Academic Pharmacy Now: 2020 Issue 3

Academic Pharmacy

The News Magazine of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

NOW

Volume 13 2020 Issue 3

The Future of Community Pharmacy:

Direct Patient Care Community-based pharmacy is evolving from a place of product distribution into a healthcare destination. 22

Also in this issue: Tapping Into Data Science 8 Planning During a Pandemic 12

Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

who we are @AACPharmacy

Academic Pharmacy The News Magazine of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 300 P Arlington, VA 22202 703-739-2330 P www.aacp.org Founded in 1900, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy is the national organization representing the interests of pharmacy education. AACP comprises all accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy, including more than 6,600 faculty, approximately 63,800 students enrolled in professional programs and 4,800 individuals pursuing graduate study.

NOW

CEO & Publisher

Lucinda L. Maine Editorial Advisor

Lynette R. Bradley-Baker

Editorial Director

Maureen Thielemans Managing Editor

Letters to the Editor

Jane E. Rooney

We welcome your comments. Please submit all letters to the editor to communications@aacp.org.

About Academic Pharmacy Now

Academic Pharmacy Now highlights the work of AACP member pharmacy schools and faculty. The magazine is published as a membership service.

Change of Address

For address changes, contact LaToya Casteel, Member Services Coordinator, at lcasteel@aacp.org.

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Editorial Assistant

Kyle R. Bagin

Communications Advisor

Stephanie Saunders Fouch

Art Director

Tricia Gordon Digital Designer

Sean Clark

©2020 by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

All rights reserved. Content may not be reprinted without prior written permission.

Freelance Writer

AACP’s Professional Supporter Program

Joseph Cantlupe

Freelance Writer

Emily Jacobs

Promotion Supporter Freelance Writer

Athena Ponushis

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Volume 13 2020 Issue 3

@AACPharmacy a look inside

campus connection

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A Renewed Focus on Resilience Pharmacy schools are taking a closer look at addressing mental health and well-being among faculty, staff and students.

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Adapting to Unprecedented Circumstances In the midst of a national pandemic, pharmacy schools face extraordinary challenges as they work to make alternate arrangements for rotations, determine how students will graduate on time and ensure that learning continues.

Data Science Is Delivering As data science changes the way drugs are discovered and developed, pharmacy schools are exploring the possible benefits for research and patient care.

community impact

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University of the Pacific Faculty Researcher Awarded $1.15 Million NIH Grant

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Research focused on the differences in the way males and females process GHB could lead to better understanding of overdose risk.

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Celebrating Science

The Future of Community Pharmacy: Direct Patient Care Community-based pharmacy is evolving from a place of product distribution into a healthcare destination.

University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy festival brings scientific literacy to the community.

@AACPharmacy

AACP Annual Meeting

July 13–31, 2020

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New Year, New Look for AACP’s Annual Meeting

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges, both personally and professionally, but academic pharmacy’s premier event promises to deliver richer benefits at an even deeper value.

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community note publisher’s impact

Dear Colleagues: As this issue of Academic Pharmacy Now arrives in your digital inbox, most colleges and schools of pharmacy have celebrated the virtual commencement activities of the Class of 2020. The final weeks of their Pharm.D. education have been like no other class before them. Hopefully, no other group of students, faculty and preceptors will ever have the same experience. The sudden disruption of experiential learning, the anxiety over being in (or being dismissed from) environments where seriously ill COVID-19 patients were arriving in staggering numbers, and questions about how to finish their degree and become licensed in a timely fashion were central to their experience.

Pharmacists and pharmacy faculty have made remarkable contributions during the coronavirus pandemic, as documented in this issue. From the research bench to the bedside, pharmaceutical scientists and practitioners have been difference makers and frontline heroes against a formidable foe.

Community pharmacists across the country have been recognized at the state and national levels as critical access points for care, including expanding access to testing, immunizing to protect against other vaccine-preventable conditions and treating those patients with other acute and chronic conditions; the very conditions that appear to make some individuals more vulnerable to the most serious manifestations of COVID-19.

There are innumerable lessons to be gleaned from these past several months. Despite the shift to remote teaching and learning and work from home for so many, including the entire AACP staff, unprecedented levels of collaboration have been observed. I have worked at the national level for two pharmacy associations for more than 28 years. In March over a period of less than two weeks, staff members from 12 national associations worked countless hours to produce a joint statement addressing how pharmacists can and should be empowered to contribute to the pandemic response. Since the release of the document in late March, these organizations have continued this collaboration and have met with policymakers at the state and federal levels to advocate for the strategies outlined in the document and to seek clarification on issues related to pharmacists’ empowerment and reimbursement for services like testing and immunizing once vaccines become available to prevent future outbreaks of the coronavirus.

Collaboration has been key to so much progress over these months. Scientists from around the world working together. Experiential education leaders and laboratory instructors sharing resources, creative approaches to advancing learning and assessment tools.

Colleges and schools working with the Community Enhanced Pharmacy Services network in the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative. By working together, we can accomplish more and do so faster. May this lesson stay with us as we emerge from this pandemic experience and work to do all those things our scientific and clinical leaders recommend to ensure that we remain healthy and stop the spread of COVID-19.

Be well,

Lucinda L. Maine, Ph.D., R.Ph. CEO and Publisher

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https://www.covidbestpractices.com/act

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A Renewed Focus on Resilience Pharmacy schools are taking a closer look at addressing mental health and well-being among faculty, staff and students.

By Jane E. Rooney Well before the recent coronavirus pandemic began, addressing mental health and well-being in the pharmacy community and among healthcare students and professionals had taken on some urgency. A study published in April in the American Journal of HealthSystem Pharmacy that assessed the risk of burnout in critical care pharmacists found that the risk is high and comparable to the risk in other critical care practitioner groups. Burnout was assessed from three aspects: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal achievement. Out of 193 critical care pharmacists, 64 percent reported at least one syndrome of burnout, and 14.5 percent reported burnout in all three scales.

In July 2019, recommendations from the National Consensus Conference on “Enhancing Well-Being and Resilience Among the Pharmacist Workforce” (a collaborative effort from the American Pharmacists Association, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, the National Association

of Boards of Pharmacy, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy and AACP) jumpstarted the need to more formally address the stresses and strains of pharmaceutical practice as well as the mental health of future pharmacists in pharmacy schools. Among the 50 recommendations the group approved, 12 specifically address pharmacy education, including incorporation of well-being education and training.

of Pharmacy, reached out to other schools to determine the interest level and find out what wellness initiatives were already in place. The positive feedback—39 schools responded— prompted Vogt, Buckley and AACP to move forward with the new Connect Community. Responses from schools indicated a wide variation in approaches, from incorporating mental health topics into the curriculum to offering electives to co-curricular activities.

This led AACP to launch the Community for Well-Being and Resiliency this past January in “While the gradient appears wide, cerConnect, a members-only online tainly there is a growing momentum. resource. The group’s creation was There are schools that are just putting based on a “common need for quality their toe in the water, so to speak, with resources and ideas to infuse the individual faculty who are addresswell-being science into pharmacy ing mental health in their own classes, education,” according to the vision while a number of some schools (like statement. The Connect Community my own) that have been offering organizers, Dr. Eleanor Vogt, professor coursework and training for several emerita, University of California San years, as in our Certificate in Resiliency Francisco School of Pharmacy, and Medicine,” explained Vogt. “My dream Dr. Beth Buckley, associate professor, is to have a Pharmacology of Resilience Department of Pharmacy Practice, course as a legitimate required course Concordia University Wisconsin School within the core curriculum, and that

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“Now is our opportunity to positively impact future generations by intentionally addressing the need for more incorporated, sustained wellness and resilience activities within our curricula and academic and professional communities.” ­—Dr. Monica Miller

the NAPLEX will contain questions on both the science and evidence-based guidelines regarding well-being and resiliency.”

Addressing positive mental health “has been on the back burner for several years,” she continued. “The well-being science is robust and yet apparently ignored by significant parts of the medical and pharmacy community.” To that end, at the AACP Strategic Planning Retreat last October, President-elect Dr. Anne Lin charged a task force with investigating how AACP and its members have been addressing the recommendations from the consensus conference.

“We found that our member schools and faculty, as well as AACP, have been engaged in addressing these recommendations in a number of ways,” said Dr. David Zgarrick, professor, Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, and an AACP Board of Directors member who chairs the task force. “Our preliminary report was presented to AACP’s Board of Directors in February. Based on our discussions, it has become apparent that addressing the well-being and resilience of not only pharmacists, but also the faculty, staff and students in

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our own communities, needed to come ‘front and center’ as AACP considers the development of our next strategic plan.”

Well-being and resilience have not been explicitly addressed in previous strategic plans, Zgarrick noted, but changes in the pharmacy practice environment—an evolving healthcare system that contributes to job stress, work overload and burnout—prompted discussion about bringing more visibility to the issue. “It is likely that the implementation will be differentiated and specific to the needs of the various constituencies that we serve,” he said. “While there will likely be calls for various well-being and resilience matters to be integrated into curricula taken by students, there will also be programs and other resources that address the needs of faculty, staff, preceptors, alumni and the profession.”

A Post-Pandemic Shift Dr. Monica Miller, clinical associate professor, Purdue University College of Pharmacy, led AACP’s 2017–18 Student Affairs Standing Committee, which formulated recommendations and a policy statement regarding student well-being and served as AACP’s representative voice on the “Enhancing Well-Being and Resilience Among the Pharmacist Workforce Consensus Conference”

planning committee. The standing committee’s overarching recommendations included combatting the mental health stigma; embracing vulnerability and healthy dialogue among faculty, staff and students as it relates to coping mechanisms; and the need for continued professional development and curricular integration of well-being and resilience topics.

“Conversations on well-being and resilience have transformed on a local and national level,” Miller noted.

“There has been ongoing activity within our professional organizations and universities to address this topic.

I personally have transitioned this year into being the Wellness Fellow at Purdue University College of Pharmacy where my focus is on enhancing the culture of wellness for our college community. Due to the growing focus on this topic, I have tapped into a network of others across the country who are sharing in this work. From my dialogue and investigation, many colleges are working to implement wellness and resilience activities within their curricula to varying degrees.”

COVID-19 has obviously brought even more attention to concerns about how healthcare professionals are attending

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to their mental health. “There is palpable awareness of the stress and burnout among health professionals, including students and pharmacists,” Miller said.

“The way schools are addressing student stress and burnout differs widely across the Academy. However, there have been clear action steps taken to improve this among our learners. Even with these steps, there remains a need for even more intentional conversations and activities to aid in preventing burnout among all members of our community.

Right now is when having intentional focus and prioritized resources dedicated to wellness is important as we manage the aftermath of COVID-19.”

She acknowledged that while the pandemic has upended normal life, it presents an opportunity for pharmacy schools. “We are experiencing a shared level of trauma that will have lasting impacts on us all,” Miller said. “Now is our opportunity to positively impact future generations by intentionally addressing the need for more incorporated, sustained wellness and resilience

activities within our curricula and academic and professional communities.

My hope is that our leaders deliberately set a culture that promotes wellness and resilience for our communities.

When we emerge from our shelter-athome orders, I hope we are intentional in our interactions with each other and embrace the beauty of human connection. As we reflect on this experience, we have much to share and learn from each other that can be used to create lasting change in how we care for our communities of faculty, staff, students, alumni, preceptors and patients.”

Zgarrick agreed that the current situation presents an opening to think more broadly about supporting students’ well-being. “Mental health was certain to be part of [AACP’s strategic plan] even before the pandemic,” he said. “I feel that it is even more certain to be included. The pandemic also brings up a number of other matters that will likely need to be addressed, including physical protection for our faculty and students (think access to and appropri-

ate use of PPE when appropriate), and even financial well-being.”

Miller would like to see pharmacy schools take steps toward some or all of the following: intentional, longitudinal integration of wellness and resilience activities within the curricula and academic cultures; practice being vulnerable with each other by sharing experiences, concerns and joys; use of bidirectional learning where students can be teachers; practice cultural awareness in our interactions; and recognition from leadership that wellness is a critical measure of success for students, faculty and staff. “I am excited by this opportunity for our profession and look forward to what we can create when we place intention around our wellness and resilience practices.” P Jane E. Rooney is managing editor of Academic Pharmacy Now.

Resources

Enhancing We ll-being and Re silience Among the Ph armacist Workf orce: A National Con

The American Psychological Association site has a Psychology Help Center: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter AACP members have free access to the Well-Being and Resiliency Connect Community, which offers a wealth of resources for faculty and students: https://www.aacp.org/resource/aacp-connect

sensus Confere

nce

Introduction

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Nearly a half-ce ntury of researc h has described moral distress, the issues and work overload, concerns associa burnout, and level decades of discus ted with job stress, of control within sion and engag the pharmacy profes ement in diverse with rapid change sion. After strategies by pharm s in the practic acy stakeholders e models of pharm system, it is clear combined acy and an ever-c that the pharm hanging, evolvin acist workforce and resilience of g health care is currently at a the pharmacist critical juncture. workforce must pharmacy stakeh The well-being be effectively and olders. efficiently addres sed by all To address this important issue, a collaboration Colleges of Pharm was formed between acy (AACP), the the American Associ Accreditation Counc American Pharm ation of acists Association il for Pharmacist Education (ACPE (APhA), the Nation and the Nation ), the al Alliance of State al Association of Boards of Pharm Pharmacy Associ and Resilience acy (NABP), ations (NASPA) Among the Pharm and the Enhanc acist Workforce: and conducted. ing Well-being A National Consen sus Conference was planne d The objectives of the consensus conference were to: • Evaluate factors that contribute to well-be and profession ing and resilien levels. ce at the individ ual, organizationa l, • Develop strategies that could improv e pharmacist well-be moral distress within ing and resilien individuals, manag ce and decrease ers, organizations • Identify and prioriti , and the profes sion. ze strategies that will drive change and resilience. and fuel improv ements in well-be ing • Develop actionable recommendations that guide organi positive change . zations and individ uals in implementing Diverse stakeholders within the profes sion—representing practice setting s, schools and pharmacists and colleges of pharm employers from in Chicago from acy, and profes across July 17–19, 2019, sional organizations and engaged in issues and concer —came together a thoughtful and ns associated with intentional proces well-being, moral of the conference s to discuss distress, work overloa was the develo pment and approv d, and burnout. that can be effecti al of meaningful The goal vely implemented and actionable broadly to addres recom menda s this important tions issue.

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Enhancing Well-Being and Resilience Among the Pharmacist Workforce: A National Consensus Conference: https://www.pharmacist.com/enhancing-well-being-and-resilience-amongpharmacist-workforce-national-consensus-conference The National Academy of Medicine recently published “Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being” (University of Texas at Austin Dean Lynn Crismon served on the committee): https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25521/taking-action-against-clinician-burnouta-systems-approach-to-professional

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Download the report: https://www.pharmacist.com/sites/ default/files/audience/APhA_Well_ Being_Resilience_Report_%200719.pdf

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Data Science Is Delivering As data science changes the way drugs are discovered and developed, pharmacy schools are exploring the possible benefits for research and patient care.

By Joseph A. Cantlupe At the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, there were hints in January that the world was changing. As the coronavirus pandemic began to emerge on the West Coast, much of academia was on vacation. Inside the QBI scientists scrambled, trying to figure out something massive and unknown: what made the coronavirus tick. Over the next few months, the lab went full bore to examine the intricacies of the coronavirus, spilling its research across three countries and enlisting more than 200 scientists.

QBI Director Dr. Nevan Krogan formed the QBI Coronavirus Research Group, eyeing multiple research projects related to COVID-19. Researchers pooled their expertise in biochemistry, virology, and structural, computational, chemical and systems biology to understand the intricacies of how the coronavirus effectively undermines human cells to replicate itself rapidly, enabling spread to others, and what could be done to thwart it. They began to explore immense possibilities in their research: rapid diagnosis using gene-editing technology to track the spread and evolution of COVID-19, and diagnosing infected patients with no or minimal symptoms.

The researchers tapped into the world of data science, which is constantly evolving and changing the way drugs are discovered and developed

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and how treatments are delivered Data Opening Doors to patients. Pharmacy schools are “It’s all data-driven, what we piece moving forward to be part of this trend, together in this pipeline, and show especially in research, where data and how fast it can move,” Krogan said. computational methods are becoming “We interface and try to find the right a major part of pharmaceutical and targets to have an integrative suite health sciences. of tools for the underlying biology.

It’s sharing across the board and it is For Krogan, his around-the-clock done in a more fully open way across work with his research team was an academia.“ opportunity to embrace research unburdened by bureaucracy and focused on a team approach welcoming to students. “We had a foundation for collaboration, which doesn’t happen overnight. It was expedited in an exciting way,” Krogan said. Noting the progress that the multidisciplinary team made, he said similar academic work “would have taken a year, but it came together in a few weeks.”

As the QBI Coronavirus Research Group set out to uncover the human proteins enabling the coronavirus to spread, it looked at how human and virus proteins interact and studied the clusters they formed. In the meantime, the team identified at least 75 over-thecounter prescription and developmentstage drug compounds that they said had the potential to target cellular proteins that are possibly “hijacked” by the virus to promote its spread. The Krogan team, which included 38 scientists, made maps of cells both in healthy and disease states and disseminated the information around the world for other researchers to examine.

At the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, Dr. Steven M. Smith, assistant professor, focuses on heart disease, stroke prevention and hypertension control. He also is beginning to examine the coronavirus and possible links to hypertension and its treatment. In his research, Smith aims to “improve the way we inform treatment decisions and interact in multidisciplinary teams in the future through data visualization and clinical support.”

Smith, who is in the pharmacotherapy & translational research department and was AACP’s second NAM Fellow, also runs a family medicine fellowship at Florida and is involved in training. Data flows through many areas of healthcare. It involves interactions with patients, providers and insurers and includes medical records, administrative claims, such as billing and patient pharmacy data related to medication adherence, and even patient-reported outcomes. Fundamental issues in his work include data collection and

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curation, standardization, privacy and interpretation. Emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence and advanced data visualization, have to account for these issues, he said.

“If you ask 10 different people what data science is you’ll get 20 different answers,” said Smith, noting a longstanding debate over the issue. “People who call themselves data scientists don’t necessarily agree on what that means. I think pharmacy schools are recognizing that it’s important to start integrating this into the profession. Some have had this focus for a while, but others are just beginning to appreciate the importance of bringing data science into pharmacy.”

graduate programs require students to get coursework in fundamentals of inferential statistics, data analysis and interpretation, all related to but not explicitly framed as data science, Smith said. The university is advancing a large-scale initiative focused on what officials say is making the school a leader in artificial intelligence research and training, including the use of supercomputer technology.

Smith is also interested in using big data sources for developing prediction models, especially related to hypertension studies. The results of blood pressure measurement may differ in so many ways, depending on where the clinicians are: in a doctor’s office, a home or a hospital. Making sense of these data can be challenging. Smith works closely with the Patient-Centered Outcome Research Institute’s PCORNet that aggregates real-world patient data, linking electronic health records, health plan data and patient-reported outcomes

At the University of Florida, data science and related concepts are not a major focus of the professional Pharm.D. program but are taught in graduate Ph.D. and master’s programs. The

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Dr. Nevan Krogan, Quantitative Biosciences Institute director, talks with his team, which is tapping into data science to research COVID-19.

within a standardized common data model. PCORnet serves as a repository for data on nearly 70 million Americans receiving care across the U.S. and provides infrastructure for large-scale pragmatic clinical trials, he said. “We have started to push the boundary of the scale, speed and kinds of data that can be collected and use that to try to rapidly answer questions that weren’t previously possible, such as whether certain treatments are better or worse for patient groups that are often excluded from phase 3 clinical trials.”

Building on Existing Capability Dr. Allen Flynn, assistant professor in the Department of Learning Health Sciences, and a research analyst and technology lead at the University of Michigan Medical School, discusses data science as “essentially the automation of algorithmic data modeling.” And

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that, he said, is steeped in statistics. At a place like the University of Michigan, “data science is getting a lot of attention and support campuswide these days.”

Pharmacy schools can build on their data science capability, beginning with statistical training, by adding a course in data science and machine learning, Flynn said. “One of the challenges, which is also the case in statistics courses these days, is that data science is pursued with sophisticated software tools that students also need to learn,” he pointed out. As in many areas of healthcare, data can be scattered in different uses, complicated and difficult to scrutinize. “In healthcare, because data are highly fragmented and often productized and commercialized, it can be difficult to find sufficient data to get significant value from data science studies.”

Still, substantial strides are being made, especially with large image data sets, big electronic health record data “and with enormous quantities of streaming data from physiologic monitors,” he said. Michigan Medicine is working to implement models from data science to help predict “sepsis, readmission, [electronic records] utilization and the downward trajectory of clinical worsening.”

Flynn has a long relationship with technology. After he graduated in 1993 with a Pharm.D. from the University of Michigan, Flynn studied computer science. “I am personally interested in using data science to help predict ADEs (adverse drug events) and medication issues. But finding sufficient, high-quality data about ADEs is a real challenge,” he admitted. As data science evolves, so does Flynn with the courses he teaches.

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“I think pharmacy schools are recognizing that it’s important to start integrating this into the profession. Some have had this focus for a while, but others are just beginning to appreciate the importance of bringing data science into pharmacy.” ­—Dr. Steven M. Smith

He is working to change course content to incorporate data science. “I teach introduction to health informatics and I am sharing with my students what I’m seeing as data science evolves,” he noted. “My course is a survey course and I do not teach data science per se.”

While different schools work various ways through the tributaries of data science, one area is emerging that everyone seems to agree on: it is opening the door for teams to collaborate easily and produce academic studies. Whether it’s data modeling or biostatistics or data security, “I am watching what NIH is doing through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) CTSA program, as well as efforts from PCORI, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and OHDSI, a stakeholder collaborative that supports application of large-scale analytics to health data, what some large insurers are doing, and what ‘big tech’ is doing in these areas,” Flynn said.

Team Approaches As Krogan worked in California with other researchers—remotely—around the world to study coronavirus, the studies bridged what had been longtime gaps. For instance, specialists in cancer and infectious diseases may not have interacted as much, but the

effort to understand COVID-19 brought teams together to brainstorm ideas and share experimental information. That’s the stated vision behind the launch of the QBI by Krogan and UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean Dr. B. Joseph Guglielmo. The idea was straightforward: strengthen interdisciplinary research.

QBI includes more than 100 research labs as affiliates and has earned more than $70 million in federal research funding from the National Institutes of Health for projects ranging from psychiatry to cancer.

As they explored COVID-19, the level of collaboration that resulted was eyepopping, said Krogan. The UCSF team collaborated with research groups at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and Institut Pasteur in France and tested drug candidates that were FDA-approved or in development against live coronavirus. Krogan said the academic teams were also collaborating with pharmaceutical companies during the coronavirus studies. In a separate effort at a team approach before the outbreak, the University of California San Francisco and UC Berkeley announced a collaboration with Janssen Research and Development—part of Johnson and Johnson—for a new data science fellowship program that will “explore innovative data-driven approaches to

improve human health and train the next generation of leaders in the healthcare data sciences.”

The teamwork offers great rewards in instructing students, illustrating the possibility of shared accomplishments, Krogan said. “Students look at their professors in the labs and if they work with those who are not open to collaboration and worry obsessively about who gets an asterisk on a paper, that trickles down to the student,” he said. “Students can look at what we are doing, at what can happen in collaboration, and how exciting that is. The system has to change not to just reward an individual.

Let’s start rewarding groups of people, and this helps young people participating in these groups. The problem with academia is that it’s so siloed, so competitive.” The multidisciplinary team approach exhibited in the coronavirus research “is freeing, a great feeling,” he added. “We are demonstrating how fast we could move if we want it to move.”

The challenge, he acknowledged, “is keeping infrastructure in place for the next thing” beyond coronavirus. “The system can change, and attack not just COVID-19, but breast cancer and other diseases the same way. We can get exciting results.” P Joseph A. Cantlupe is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

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Adapting to Unprecedented Circumstances In the midst of a national pandemic, pharmacy schools face extraordinary challenges as they work to make alternate arrangements for rotations, determine how students will graduate on time and ensure that learning continues.

By Jane E. Rooney

The COVID-19 pandemic turned lives upside down for citizens around the globe. For pharmacy schools, as with most education institutions throughout the United States, this meant a drastic adjustment as administrators, faculty and students shifted to virtual learning arrangements for the foreseeable future. Although many institutions have experience with emergency planning for events such as natural disasters or short-term closures, a viral outbreak on this scale is unprecedented. “We never thought of a pandemic of this proportion,” said Dr. Wanda Maldonado, professor and dean, University of Puerto Rico School of Pharmacy, who is part of a COVID-19 Task Force appointed by the governor to provide guidance to the Department of Health. “This has taken a lot of effort from the task force. There were no protocols in place for guidance, as the spread of this disease is a fairly recent phenomenon.”

When it became clear in mid-March 2020 how quickly the virus was spreading, AACP joined several pharmacy advocacy groups in urging government agencies to adopt policy recommendations to empower pharmacists to support the nation’s response and assist patients. The four recommended measures were: authorizing test-treat-immunize; easing operational barriers to address workforce and workflow issues; addressing shortages and continuity of care; and reimbursing for services and removing barriers.

signed on by over a dozen national organizations in less than a week simply has no precedent. We have already seen the outcomes in terms of state pharmacy board waivers to address the needs we identified in that document. That is one of the most striking results of this collaboration.”

Maine added that AACP is striving to provide resources to individuals and institutions to help them through this crisis. “The pandemic has stimulated the most remarkable amount of cooperation, resource sharing and mutual support that I have ever witnessed,” she said. “From our co-hosting the initial series of webinars with ACPE for deans or their designates in midMarch to various sections and special interest groups using AACP Connect for problem solving and resource sharing, it is a testament to what wonderful people we have in the Academy.”

Here are the stories from several pharmacy schools around the country about how they made decisions and handled the restrictions brought on by COVID-19 in the early days of the outbreak in March. (This information was up to date as of press time in late April 2020.)

Unknown Scenarios

Puerto Rico was one of the first U.S. jurisdictions to impose strict measures to try to contain the coronavirus, enforcing a strict lockdown that began on March 15. At that point, all didactic courses at the University of Puerto Rico School of “A collaborative spirit is at work at the state and national level within pharmacy and also in our interprofessional community,” Pharmacy transitioned to online platforms, said Maldonado.

“For experiential education, we made some adjustments. We noted AACP CEO and Executive Vice President Dr. Lucinda went through a process of reassessing when these experiences Maine. “To have a substantive policy analysis produced and

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would be offered and in which scenarios, since lockdown regulations are very tight. Our students were reassigned when we performed an assessment of the practice sites’ availability and students’ required experiences.” She expressed confidence that despite the pause in activity, graduating students will be able to meet their requirements to graduate on time.

She added that in many ways, the school and faculty are continuing with their academic duties. “Researchers from our school are allowed to go sporadically to continue with research investigations, so these are not affected, and they can continue with experiments that are ongoing. Some of them have external funding so they are allowed to provide continuity but while observing social distancing, with minimal personnel present. Currently, no students are involved unless absolutely required.”

of hydroxychloroquine when deemed appropriate, and in order to preserve a supply for patients who use it for autoimmune diseases, among other pharmacy-related matters.”

In Seattle, which was one of the first areas in the United States to be affected by COVID-19, the University of Washington School of Pharmacy had to make quick decisions about how to move forward. “We had our first case back in January. Our first communication with students was Jan. 27,” said Dr. Jennifer Danielson, assistant dean, Experiential Education and Student Professional Development, and associate professor. “They did such a wonderful job taking care of that first patient and he was discharged. It gave Seattle a false sense of security. The school leadership sent information out to let people know the virus was out there and remind our students to follow hospital policies and procedures. We didn’t feel we needed to add extra layers of guidance. We reminded preceptors to make sure students knew what was going on.

Then in late February it started blowing up.” At that point, she said, the school went into crisis management mode.

The governor’s task force is considering protocols for pharmacists, physicians, long-term care institutions, nursing homes and other sites that need guidance in terms of prevention and mitigation of the pandemic. In addition to Maldonado, task force members include physicians of different spe- “We got a call from the first hospital [in King County] that cialties, epidemiologists and health services administrators. had gotten hit really hard. They were the first to say that all “The task force chair is the chancellor of our medical sciences the students have to leave,” she continued. “The pharmacy campus,” Maldonado noted. “It’s a group of great variety that department was sad because they wanted to keep students. can provide input in terms of different types of expertise.

Then we started going into contingency mode. Every hour For pharmacists, we have provided guidance in terms of how of every day over the next three weeks—we couldn’t seem controlled substances should be managed as well as handling to get ahead of it and make effective decisions about what to prescriptions given the updated DEA guidance and telemedi- do for students. Our dean got involved, who has an advisory cine regulations. We are also providing guidance on the use committee with representatives from many of the hospital

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“Learning how to operate with this anxiety and uncertainty is the life of a healthcare professional. We’re scheduling a workshop with a mental health counselor to help [students] sit with this and be able to talk about it.” ­—Dr. Jennifer Danielson

systems. We got an agreement from the lead pharmacy directors to keep our students as much as possible. After a while some still found they had to let the students go. Our medical and nursing schools decided to take their students off rotations. They have more leeway in accreditation standards.

This put pressure on us to remove our students. Our university hospital pharmacy department was the last one to let students go.”

just call off rotations,” she explained. “In most cases we’ve been trying to counsel them through this. This is what life as a healthcare professional is. This is the calling we have.

Learning how to operate with this anxiety and uncertainty is the life of a healthcare professional. We’re scheduling a workshop with a mental health counselor to help them sit with this and be able to talk about it.”

Eventually the university hospital was able to set up remote access for student pharmacists on required rotations, allowing them to do daily check-ins with preceptors and do case presentations remotely. Danielson took on 14 students who are doing an elective experience, which will involve research projects with faculty or work as teaching assistants to help with online courses.

At the University of Pittsburgh, the first decision made was to extend spring break, which began on March 9, by an extra week. That provided the School of Pharmacy an opportunity to train faculty to use web-based resources and prepare for remote teaching, said Dr. Melissa Somma McGivney, professor and associate dean for community partnerships. “We quickly learned how to use remote teaching tools,” she said. “Faculty are utilizing the teaching technique that best matches the content of the course. We were communicating daily with our APPE students on rotation.”

A major challenge, she noted, has been getting messaging out.

“The amount of time it takes to draft communications to students, faculty and preceptors is amazing. We quickly realized we needed to have a consistent message, needed to run these up the chain. We would spend hours drafting emails, getting them vetted, then have new information come in and have to scrap it and start over.” Once administrators realized that some messages were getting lost in the sea of emails, they began weekly Zoom meetings with the dean and students, which helped get students’ questions answered.

Most student pharmacists are cooperative and understanding and simply glad to be graduating on time, Danielson said.

Some are anxious and worried about exposure to the virus.

“The uncertainty is a life lesson for them. Some want us to

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Sharing Ideas

Frequent, short communication was important during the initial adjustment period. In terms of APPE rotations, the three-person experiential learning department was critical in getting new processes in place. “Our dean was part of many conversations with ACPE and AACP about how students meet hours during this time,” McGivney noted. “That guidance has allowed us to provide some remote experiences where the students were no longer able to stay on site because of the decision of the organization or there was some reason the student couldn’t stay. Some are able to continue with experiences as planned, but for those who are not, we

campus connection

“Some schools said they have developed virtual drug information rotation for students who needed hours. One school in Florida found that there were COVID-19 call centers that needed volunteers so they were able to connect with a faculty member and students were volunteering at the call centers.” ­—Dr. Trish Devine

have a hospital/clinical APPE that is run by faculty member Dr. Pamela Smithburger. I’m working with our team leading our community APPE remotely. We’ve partnered with independent pharmacies in western Pennsylvania that happened to be owned by alumni, so that’s been terrific. They were seeking additional support. We have eight students completing a remote APPE. They are doing projects to assist pharmacists: writing protocols, condensing information, supporting call-based patient care, which they can do remotely, also working on some advocacy projects to support communitybased pharmacists.” All students are now positioned to meet graduation requirements.

The School of Pharmacy is leading the ACT (AcademiaCPESN Transformation) Pharmacy Collaborative, an operational learning collaborative between 85 colleges and schools of pharmacy and established clinically integrated networks of community-based pharmacies. The collaborative mobilizes stakeholders and resources to support and facilitate implementation of community-based pharmacy care. A webinar in mid-March brought together faculty and independent pharmacies that were concerned about not having enough staff.

“We’ve put together opportunities for independent pharmacies to raise their hand if they need help and share with schools if they have students who want paid internships, volunteer hours or IPPE or APPE experiences,” McGivney said. “We are also working on another webinar [which occurred in early April] to bring together leaders from national pharmacy organizations to share legislative and advocacy ac-

tion supporting community pharmacy transformation.” The collaborative connects schools to make sure messaging about IPPEs and APPEs are in line with each other and to share resources among faculty. She added that pharmacy school deans throughout Pennsylvania are communicating to talk about advocacy issues.

Dr. Trish Devine, associate professor, pharmacy practice, and director of interprofessional education, Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, said that she definitely saw collaboration among schools as they worked to find solutions in the initial weeks of the coronavirus outbreak. As current chair of AACP’s Experiential Education section, she helped facilitate several webinars in late March to provide time for members to ask questions and share possible solutions and innovative ideas for APPE and IPPE requirements during difficult times. “We had 80-110 attendees each session,” she said. “Right there it shows that we’re such an active section and want to help each other, so that was great to see.”

For the many schools that do above the APPE 1440-hour ACPE requirement, she continued, schools have taken the extra hours that students obtained earlier from previous rotations, looked at overlap of competencies and objectives that would meet the competencies of the core required rotation that was shortened or cancelled and applied those hours toward the needed rotation and total hours. “Out East, it seems like they have been hit the hardest. A few schools that cancelled their last block were able to make up the deficit using previous hours or looking at virtual things they can do.

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“For the students it is a unique opportunity to learn how to rise to the occasion, how to demonstrate their value. Even if all other establishments close, pharmacies continue to provide services. They have established protocols and have not stopped serving the population.” ­—Dr. Wanda Maldonado

Some schools said they have developed virtual drug information rotation for students who needed hours. One school in Florida found that there were COVID-19 call centers that needed volunteers so they were able to connect with a faculty member and students were volunteering at the call centers.”

Devine acknowledged that the hardest rotation to complete remotely is the hospital/health system. “That’s the main concern—trying to complete those hours and keep our students safe,” she noted. “Most hospital/health system sites are no longer taking students. Most if not all ambulatory care rotations have gone virtual. At some sites students have access to patient health records, attend virtual rounds, write up the cases and communicate with patients through telehealth via the phone. Other sites where students did not have access to patient records, preceptors de-identified the patient information, sent it to the student for the case to be worked up remotely and would connect with the preceptor to discuss and meet with the patient through telehealth.”

Coping With Uncertainty The next challenges facing many schools are related to the new APPE students (class of 2021) and summer IPPE students, Devine said. “Most programs start their rotation blocks in May or June, so people are either delaying the start of a block so they will have one less block off during the school year or rescheduling any that were scheduled in a hospital/health system to block three and putting everyone in a community or non-hospital rotation for block one or two,” she explained. “A lot of schools do IPPEs in the summer. For

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institutional IPPEs, we have delayed the start of those rotations to bock two. Some schools with block course schedules are discussing moving a fall didactic course to a summer online course and using the time in fall for an IPPE rotation.”

Butler is among the schools that, if IPPEs are not able to be completed this summer or during winter break, would have students complete an IPPE next May (2021), and the advanced rotation would be delayed one month. “That’s our fallback plan,” she added. “Winter break is another opportunity, but that’s less than four weeks for us. But we are looking at chunk of time during winter break. We put a task force together. For IPPEs, those students who have had experiences perhaps as interns, we’re looking at developing a standardized way for them to test out of hospital IPPE hours.

The Experiential Education Section developed a task force to develop a guidance tool for schools to use to verify and document students with extensive hospital experience who have met desired competencies and outcomes and can opt out of those hours. They can obtain the hours in an area that is available for the student during this difficult time. If you can get some of your students to test out, it frees up slots for those students who need the hospital experience. Some schools are also doing simulation for IPPEs up to 60 hours.

Now that hospitals might not take our students, we’re looking back at our curriculum to see what experiences in labs would count under simulation toward a hospital rotation.

That will help decrease the number of hours students need in a hospital.” She noted that administrators are being innovative and creative coming up with ways to meet competencies; one school plans to do a mock IPPE in the fall.

campus connection

“We’ve put together opportunities for independent pharmacies to raise their hand if they need help and share with schools if they have students who want paid internships, volunteer hours or IPPE or APPE experiences.” ­—Dr. Melissa Somma McGivney

With spring being the biggest time for onboarding require“If your hospitals are willing to set up remote access for ments such as basic life support, Devine said it presents patient care records, that does allow a student to do paanother difficult challenge since those are hands-on courses. tient care activities,” she advised. “We found it easier than “Some schools are contacting their sites to see if they would we thought it would be to set up. That allows students to accept students receiving the classroom-only portion of the finish out the rotation that started face to face. You do end basic life support course and complete the hands-on portion up having students you have to pull off and do alternative once it is available,” she said. “Students would often go to experiences. Reach out to your board of pharmacy. We got fire departments or training centers for their hands-on skills agreement that they were okay with this. Pharmacists aren’t test. At this time that’s a challenge. Required screenings and always face to face with patients right now anyway, so you vaccinations is another challenge as labs and medical offices do the best you can. I referred to it as the grief process. It’s are not taking well visits. Butler requires IGRA TB tests com- not going to be perfect. These wonderful schedules are just pleted on students. This potentially could delay rotations not going to happen. None of our lives are the same anymore. as only a few of our students completed this requirement Get through the grief process to acceptance to make the best through their place of employment. Experiential education of what you can do.” offices are having to complete a lot more work during an already busy time of year but it seems like faculty from schools Maldonado in Puerto Rico said the experience has underscored the need for pharmacists and has provided some good of pharmacy have been willing to help our offices with the reminders for student pharmacists. “For the students it is a extra work. Everyone is sharing what they’re doing, their reunique opportunity to learn how to rise to the occasion, how sources, so we don’t have to reinvent different assessments.” to demonstrate their value,” she said. “Even if all other esWashington’s Danielson also witnessed colleagues in her tablishments close, pharmacies continue to provide services. region sharing ideas and resources. “I started talking to They have established protocols and have not stopped servother experiential education people,” she recalled. “We have ing the population. They have been key.” P a consortium here in the Northwest. Mostly it’s been sharJane Rooney is managing editor of Academic Pharmacy Now. ing information, how are you handling this…the frenzied pace was amazing.” She said there is widespread acceptance that remote options have to be okay in this unprecedented situation.

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University of the Pacific Faculty Researcher Awarded $1.15 Million NIH Grant Research focused on the differences in the way males and females process GHB could lead to better understanding of overdose risk.

photo: University of the Pacific

Dr. Melanie A. Felmlee, an assisrisk populations.” Felmlee is passionate males, because of the hormones estrotant professor of pharmaceutics and about bringing awareness through her gen and progestogen. This research will medicinal chemistry at University of research to underserved populations look at specific proteins that transport the Pacific’s Thomas J. Long School of that are at risk.

GHB across cell membranes and their Pharmacy, has received a four-year, $1.15 regulation by sex hormone therapy.

“I think when we design any study we million grant for research that focuses “The transporters are regulated by on the differences in the way males and should be inclusive,” Felmlee said.

“While we are trying to look at the sex hormones,” Felmlee said. “They females process GHB. The grant is from whole spectrum, we are focusing on are critical for determining how one’s the National Institutes of Health Supthe transgender population, which kidney functions in terms of removing port of Competitive Research (SCORE) the drug. What my graduate research Program for her project “GHB Toxicoki- has largely been overlooked in GHB research studies.”

The research has the assistants and I have found is females netics: Role of sex hormone dependent potential for broader application.

“The at certain times in their reproductive monocarboxylate transporter regulamonocarboxylate transporters I study cycle are more protected from GHB tion and potential for altered overdose are also involved in targeted theratoxicity and they were able to remove risk in transgender men and women.” peutic strategies for oncology, fertility the drug faster. The transporters are The SCORE Research Advancement studies and immune suppression,” she the key to figuring out why there are Award is co-funded by the National Incontinued.

“Changes in these transthe differences associated with the sex stitute of General Medical Sciences and porters in response to sex hormones hormones.” the National Institute on Drug Abuse. has the potential to impact these GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, is “This grant provides the support to broader fields of research.” a central nervous system depressant significantly enhance and accelerate Felmlee’s research focuses on the clinically prescribed to treat the medithe research conducted in my lab at role of sex differences on transporter cal conditions narcolepsy and cataplexy.

University of the Pacific,” Felmlee said. regulation and toxicity of drugs. Her It is also an illicit drug taken for its “With this research we hope to underresearch on GHB suggests females are calming and euphoric effects, which stand why GHB toxicity is different in protected from toxicity, compared to make it a popular drug of abuse. In males and females, inclusive of all at-

“What my graduate research assistants and I have found is females at certain times in their reproductive cycle are more protected from GHB toxicity and they were able to remove the drug faster. The transporters are the key to figuring out why there are the differences associated with the sex hormones.” ­—Dr. Melanie Felmlee

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community impact

clinical doses it is safe. In comparison, illicit GHB is colorless and odorless, which makes it difficult to determine the dose, significantly increasing the risk of overdose.

It is challenging to measure the public health impact of recreational GHB use since it may not be reported by users and is often combined with other illicit drugs and alcohol. When a patient is taken to the emergency room due to an overdose, it is often identified anecdotally or by observing common symptoms.

Rapid testing is not available and a GHB overdose can only be confirmed by a toxicology screening.

University of the Pacific doctor of pharmacy students and graduate students assisted with compiling the preliminary data, which was a critical component of the grant application.

Pacific’s Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences Program graduate students will assist with the laboratory research.

There will also be opportunities for Pharm.D. students to be involved in components of the research.

to increase the research support at institutions such as Pacific with a history of training and graduating students from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences. The university had to qualify first as a SCORE institution before Felmlee’s project was considered for funding. This is Pacific’s first NIH SCORE grant and Felmlee’s first NIH grant as a principal investigator. P

In addition to recognizing Felmlee’s research, this grant spotlights Pacific’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The NIH SCORE Program is designed

Originally published March 21, 2020, by the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, University of the Pacific. Reprinted with permission.

Celebrating Science University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy festival brings scientific literacy to the community.

By Emily Jacobs

“We know there’s been a big push to increase nationwide STEM scores for high schoolers, as well as increase the public’s access to science,” said Dr. Vincent Venditto, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and one of the EiS festival founders. “The other issue is, the number of applications continue to decline for colleges of pharmacy and many are not aware of the science coming out of these colleges. We wanted to find new strategies to encourage students to go into STEM fields and promote the type of translational science you often see at pharmacy schools.”

Rather than keeping scientific principles within the walls of academia, EiS sessions are held at various bars, restaurants

photo: Michelle Pitts

Science is all around us, from the photosynthesis of our houseplants to our WiFi connection to the medicines we take. Yet many people take for granted the scientific principles that influence every facet of our lives. The annual Everything is Science (EiS) festival, a free, public event hosted by the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, aims to change that. Launched in 2018, this weeklong event seeks to bring science literacy to the general community.

The 2019 EiS festival included the presentation “The Science of What’s Alive (or Not).”

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“As professionals at a land grant institution we are not only focused on pushing science forward for the state, but making that science accessible, improving the well-being and science literacy of our communities. Being on the committee, students really see the ins and outs of coordinating with venues, setting dates and meeting deadlines and interacting with the media, further honing their skills as professionals and scientists.” ­—Dr. Vincent Venditto

and breweries throughout Lexington.

This gives presenters and attendees a more relaxed environment to encourage community outreach and closer connections between the university and the general public. “By being able to reach the public in fun and engaging ways, we take down the ivory tower barrier that is often between scientists and the general public,” Venditto said.

from professionals throughout the Commonwealth. From dietitians to photographers, participants are invited to explain the science behind their lines of work in the manner of a TED talk. This helps further close the gap between the community and academia. The theme for the 2020 festival, “Life in Technicolor,” also encouraged speakers to explore the connection between art and science.

Engaging the Audience

All speakers must abide by one rule: no PowerPoint presentations. Rather than depending on slides full of graphs to illustrate their data, EiS speakers

Presenters at the 2019 festival focused on the theme “Opposites Attract.”

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photo: Michelle Pitts

photo: Michelle Pitts

While many EiS speakers and organizers are UK faculty and researchers, the festival also encourages participation

must use more engaging techniques.

In a session on color temperature, one Lexington-based photographer used her own equipment to demonstrate, in person, how different light sources alter a photo’s color. Another speaker, in a session about the dairy industry, demonstrated how farmers use FitBit trackers to monitor dairy cow behavior in real time. Using real equipment and live demonstrations allows speakers to describe scientific principles more effectively; some educators even discover new presentation techniques to bring into their classrooms.

community impact

Planning an event like EiS begins the year before, when the UK College of Pharmacy holds an open call for anyone interested in participating, either on the planning committee, as a session coordinator or as a presenter. For the 2020 festival held this past February, many members of the planning committee included student pharmacists. “As professionals at a land grant institution we are not only focused on pushing science forward for the state, but making that science accessible, improving the well-being and science literacy of our communities,” said Venditto. “Being on the committee, students really see the ins and outs of coordinating with venues, setting dates and meeting deadlines and interacting with the media, further honing their skills as professionals and scientists.”

Positive Feedback Informal and anecdotal evidence suggests that the event is having its intended impact. While the EiS organizers do not collect hard data on the event’s sessions, attendees are encouraged to fill out comment cards with commentary on the venues or the event itself, including topic and speaker suggestions. In 2019, EiS received about 220 comment cards, with 99 percent of respondents saying they would recommend the event to their friends.

This enthusiasm extends to the bars and restaurants that host the sessions as well as the festival coordinators.

More local businesses have expressed interest in partnering and collaborating for the EiS festival, Venditto noted.

Speaker coordinators also were surveyed after the event, when they were The College of Pharmacy is especially asked to respond to the statement that suited to host an event like EiS due to its EiS is a positive experience. All coordi“self-contained” nature, he added. The nators responded with either “agree” or college can serve as a central knowledge “strongly agree.” base that connects to a diverse network While 2020 EiS had the highest atof scientists and community members, tendance yet, with at least 50 people atwhich can “promote a cross-pollination tending each of the 30 talks, advertising of ideas” across specialties.

and raising awareness for EiS remain a challenge, according to Venditto.

Awareness is particularly important to ensure that the festival is accomplishing its goal of improving science literacy. The EiS festival has partnered with other campus events including Engineering Day, an event geared toward elementary and high school students, and the UK Curiosity Fair, which allows campus professionals to demonstrate their work to undergrads. These partnerships enhance the breadth of the target audience that the EiS festival is able to reach.

Next year, a standalone website will be created for the event. In the past, it has been housed on a page within the College of Pharmacy website and this change will help increase the visibility of the festival. Additionally, the enthusiasm from the community was clear, with some attendees present every night of the week. However, this format overwhelmed some, and next year’s events will be shortened each night from three hours to two 75-minute sessions ending 30 minutes earlier (6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.) to better accommodate those who are eager to attend every talk.

photo: Michelle Pitts

Additional plans for 2021 include refining the festival’s overall theme.

EiS leaders hope to create a balance between being broad and specific, between abstract and concrete and between the arts and the sciences. One idea being considered for the next year, Venditto shared, is to have an artist and a scientist each give a talk and provide complementary views of the same topic.

Emphasizing the link between the humanities and science can help solidify the idea that “Everything is Science.” P Emily Jacobs is a freelance writer based in Toledo, Ohio.

Several festival presentations took place at local breweries.

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community impact

The Future of Community Pharmacy: Direct Patient Care Community-based pharmacy is evolving from a place of product distribution into a healthcare destination.

By Athena Ponushis and Nidhi Gandhi, Pharm.D.

Many pharmacists who spend time filling prescriptions keep hearing of a future where their role will be more focused on the patient, not the product. It’s anticipated that their attention will shift from dispensing to providing convenient clinical care. Some forward-thinking pharmacies are already enabling pharmacists to live in this awaited world, helping patients manage their medication experience and documenting interventions. These pharmacies are sharing their innovative models and schools are studying the impact, providing a window into the future of community-based pharmacy practice.

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Picture pharmacists having routine interactions with patients to review, optimize and synchronize medications rather than just episodic or transactional meetings at the counter. Pharmacists will collaborate with primary care practices as part of an integrated healthcare team, making recommendations on one shared medical record, reinforcing patient care plans. Patients who want care on demand go to their pharmacists for point-of-care testing, immunizations and travel consults, or prescriptions for contraception, smoking cessation and HIV prevention.

Imagine pharmacogenomic screenings being commonplace, as pharmacists look at genetics to predict drug response and tailor treatments. So goes the perceived evolution of communitybased pharmacists, from performing clinical interventions to becoming initial clinicians, ushering in a time when community pharmacies are considered essential to the healthcare landscape.

“We are training our student pharmacists for the future and this is the future we see,” said Linda Garrelts MacLean, interim dean, clinical professor of pharmacotherapy at Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. “I believe that community pharmacies are going to be the place where care is delivered, that access to the learned intermediary, someone who can assess, evaluate, prescribe when appropriate and even more importantly, refer when necessary.”

Washington state has been progressive on a number of pharmacy fronts since the 1970s. MacLean and Dr. Julie Akers, clinical associate professor of pharmacotherapy at WSU, are finalizing a study on the effectiveness of pharmacy treatments, comparing the care pharmacists provide for minor illnesses and self-limiting conditions to what is offered at more traditional settings, such as physician offices, urgent care centers or hospital emergency departments. The study will inherently set a baseline to measure how enhanced pharmacy services are influencing quality of care and access to care.

Once analyzed, MacLean believes the study will provide evidence that community pharmacists can contribute to caring for patients, compelling other states and pharmacies to replicate services and treat common ailments such as strep throat, urinary tract infections and severe headaches, including migraines. Akers has found, through surveys and anecdotally, that patients are confident in receiving care from pharmacists. It may take a little education (patients don’t always know what training pharmacists have had or what services are being offered) but once they know, Akers has not seen any hesitation in a patient’s willingness to be seen by a pharmacist.

“More involved direct patient care is the future of pharmacy practice, and schools need to ensure that they are graduating practice-ready pharmacists who are prepared to move into that role. Schools should take the time to fully assess their curriculum, making sure it is robust enough to where they are going to have pharmacists who are confident and ready to go start these services,” Akers said. “Also ensuring that they are building strong advocacy with their students so that as students want to move toward this future, they understand the legislative and regulatory framework of what they are allowed to do within their state and how to overcome any barriers.”

At WSU, student pharmacists take an intensive, weeklong, point-of-care and clinical services course at the beginning of their second year. Rather than re-create the material the

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community impact

Making E-Healthcare Mainstream state pharmacy association had created for continuing education for practicing pharmacists, faculty collaborated with the association, giving students access to online modules that they complete over the summer before school begins.

Students spend the entire first day of class going condition by condition, reviewing key guidelines through patient cases, deciding whether to use prescriptive authority, refer to a more advanced care setting or recognize that over-the-counter self-care products are appropriate for that case.

“What I find interesting is that prior to this course, our students have completed their over-the-counter self-care pharmacotherapy course, and in that course it’s over-the-counter or refer because the patient needs a prescription. So it’s always comical when we’re doing these patient cases that the students’ automatic response is, ‘We have to refer because that’s what we’ve learned before.’ It’s changing that mindset for them, realizing that as an advanced care practitioner pharmacist, you can handle some of these minor illnesses and conditions with prescriptive authority,” Akers said.

Other days are dedicated to immunizations. Students are certified in immunization administration and receive specialty training on pediatric immunization. Students learn how to screen for HIV, strep and influenza, practicing throat and nasal swabs on themselves or a team member before going through a rubric-graded assessment, ensuring they can collect the sample without it being contaminated. They have open practice laboratory sessions and breakout sessions where they learn how to run a travel consultation, interact with a patient and do the paperwork.

“We began this course after getting approval from our full faculty to move it forward as required curriculum for all of our graduates. That’s what was most important: getting all of our faculty to recognize that we truly believe as a program that this is the future of pharmacy,” Akers noted. “We really believe that this is the base knowledge that’s required for an entry-level pharmacist.”

Community pharmacists collect and assess patient information on a daily basis for medication therapy management, chronic disease state education, health screenings and immunization administration. The Pharmacist e-Care Plan standard is one of the many ways to transform community pharmacy practice. Pharmacy schools can incorporate the Pharmacist e-Care Plan standard into curricula to prepare student pharmacists to provide enhanced patient care services in the community.

Several colleges of pharmacy participated in a demonstration webinar hosted by PioneerRx, and 10 schools were selected to be part of a pilot workgroup. They have participated in biweekly meetings since late 2019 to learn about the PioneerRx pharmacy management software system, create patient use cases to utilize with the e-Care Plan standard and work with the software system to implement in their laboratory curricula. The pilot workgroup is also working on a manuscript for publication to expand awareness of this standard and its implementation into the curricula.

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The Path Forward In its 2018 report, “The Next Transition in Community-Based Pharmacy Practice,” the American Pharmacists Association found that pharmacists are trained to perform certain tasks but often experience work settings that are not conducive to such practice. The study found that new roles abound for community pharmacists in this “new patient-centered, medication experience era,” but stressed the difference between professional identity and commercial identity. To change perceptions of community pharmacy, the APhA encouraged pharmacists to see transformation “through the patient’s eyes.” From the patient’s vantage point, a medication experience is not clinical, it’s personal.

The Council of Deans formed a task force to find opportunities to improve community-based practice and give viable recommendations to AACP and member institutions to pursue such possibilities and make them realities. The task force chair, Dr. Jennifer Adams, associate dean for academic affairs, director of interprofessional education, clinical associate professor at Idaho State University College of Pharmacy, said the task force will structure recommendations in three separate areas.

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First, advancing pharmacy technician practice. Pharmacists must have good support staff if they are going to take on new roles, so elevating pharmacy technicians is crucial. “What are the types of tasks pharmacy technicians can do? What can we train them to do if they don’t already have that level of training, and what’s appropriate there, in terms of scope? What needs to be reserved for pharmacists?” Adams asked. “The way Idaho has tackled this is really from the perspective of delegating, allowing pharmacists to delegate tasks to technicians as long as those tasks are appropriate for their education, training and experience.” An example would be immunization administration. Determining if it’s the right immunization for that patient at that time would be the responsibility of the pharmacist, but the actual administration could be done by a technician. Same with point-of-care testing: the pharmacist would decide to do the test but the technician could administer it. Some pharmacies are delegating the accuracy checking of the dispensing process to technicians. “Data show that when they are delegated that task and given that authority, pharmacy technicians are actually more accurate than pharmacists because they tend to have fewer distractions,” Adams added.

Second, advancing the scope of pharmacy practice. “Our university has been closely involved with our board of pharmacy and our state association and we have navigated relationships with legislators to advance scope of practice,” Adams said.

The Idaho board looked at other boards of pharmacy, but also looked at medicine and nursing, examining how their licensees were regulated and found they regulate based on this concept of standard of care.

“What our board of pharmacy learned from our healthcare colleagues was, pardon the pun, but pharmacists tend to be really prescriptive in their regulations. We write out the exact details of how hot the water in the pharmacy needs to be, the amount of counter space that needs to be provided, we get way into the weeds, rather than saying the facility needs to be appropriate so that the practitioners in the facility can provide the appropriate standard of care,” Adams said. “So there is nuance, and sometimes it’s unnerving for pharmacists to begin to think that way, but our board of pharmacy in Idaho has shifted all of our regulation to a standard of care model, which allows pharmacists to practice at the top of their education and training and not be restricted by their license.”

community impact

A Model for Transforming Pharmacy Dr. Randy McDonough left his position as a full professor at the University of Iowa 14 years ago to prove that clinical services could be provided to people in the community pharmacy setting.

He started a clinically oriented practice, became recognized as a pioneer in community practice transformation and recently joined Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy as a professor of practice management and innovation. “I always said if I ever was asked to go back to academia, I would be an even better professor than before, having lived this experience,” McDonough said.

As co-owner of Towncrest Pharmacy in Iowa City, McDonough helped create a clinical practice that runs on five gears, all separate but cohesive, each financially viable on its own: 1. A dispensing area that integrates clinical services. “We have something we call continuous medication monitoring, where we have created a software program to quickly assess a patient and make determinations of any drug-related problems during workflow,” McDonough said.

2. An area for clinical services including medication therapy management, comprehensive medication reviews, point-of-care services, immunizations and the like.

3. Long-term care for group homes, providing products and consultation services to ensure that patients are achieving optimization of medications.

4. A durable medical equipment area, working with patients and sending notes to prescribers to keep them informed of a patient’s progress over time.

5. Compounding, while documenting care and keeping providers informed.

McDonough knew he would need to integrate all services. He optimized the use of his pharmacy technicians, who run dispensing and take care of the product from beginning to end while pharmacists counsel patients. He optimized technology and welcomed more robots into the pharmacy.

He increased staff and moved toward medication synchronization (almost half of his patients are synchronized). These changes enabled McDonough and his team to provide 2,000 to 3,000 clinical interventions a month.

Beyond teaching students how to run a contemporary practice, McDonough continues his role in the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network and serves as director of practice transformation for Flip the Pharmacy, an initiative intended to scale the innovations that have been made in community pharmacy. “We realized innovations were occurring but not on a large scale,” McDonough said, “so we thought, how can we take that innovation and implement it across a large number of sites? We realized we needed to do it in bite-size pieces.” The program runs as a two-year practice transformation; pharmacists receive a monthly package with changes to make that month.

McDonough believes making those changes—enhancing patient care, documenting information and sharing it to coordinate care—will empower pharmacists and that adding clinical services will enhance their role in the community.

“Community pharmacists who are providing these clinical services really are needed because they can make communitywide interventions that affect patients in a positive way, not just with drug therapy but by evaluating social determinants of health, connecting patients with agencies that can help them achieve their goals,” McDonough said. “We all need to think about community pharmacy not as a place where product distribution occurs but where healthcare occurs.”

To learn more, visit flipthepharmacy.com.

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“More involved direct patient care is the future of pharmacy practice, and schools need to ensure that they are graduating practice-ready pharmacists who are prepared to move into that role.”

—Dr. Julie Akers

Idaho has been the trailblazer for independent prescriptive authority. Pharmacists in Idaho can prescribe based on four parameters: when no new diagnosis is required, when a CLIA-waived test can guide diagnosis, when a condition is minor and self-limiting or in an emergency. At first, the board of pharmacy made a list of medications pharmacists could prescribe for those categories, each year adding new medications to the list for legislators to approve. Legislators saw the same scenario playing out—they would hear opposition from the medical community, give pharmacists a chance and then see the positive outcomes. At the end of the 2019 legislative session, legislators eliminated the list. It’s now up to a pharmacist or pharmacy to determine what fits into those categories.

“One advantage to that is that during a public health emergency like COVID-19, a pharmacy can say, ‘You know what, we are going to do our best to take care of everyone who we want to keep out of urgent care centers and hospital emergency rooms because we want to relieve the burden on the healthcare system, so now we are going to treat acute

Pharmacy Profession Becoming More Diverse, Younger Results released in April from the 2019 National Pharmacist Workforce Study (NPWS) indicate that the profession’s demographics continue to rapidly change, with notable gains in racial and gender diversification. The percentage of nonwhite licensed pharmacists increased by 46 percent, from 14.9 percent in 2014 to 21.8 percent in 2019, with the percentage of black pharmacists more than doubling, from 2.3 percent to 4.9 percent.

The study also revealed that pharmacy continues to be a female-dominated profession, with nearly two-thirds of the workforce comprised of women compared to only 46.4 percent in 2009. The upward trend continues for women in leadership roles; 58.8 percent of pharmacists in management positions in 2019 were women.

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This study is the fifth in a series of surveys conducted by the Midwest Pharmacy Workforce Research Consortium, which has been commissioned by the Pharmacy Workforce Center, Inc. (PWC) since 2000. This year’s survey also addressed new workforce factors, including professional fulfillment, harassment and discrimination. PWC, formerly known as the Pharmacy Manpower Project, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation comprised of major national pharmacy professional and trade organizations. Its mission is to serve the public and the pharmacy profession by developing data regarding the size and demography of the pharmacy workforce and conducting and supporting research in related areas.

The pharmacy profession continues to trend younger in its composition. In

2019, nearly half of practicing pharmacists—47.7 percent—are 40 years old or younger, compared to only 24.4 percent in 2009. This is likely due to the recent growth in pharmacy graduates combined with the retirement of older pharmacists.

This has positive implications for patients as these practitioners are trained in new systems of care and will play key roles in the future of pharmacy practice.

Patients continue to have access to important pharmacists’ services in a variety of settings. Most notably, in 2019, 72 percent of pharmacists reported offering naloxone dispensing in a community setting. This underscores the important and expanding role pharmacists are playing in public health, especially in the ongoing opioid crisis. “We have seen a trend of increased time spent by pharmacists

community impact

sinusitis and uncomplicated urinary tract infections,’” Adams said. Several states have passed emergency regulations during this crisis, allowing pharmacists to do more, like extend refills. “My thought is, how better to be prepared for an emergency situation than to have that be what your daily practice is?” Adams pointed out. “If I am already doing these things and I am already taking care of patients at this level, it’s not such a stressful shift for me in an emergency.”

Third, the task force will provide recommendations to advance payment reimbursement for services. Idaho was successful in adding pharmacists to the list of nonphysician providers in its Medicaid basic plan this year, enabling pharmacists to bill for services based on scope of practice, with no restricted services. Adams believes a groundswell from state Medicaid programs will lead the effort of reimbursement, showing that when you pay pharmacists for services, outcomes improve and costs go down. “The other component the task force has talked about is not trying to create a new or different way for pharmacists to get reimbursed,” Adams said, “but that we fit ourselves in with the way the rest of the healthcare system bills for services.”

in providing patient care,” said Dr. William Doucette, principal investigator of the study. “This change is positive for patients and the profession.”

Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of pharmacists that have a Pharm.D. degree.

Fifty-three percent of licensed pharmacists have a Pharm.D. in 2019, compared to 37.8 percent in 2014 and 21.6 percent in 2009. This shift indicates that pharmacists with a B.S. degree are likely retiring or moving out of practice and into different roles, which could mean more career opportunities for new pharmacy graduates.

New focus areas addressed in the 2019 survey included professional fulfillment, harassment and discrimination. When

“My thought is, how better to be prepared for an emergency situation than to have that be what your daily practice is? If I am already doing these things and I am already taking care of patients at this level, it’s not such a stressful shift for me in an emergency.”

—Dr. Jennifer Adams

it comes to professional fulfillment amongst full-time pharmacists in the community setting, those working in independent and hospital settings reported higher levels of fulfillment and lower levels of work exhaustion, compared to those working in community chain, mass merchandiser and supermarket work settings. Employers, such as large pharmacy chains and others, should consider how they can boost fulfillment and lower exhaustion amongst their employees, which will lead to retaining a strong workforce.

Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from independent and hospital settings that are succeeding at meeting the needs of its personnel.

of discrimination, with the most common basis being age followed by gender.

The most common type of harassment reported by pharmacists was hearing demeaning comments related to race/ ethnicity at 15.7 percent. Only 15.9 percent of all discrimination incidents and 17.2 percent of all harassment incidents were reported to an employer. This information provides a baseline for further investigation and challenges pharmacy employers and other stakeholders to generate discussion and solutions to reduce these incidents and experiences in the future. To view the complete survey results and executive summary visit https://bit.ly/PharmacyWorkforceSurvey.

In 2019, 31 percent of pharmacists reported that they experienced incidents

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AACP President Todd Sorensen’s Bold Aim for the profession, that by 2025, 50 percent of primary care physicians in the U.S. will have a formal relationship with a pharmacist, prompted the 2020 Professional Affairs Committee to present a policy recommendation that will be considered by the 2020 AACP House of Delegates. The committee is also developing a survey tool, a database of successful models to serve as a resource for schools and pharmacies. “We want to take a comprehensive approach of looking at how pharmacists can collaborate with primary care practices, from models that we know about and models that maybe we are less familiar with, but helping to disseminate that information to schools, identifying the needs for these collaborations and ways to

Biosimilars Becoming More Accessible Biological products are the fastest-growing class of therapeutic products in the United States, according to the FDA. Biosimilars, which are defined as biological products that are highly similar to and have no clinically meaningful differences from existing FDA-approved reference products, can offer additional treatment options when patients are prescribed a biological product, potentially lowering healthcare costs.

Biosimilars may become more accessible though community pharmacy practice. More information about biosimilars can be found through these websites: https://biosimilarsrr.com https://www.fda.gov/drugs/therapeuticbiologics-applications-bla/biosimilars

build sustainable models,” said Dr. Gina Moore, assistant dean for clinical and professional affairs, associate professor, University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, and chair of the committee.

Schools are the thread running through all the recommendations, bringing people together, doing the research and engaging in advocacy to advance community-based practice.

“We must share our success stories, not just within pharmacy, but with other audiences, including physicians, professional organizations and the public,” Moore said. “We must share the benefits of collaborating with community pharmacists.”

A Model to Unite, Mobilize and Amplify Americans have access to more than 62,000 community pharmacy locations for medication therapy management, immunizations and walk-in patient consultations. To adapt to the rapidly evolving value-based healthcare system, the community pharmacy practice model must be transformed into a place for patients to receive comprehensive medication-related care from pharmacists and the pharmacy team.

In July 2019, the Academia-CPESN Transformation (ACT) Pharmacy Collaborative was formed as a nationwide forum where community pharmacy leaders and schools of pharmacy could come together to make the patient-centered vision of community pharmacy a reality. The goal of this collaborative is to support the transformation of community-based pharmacy practice from a product-based care model to a community-based pharmacy care delivery model, focusing on the enhanced services that support people who are taking medications to help them reach their health goals. Some examples of enhanced services include clinical medication synchronization, medication reconciliation, comprehensive medication management, durable medical equipment evaluation and support, point-of-care testing, travel immunizations and travel medication consultations.

The establishment of the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative came as a result of a grant from the Community Pharmacy Foundation to the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in partnership with CPESN USA. The Collaborative, with support from AACP, has three main drivers: to unite, mobilize

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community impact

and amplify community pharmacy practice transformation with colleges/schools and community pharmacy partners nationwide. A full description of the Collaborative and how colleges/schools can be involved can be found in the “Blueprint for Building a National Partnership Collaborative” on the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative’s centralized website (www.actforpharmacy.com).

Dr. Sophia (Cothrel) Herbert is a Community Pharmacy Practice Development Fellow within the Community Leadership and Innovation in Practice Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and works to support the transformation of community pharmacy practice. She serves as the Pennsylvania Flip the Pharmacy Team Project Manager, also funded by the Community Pharmacy Foundation, and is a member of the leadership team for the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative under the mentorship of professors Kim Coley and Melissa McGivney. Within her research initiatives with community partners, she mentors student pharmacists for research and quality improvement projects.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy recently created a community pharmacy practice-based research network to support ongoing practice transformation in Pennsylvania. Herbert noted, “The idea behind the network is to engage community pharmacists who are willing and able to perform practice-based research in collaboration with patients and research partners. There will continue to be a focus on stakeholder engagement in all network activities.”

For Herbert, community pharmacy means “patient access to care within their own communities. There is a successful future for community pharmacies that strive to meet the medication and other health needs of their patients, within their own communities where they live, work and play,” she said. “The combined efforts of the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative, Flip the Pharmacy and CPESN are driving community pharmacy practice toward a patient-centered care model, and the combination of these forces and efforts will bring us closer to that vision of community pharmacies providing optimal patient care.”

During her fellowship, Herbert has worked on several projects involving student pharmacist participation through the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative such as the National Day of Service, Patient Case Challenge, CPESN/ACT Student Scholar program and CPESN/ ACT Student Match program, which facilitates student experiences at community pharmacies across the country in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I have been most excited about facilitating student connections and experiences through these initiatives, especially the CPESN/ACT Student Scholar program that will allow selected students to interact with and learn from community leaders and CPESN practices in an impactful way,” she said. P Athena Ponushis is a freelance writer based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Nidhi Gandhi is the Academic Leadership and Education Fellow at AACP.

Want to Learn More?

AACP hosted a webinar on June 10 regarding CPESN, the ACT Pharmacy Collaborative and the Flip the Pharmacy initiative: https://www.aacp.org/event/what-you-shouldknow-about-cpesn-act-pharmacy-collaborativeand-ftp-flip-pharmacy-initiatives Some states are moving to give pharmacists greater prescriptive authority. Read how authorizing pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception can impact public health, helping women avoid unintended pregnancies and live healthy, satisfying lives: https://www.aacp.org/article/improving-birthcontrol-access-improving-lives As costs go down and research diversifies, pharmacogenomic screenings could be common in 10 years. Read how pharmacists will be the ones to bring about the therapeutic benefits: https://www.aacp.org/article/precisionmedicine-made-pharmacists

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@AACPharmacy

Check Out AACP’s Virtual Volunteering Opportunities Volunteers are integral to AACP’s success. By volunteering you can become more engaged with AACP and your peers. You will also have the opportunity to track your own volunteering history for a path toward leadership positions within the governance group structure of the Association.

Visit the Volunteer tab within AACP Connect, connect.aacp.org, to see what’s available now.

Coming Soon: Council and Section CE Webinars AACP is broadening its CE Webinar Program to include submissions from Council and Section members. Individuals should work with the webinar committee or chair of their governance group on topic and program development. The submission portal will open in mid-August; members can earn 0.1 CEU per 60-minute webinar. To learn more, visit https://www.aacp.org/events/webinars.

Latest Profile of Pharmacy Students Now Available The Fall 2019 Profile of Pharmacy Students digital publication contains data on applications to first professional degree programs, student enrollments, and degrees conferred in professional and graduate degree programs at U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy. Visit https://www.aacp.org/research/ institutional-research and click on Student Applications, Enrollments and Degrees Conferred.

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@AACPharmacy

July 13–31, 2020

New Year, New Look for AACP’s Annual Meeting The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges, both personally and professionally, but academic pharmacy’s premier event promises to deliver richer benefits at an even deeper value.

Though attendees may not be packing session rooms, snapping selfies in a new city, or catching up with colleagues outside a hotel ballroom, the tenets of AACP’s Annual Meeting remain the same: to provide the Academy with a world-class learning opportunity and foster connections and collaborations with peers.

Programming at Virtual Pharmacy Education 2020 is timelier than ever. Critical session themes will address:

ɋɋ How pharmacists can address health disparities to achieve health equity

ɋɋ The use of genetic information to inform clinical deci-

sion making What makes Virtual Pharmacy Education 2020 so unique? ɋɋ Approaches to converting face-to-face courses to online Convenience, incredible value and compelling content—all courses delivered right to your computer. Over the course of three weeks, July 13–31, you’ll be able to access to more than 150 ɋɋ Curricular design and assessment strategies for online sessions in a digital learning format that fits your schedule, and hybrid courses engage in real-time dialogue with industry thought leaders, Supercharged CE collaborate with colleagues old and new, and interact with At Virtual Pharmacy Education 2020 attendees can choose sponsors and exhibitors offering the latest in innovative solutions. Plus, sessions will be available to view post-confer- an e-learning format that’s convenient for them. There are more than fifty 30-minute sessions, over one hundred ence for up to one year.

60-minute sessions and nearly forty 10-minute microsessions addressing the themes of approaches to IPE, assessment strategies, innovative pedagogy in the classroom, laboratory, recitation and experiential sites, and student remediation.

More than 90 hours of CE credit are available for attendees Members pay just $149 for access to Virtual to earn!

Low Rates, High Value

Pharmacy Education 2020 programming and can watch sessions on-demand for up to one year post-conference. That’s an unprecedented value! But you must act fast—early-bird pricing ends June 25.

Visit www.aacp.org/pharmed2020 to register today.

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Sound On: Keynote Speakers Ready to Educate and Inspire Attendees at Virtual Pharmacy Education 2020 will have a front-row seat to this year’s lineup of expert speakers. You won’t want to miss this rare opportunity to interact with industry thought leaders.

@AACPharmacy

www.aacp.org/pharmed2020 @AACPharmacy #VirtualPharmEd

Take a look at the top-notch speakers at #VirtualPharmEd: Dayna Matthew, J.D., Ph.D.

Anthony P. Morreale, Pharm.D. MBA, BCPS, FASHP

Monday, July 13

1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET

Nathan Price, Ph.D. Monday, July 20 Noon-1:00 p.m. ET

Friday, July 17

Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities in the United States are well documented but the causes are still poorly understood. At the Opening General Session, Dayna Matthew will identify some causes that are uniquely within reach of pharmacists to address.

Along with their educators, they can defeat unjust and avoidable health disparities as they are often the most accessible and trusted healthcare professional available to underserved patient populations. Now is the time to fight for inclusion, equality and accessibility, and Dr. Matthew believes AACP members hold the key to the prescription for this important cause.

Healthcare is becoming more proacDemand for clinical pharmacists in the tive and data-rich, with increasing focus U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on maintaining and enhancing wellness (VA) has risen sharply and continues its beyond just reacting to disease. At the upward trajectory. During the Friday Science Plenary, Dr. Price will discuss General Session, Dr. Morreale will how the Institute of Systems Biology share the advances in clinical pharmacy interpreted a data set of thousands of practice that have been seen in the past people who participated in a “scientific 10 years by the largest managed care wellness” program, integrating genomprovider in the U.S.: the VA. The VA’s ap- ics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiproach to expanding clinical pharmacy omes, clinical chemistries and wearable programs through centralized processes devices coupled with health coaching involving gap analysis, standardization for behavior change. The interpretation of practices, mentoring, consultative of these data led to actionable findings visits and education has been innovative for individuals to improve health, reand largely successful. duce risk drivers of disease, understand how genetic risk manifests in the body throughout life and show individual trajectories into disease.

Innovative Solutions at Your Fingertips

AACP greatly appreciates the support from our meeting sponsors, whose contributions made this event possible:

Attendees will have the opportunity to make connections with more than 30 sponsors and exhibitors by visiting their virtual exhibit booth. To learn more about our exhibiting organizations and companies, visit www.aacp.org/ article/virtual-pharmacy-education-2020-sponsors-exhibitors.

Platinum Sponsors

1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. ET

Educational Day Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors Community Pharmacy Foundation TM

35 Community Pharmacy Foundation

Community Pharmacy Foundation

TM

TM

Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 300 P Arlington, VA 22202 703-739-2330 P www.aacp.org

A ACP Statement on Recent Events

cry Floyd and others, and the public out rge Geo of ths dea ic trag the ing low Fol our d, as well as the histor y of racism in about the manner in which they die , ment to foster an inclusive community mit com our ms ffir rea CP AA y, ntr cou d, perspective and experience. with diversity of thought, backgroun e: AACP regarding recent events includ Further actions and resources from stand pharmacy organizations in taking a ɋɋ AACP joined with other national /PharmacyOrgsUnite against racial injustice: https://bit.ly ceutical Education created a special ɋɋ The American Journal of Pharma diversity and inclusion, and collection of AJPE articles related to : s that exist in healthcare and society addressing disparities and inequalitie https://bit.ly/AJPESpecialCollection President Todd D. Sorensen and ɋɋ AACP’s full statement from AACP //bit.ly/AACPRecentEvents EV P & CEO Lucinda L. Maine: https: