA-ASP, please contact Jenny Levine ([email protected]), APhA-ASP Chap-ter President.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND COLLABORATION

by Jonny Clark | Photos courtesy of Jonny Clark

n September 20, student pharmacists from across the

at the NCAP Student Leadership Conference

state convened in Pinehurst for leadership development and net-working opportunities at the annual North Carolina Association of Phar-macists (NCAP) Student Leadership Conference. Approximately thirty students from the UNC Eshleman School of Pharmacy spent the day with colleagues from Campbell Uni-versity and Wingate University Schools of Pharmacy to learn from


O local leaders and discuss collabora-tive efforts.

This year’s program featured presen-tations from Col. Brian Canfield, Chief Operating Officer at the First Health Moore Regional Hospital, and Dr. Adam Persky, Clinical Associate Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Topics included the “Need for Leadership in Health-care,” focusing on the definition of leadership and how to play a role in

Jonny Clark (front left) serves as NCAP Chapter President, NCAP SPN Chair, and APhA-ASP State Association Liaison.

our future careers, as well as case studies that demonstrated difficult situations that leaders may encounter during their experiences in pharmacy school.

Students partook in roundtable dis-cussions with peers from other phar-macy schools to generate ideas for future collaboration, evaluate the pros and cons of organizational and lead-ership structures, and discuss the unique events within each school. With the recent approval of the NCAP Student Pharmacist Network, an orga-nization dedicated to connecting rep-resentatives from all North Carolina pharmacy schools for joint activities and events, students will have the ability to plan projects together that will impact the future of health care in our state. Organizational leaders from

each school shared key aspects of their structure and functions, increas-ing awareness of cocurricular activi-ties and fostering discussion of differ-ences and similarities between the schools.

By revealing the strengths and weak-nesses of our independent organiza-tions, student pharmacists from each school are able to better understand the challenges of leadership and are better equipped to make an impact during their upcoming professional careers.

If you are interested in learning more about the Student Pharmacist Net-work, or have any ideas for future col-laborative events, feel free to contact Jonny Clark ([email protected]) or Felix Lam ([email protected]).



Women’s Health Saves the TaTas by Catherine Buckthal and Hannah Mierzwa | Photos courtesy of Trang Leminh

omen’s Health teamed up with the Hematology/Oncology SIC to

Trang Leminh and Julie Saunders proudly display their winning team name.

kick off breast cancer awareness by hosting the first annual cornhole tourna-ment, Tossing for TaTas. The event took place on the front lawn of the Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity house on the last Friday afternoon of September. Eighteen teams competed in the double elimination tournament. PY2s, Michael Wells and Chase Sasser, claimed first place after a close match against Steven Kiss and Ryan Cook. While these CAPS members claimed victory on the court, other CAPS members, Julie Saun-ders and Trang Leminh, claimed victory

W off the court with the most clever team name, “Hakuna Ma Tatas.”

The cornhole tournament raised over $500 for cancer research. The majority of the proceeds were donated to the American Cancer Society, while the remaining was donated to St. Baldrick’s Foundation. While we are proud of the monetary contri-bution we made toward breast cancer research, we are also pleased with the awareness this event brought to the entire university, as it was featured in the Daily Tar Heel. Awareness of this disease is so important, because with early detection and treatment, most people continue a normal life.


Partnering with Kappa Epsilon, we were thrilled to bring back UNC ESOP alum-nus Jill Wolford on October 20th along with her husband (and ESOP alumnus) Eric, to discuss the way that breast cancer has affected their lives. Jill and Eric shared their perspectives as patient and caregiver, respectively, giving the audience an honest and heartfelt view of their journey. The Wolford’s experi-ence with breast cancer was nothing short of difficult, but luckily ended well – with the two of them healthy and stand-ing in front of us 15 years later.

The most amazing part of their journey was what they created afterwards: The Caring Community Foundation, an orga-nization the pair started at a backyard barbeque celebration, which has just surpassed the $2 million dollar mark. The foundation donates monetary gifts to breast cancer patients in need of assistance with the financial struggles we don’t often think of, such as a past-due rent bill. The husband and wife pair

had an incredible and inspirational story to share, and also had the audience laughing during such a tough subject. We were thankful for such a great speaker event, especially during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. More information about their foundation can be found at: caringcommunityfoundation.org.

In addition to our breast cancer-related events, we also continued to provide birth control seminars at the undergraduate sorority houses. So far we have hosted seminars at Kappa Delta, Phi Mu, and Tri Sigma. Operation Immunization collabo-rated with us on this event by adding an HPV component to the presentation. As suggested by CAPS member, Victoria Everette, we are hoping to expand these events to the all-female dormitories on campus, so be on the lookout for more events this spring semester.

Although breast cancer awareness month may have ended, we have many exciting Women’s Health events planned! On No-vember 12th at noon we are collaborat-ing with SPAN to host a policy discussion regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling on several cases that involve contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act as well as recent mention of oral contra-ceptives as possibly over the counter.

Please contact Caki Buckthal ([email protected]) or Hannah Mier-

zwa ([email protected]) with any questions about Women’s Health PCP or to provide any suggestions, as we are always

interested in new ideas!


The Pharmacist’s Role in Veterinary Patient Careby Erica Earnhardt | Photos courtesy of Erica Earnhardt

he pharmacy world is constantly changing and expanding its field.

It is important for pharmacists to have a basic knowledge of veterinary pharmaco-therapy. Pharmacists are expected to be medication experts, whether it is for the treatment of animals or humans. It is our responsibility as pharmacists to ensure the safety and quality of care for every patient by providing accurate information on medications. There are multiple resources pharmacists can use to look up

to treat hypothyroidism. More and more pet owners consider their pets as part of the family, where they would seek medical care for their pet when it is needed. This increase in veterinary care has extended into the pharmacy world. Pharmacists are starting to become exposed not only to human medica-tions that have an indica-tion for animal disease states, but also to medi- Erin Nemecek, PY4, talks about common OTC products that are hazardous

to pets at the Veterinary Open House.

Pharmacists now have a greater role in patient care and the health care system. So why should we as pharma-cists limit ourselves to just caring for humans?

If you have ever worked in a community pharmacy, you more than likely came across a prescription that may seem a little alarming. Take an example. A patient comes in with a prescription for levothyroxine 0.6mg tablets. For a human, this dose is incredibly high. However, for his 62-pound dog this would be considered a standard dose

T cations exclusively for animal pharmaco-therapy. Take another example. In the human world, the brand name for furose-mide is Lasix®; however, in the veterinary world the brand for furosemide is Salix®. Easy to get confused right?


the doses of medications for animal pharmacotherapy. Plumb’s Veterinary Drug Handbook is a helpful resource that contains essential information needed to treat veterinary patients and is a resource that should be stocked in every community phar-macy. The role of a pharmacist in the veterinary world is just as exciting and diverse as that of the human. Veterinary pharmacists have diverse responsibilities in the veterinary field, including but not limited to outpatient dispensing, sterile and non-sterile prepa-rations, compounding, chemotherapy, drug information, etc. There are even organi-

zations dedicated to just veterinary phar-macists. The Soci-ety of Veterinary Hospital Pharma-cists (SVHP) is an organization com-prised of pharma-cists that work exclusively in the veterinary field. These are pharma-cists whose role varies with clinical and administrative duties. The mission of the society is to instruct both veteri-nary and pharmacy

students about medications used in animals. This membership is international and is available to pharmacy students to become student members.

If you are interested in learning more about veterinary pharmacotherapy to provide quality care to all of your patients, both human and non-human, then come out to a Veterinary SIC meeting. Veterinary SIC events will focus on providing practical knowl-edge of medications used for animal therapy.

For more information, contact Erica Earnhardt, Veterinary SIC representative, at [email protected].

A young visitor learns about the role that veterinary pharmacy plays in the com-pounding world by trying to make her own veterinary capsules.


¿Qué Pasa, SpanishRx? by Sebastian Cerdeña and Cecilia Robaina | Photo courtesy of Adam Bernstein

panishRx is a relatively new addi-tion to CAPS focused on Spanish

Spanish-speaking population. On Septem-ber 21, SpanishRx participated in La Fiesta del Pueblo, an annual festival that celebrates Latino art and culture, informs participants about services and issues, and encourages them to take action in the com-munity. The event showcased a variety of health related booths, and included the par-ticipation of the UNC School of Medicine, UNC School of Dentistry, various local health organizations, and many more. Through its participation, SpanishRx pro-vided CAPS members with an opportunity to interact with Spanish-speaking members of the community, a growing demographic in North Carolina. Ten student pharmacists of varying Spanish-speaking levels distributed health information in Spanish to attendees and answered health related questions about topics including blood pressure, dia-betes, and smoking cessation. Overall, the nine-hour event in downtown Raleigh, NC had over 22,000 participants. SpanishRx intends to continue active participation in La Fiesta del Pueblo in the future. Upcoming events SpanishRx plans to host include: document translating workshops, a medical Spanish crash course, creating Spanish “cheat sheets” for local community pharmacies, and Spanish Jeopardy. To find out more about SpanishRx and what you can do to contribute, please contact Sebas-tian Cerdeña ([email protected]) or Cecilia Robaina ([email protected])!

Left to right: students Maria Buckner, Sebastian Cerdeña, Adam Bernstein and Cecilia Robaina pose in front of the SpanishRx booth at La Fiesta del Pueblo in Raleigh, NC.

Sservices through active Spanish inter-pretation and document translating for CAPS events. It seeks to help student pharmacists gain experience with using Spanish in healthcare practice, and reduce the language barrier in pharmacy-related exchange. Regard-less of how much prior Spanish experi-ence students have, the aim is to develop tools and learning materials to help student pharmacists become more comfortable with using Spanish in the healthcare setting.

SpanishRx co-chairs, Sebastian Cerdeña and Cecilia Robaina, set a goal at the beginning of the year to increase the organization’s outreach through events that target the local


Unique Ambulatory Care Experience at the Northern Navajo Medical Center

by Michele Kislan | Photos courtesy of Michele Kislan

he Northern Navajo Medical Center (NNMC) is located on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, T

New Mexico, near Four Corners. NNMC is part of the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the United States Public Health Service (USPHS), and serves a popula-tion of approximately 45,000 Navajo people in the area. It is a small hospital with 55 beds, and yet it pro-cesses over 1000 prescriptions each day. Lt. Keith Warshany, a UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy alumnus, was my preceptor during my rotation in May 2014.

New Mexico, like North Carolina, allows advanced practicing pharmacists, called Pharmacist Clinicians (PhC), to run various clinics and prescribe medica-tions. Although many of the pharmacists at NNMC are not PhCs, they are still allowed to provide care as pro-viders under protocols in the clinics at NNMC because they are under the USPHS scope of practice as National Clinical Pharmacy Specialists. NNMC has many clinics that are managed by pharmacists to address separate topics such as Heart Failure, Epi-lepsy, Anticoagulation, Pain, Asthma, Parkinson’s, Infectious Disease (HCV/HIV), and Diabetes (which includes dyslipidemia and hypertension). There is also a PhC Clinic, which is a catch-all of the other established pharmacist-managed clinics. Additionally, the current IHS resident is in the process of establish-ing a Depression/Psychiatric Clinic.

At the beginning of the rotation, I was unsure which areas I was interested in, and as a result, Lt. War-shany allowed me to rotate through various clinics until I could narrow down the ones I preferred. Lt. Warshany’s goal for me during this rotation was to be Views from Michele’s excursions. Top: Bisti

Badlands. Middle: Michele at the Chaco Natl. Park entrance. Bottom: Monument Valley.


able to confidently interview and counsel patients in multiple clinics as well as make appro-priate recommendations for warfarin dose changes in the Anticoagulation Clinic, which I was able to accomplish in the four weeks I was at NNMC. I was also expected to engage in two more clinics of my choosing. I preferred the Epilepsy and Pain Clinics, and worked up and evaluated patients in these clinics for the last two weeks. When time permitted, I was allowed to write several SOAP notes, which were co-signed by my preceptor.

My typical day began at 6:30AM in the Inpatient Phar-macy where I worked up patients that I expected to encounter during the clinic I was scheduled for that day. After approximately one hour, I would review the current guidelines or even work on my presentations if I had time remaining. At 8:00AM, I would meet

“

”either my preceptor or another clinical pharmacist and discuss the patients briefly with him/her, or have a topic discussion. At 8:30AM, we saw the first patient of the day and continued until lunch at 12:30PM. Then I would attend another clinic, review guidelines for the next day, or work on my presentations or a P&T formulary document for the remainder of the after-noon. There were only four or five days during the month where I was in clinic for the entire day.

Two presentations were required during this rotation, a case presentation and a drug presentation. I chose Benign Rolandic Epilepsy (BRE) and Methadone, respectively, and presented these at the end of my rotation to students, residents, and pharmacists. I also assisted with a drug class review regarding non hypertension-related cardiac drugs on formulary for a P&T Committee Meeting as a short-term project. One of the activities I enjoyed most was attending the Dia-betes Education Center. I observed and assisted

Top: Islands in the Sky, Utah. Middle: view of Shiprock from NNMC. Bottom: Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde CO.

patients in the walk-in clinic with the clinical phar-macist in the morning, then assisted with the lipid management class in the afternoon. During the last hour of clinic, I observed and helped with follow-up appointments for the patients who attended the lipid management class. One of the most interesting experiences I had at NNMC was meeting a patient who was diagnosed with benign rolandic epilepsy at the age of seven. Most children outgrow BRE by the age of 14, and this type of seizure generally does not need to be treated with medications unless their severity and frequency increase or if a parent requests medications. This patient was experiencing these increased seizure symptoms, which greatly con-cerned his parents. Therefore, he was prescribed carbamazepine. Until I met this patient and researched BRE, I did not know that epilepsy could be benign or outgrown.

The logistics of this rotation were different from rotations in North Carolina. Shiprock is very remote and a car was necessary to purchase grocery items and travel on weekends. The clos-est city is Farmington, which is approximately 30 miles away, but some sundries can be purchased from City Market, a small grocery store in Shiprock. Because I was the only pharmacy student during the first two weeks in May, I flew

into Albuquerque and rented a car. Other students, who arrived towards the end of the month, coordinated with students from their school to carpool to NNMC or share a car rental. Housing and linens were provided for the students on rotation at NNMC, and the dormi-tory contained a mini-refrigerator and micro-wave for meal-preparation, as well as Internet access. Also, there is very little humidity (10-15%) and the elevation of Shiprock is approxi-mately 5,000 feet above sea level. During the first few days, students need to exercise cau-tiously and drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.

This rotation was located in a geographical area unlike any other I have experienced. Shiprock is located in the Grand Circle, or Four Corners area, and is very close to many historical sites and national parks: Chaco National Park, Bisti Badlands, Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, and Durango. The other health professions students and I would coordinate trips to Farmington for grocer-ies, and we explored the Grand Circle together on weekends. Although Shiprock is remote, there are plenty of things to do outdoors in the Four Corners area—just be sure to bring plenty of water, snacks, sunscreen, and a hat!


Mountain view from Mesa Verde, CO


Rotation Station: Working at the Interface of Clinical Pharmacy and the Healthcare Marketplace

by Marti Guidotti | Image courtesy of Jasmine Knight

Marti Guidotti is a PY4 who went on rota-tion at Xcenda. In this article he shares with us his experience.

Site: XcendaLocation: Tampa, FLMonth of Completion: SeptemberPreceptors: Jasmine Knight, PharmD, MS, Second Year Fellow; Tim Regan, RPh, CPh, Vice President of Commercial Client Strategies

What is your advice to other students that will be completing this rotation to be successful?

Fellows and students at the Tampa Bay Lightning opening

hockey game

Xcenda is a consulting company and their clients are pharmaceutical compa-nies. They have two lines of business: commercial and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). Within these divisions they are able to offer unique services for pharmaceutical companies to strategically market their drug. For example, I worked on a project for a company with a new bone marrow transplant (BMT) medication. We were able to convene an advisory board made up of pharmacy and medical directors within various health plans. The advisory board was able to commu-nicate what studies the pharmaceutical company needed to conduct in order to support the use of their drug in a market with generics available.

To complete this rotation you have to be a proactive person genuinely interested in learning. Some of the projects can be tedious but all have excellent opportunity for growth. I would also recommend a basic un-derstanding of managed care prin-ciples. The people do a really good job presenting the basics of these concepts within the first week, but if you don’t remember anything from the one pharmacoeconomics lecture in all of pharmacy school (I wouldn’t blame you), this rotation would be a challenge.

What were unique aspects about the rotation?


What type of patient interaction was included in your rotation?

This rotation does not involve much face-to-face patient interaction. You will spend most of your time in an office building. However, this is a very patient-centered rotation. For one of my projects we were interview-ing Bone Marrow Transplant Clinical Pharmacy Specialists at notable institutions such as the MD Ander-son Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I got to engage with experts in the field directly. They were able to shed light on how physicians handle drug short-ages. Specifically, we were looking at a generic medication that had gone on shortage. The FDA contracted with a company in Europe to import their branded version to meet demands. The challenge was that this branded medication was enter-ing a generic market. Ultimately, we were able to identify opportunities for the company to provide better reimbursement opportunities so that patients were able to gain access to this life saving medication without going into massive debt.

Why did you select this rotation and why should other students too?

I selected this rotation because it would give me exposure to the cross-roads between the pharmaceutical industry and managed care. I aspire to be a healthcare decision maker able to influence millions of patient lives every day. This rotation gave me insight into the wide variety of real world considerations when trying to both gain market access for critical medications as well as allocate sparse resources in order to manage a popu-lation of people.

What are some of your favorite compo-nents of the rotation?

My absolute favorite component of this rotation is the variety. With the explosion of specialty pharmacy, you will gain exposure to rare diseases you may never have learned about in school. For example, I worked on a project for hereditary angioedema, yes people who randomly have epi-sodes of angioedema… scary. My second favorite component of this rotation is the people and the place. Because this company takes on sev-eral fellows each year, there are many young people to explore the Tampa bay area with. They were also just in your shoes applying to postgrad pro-grams and can be a huge resource!

SPOTLIGHT: Refining Collaborative Practice through the Clinical Skills Competition

By Jennifer Voelker | Photos courtesy of Jennifer Voelker and Joy Greenberg

ach fall, our ASHP chapter holds a local Clinical Skills Competition. The event took place on Sunday, Septem-

ber 28 at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Students formed teams of two and worked on a timed case study for two hours. During this time, they created a writ-ten Pharmacist’s Care Plan, and then had a total of ten minutes to present it to the judges and answer any questions asked.

This year, 21 teams signed up and com-peted, ranging from PY2s to PY4s. In addi-tion, we had our first teams from the Ashe-

- The clinical skills compe-tition is a team event. Pick a partner you trust to make sound therapeutic deci-sions with a different skill set from you. - Before the day of the competition, review previ-ous years’ cases online.

- Relay the information to the judges in a confident manner. Also, it is impor-tant to have a rationale for every decision that you make. - Relax! This may be the hardest one to do but it will really help with your inter-actions with the judges.

ville campus compete, with the assistance of Dr. Mollie Scott. Compliments go out to all of the teams – this year’s case was very chal-lenging! The panel of four judges consisted of Dr. Phil Rodgers, ASHP advisor as well as Assistant Dean of Pharmacy Practice Part-nerships and Clinical Associate Professor, along with Dr. Jamie Cavanaugh, Dr. Debra Kemp, and Dr. Jessica Mangun.

This was an excellent opportunity for stu-dents to utilize the skills that they’ve learned in the classroom and on rotations and apply them in a competitive real-life setting. The first place team from our school will receive complimentary registration at the 2014 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in Anaheim, CA this December. There, they will compete in the national competition against other schools. Our first place winners are PY4s, Erin Christensen and Rebecca Call. Second place went to Alex Sherman and Prashanth Iyer, and third place went to Hannah Dills and Sarah Timaeus. A special congratulation to the winners and all the other teams who competed! Extra thanks go to NCAP, who sponsored our event, providing prizes to the winners, gifts to the judges, and snacks and refreshments to all the participants. Thank you to everyone who made this event pos-sible, and make sure to wish Erin and Rebecca good luck at the national competi-tion! For more information about the ASHP Clinical Skills Competition please contact Jennifer Voelker ([email protected]).

Rebecca Call

Erin Christensen

Tips from our winners:


E


Current Status of H.R. 4109, as of October 1, 2014

HR4190 Summary and Update

HR 4190, or the Provider Status Legisla-tion, amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include pharma-cists. This bipartisan legislation will allow state-licensed pharmacists to pro-vide access to Medicare beneficiaries, being reimbursed upwards of 85% of the physician fee schedule. There are two caveats: (1) beneficiaries must be in medically underserved communities, and (2) access must be consistent with the state scope of pharmacy practice laws.

Pharmacy Policy UpdatesBy Isabell Kang | Image courtesy of Isabell Kang

As of the beginning of October, 116 rep-resentatives have co-sponsored this bill. Recently, on September 8th, Renee Ellmers (R-NC) signed on to support this piece of legislation!

As student pharmacists, we can have a great impact and help pass this bill. Talking points for H.R. 4109 and more information are available at PharmacistsProvideCare.com and at www.pharmacis t .com/get - facts -provider-status.

(Continued to next page: HR4709)

PharmDeclassifiedLessons for Pharmacy Practice

Written and illustrated by Jennifer Ku


Student-submitted pharmacy comicWritten and illustrated by Ina Lui


The CAPSule Asks:Eek! There's a zombie apocalypse and you can only compound one item in Dr. Shrewsbury's lab. What will you choose and why?

Dr. Shrewsbury’s Advice:It would depend on the “type” of zombie (e.g., Romero’s zombies, the Walking Dead, or something from World War Z). This will determine which Formulation Record you get use.

One idea would be to make a “zombie repellant.” A crude flamethrower could be made with a flam-mable aerosol spray. Aim for their brains, as this is a crucial step in entirely eliminating each individual zombie threat.You could also make an explosive in hopes of destroying several zombies closing in on your loca-tion. Head to a high floor and take out any stairwells and elevators by using nitroglycerin or any other nearby explosive chemical or blend of chemicals.If you are relying on the zombies’ lack of coordina-tion, cover the floors, walls, and doors with a glycerin-based lotion or solution, causing the sur-faces to become too slick for the zombies to enter the premises.Use a strong-smelling, nontoxic solution like tetra-hydrofuran or ammonium hydroxide to hide your human scent.If you find yourself face-to-face in an arena with a particularly aggressive zombie, combine potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur. Triturate to a fine powder and sieve it until you have created a uni-form powder blend. Fill the barrel of a bamboo cannon with the powder. In the absence of any pointy diamonds, you can use capsules or scintilla-tion vials as projectiles. Light the base of your deadly weapon and aim carefully.The best option would most likely involve no com-pounding; grab a few basic survival supplies (including painkillers you made in a previous lab) and run! Credits to Lauren Shelmerdine and Kelly Heinly.

“Prednisone (of any dosage form) because, in the words of a guest lecturer in the Critical Care elective, "nobody should die without first getting steroids.” - A PY4

What you said...

“Hydrocortisone stick, because when you have to spend your days running from and killing zombies, nothing is more important that skincare. Hydrocortisone stick, skin-

care on the go.” -Yordanis Diez, PY2 “Although morbid, I would want to protect myself from becoming zombie-fied and take the easy way out. I would make the lethal menthol and phenol troches that many Class of 2016 students made PY1 year.” - Rachel LaBianca, PY3

“Epipens, so you can outrun them! At least

temporarily.” -Jonny Clark, PY3

“Diphenhydramine solution because it is

the only one I won't mess up.”-Adam Dickinson, PY2

“I would compound an adrenaline/caffeine formulation to keep people awake and focused so that they can cram in all the seasons of The Walking Dead and learn how to survive the Zombie apocalypse.” -Sabrina Dunham, PY1

Date post:	06-Apr-2016
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CAPSule_Sept-Oct 2014

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