Academic Pharmacy Now: 2021 Issue 4 by AACP

Academic Pharmacy

The News Magazine of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

NOW

Volume 14 2021 Issue 4

Self-Care Takes Center Stage

Pharmacy schools and organizations—including AACP— shine the spotlight on well-being for faculty, students and staff. 16 Also in this issue: Also in this issue:

FUHN’s Collaborative Model 8 Vaccines Get a Boost 5 Transformative Thinking at the Kennedy Making Inclusivity a Priority 12 Pharmacy Innovation Center 12

Pharmacists BetterLives. Lives. PharmacistsHelp HelpPeople PeopleLive Live Healthier, Healthier, Better

who we are @AACPharmacy

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

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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

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Maureen Thielemans Managing Editor

Jane E. Rooney

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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.

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Kyle R. Bagin

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Stephanie Saunders Fouch

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For address changes, contact LaToya Casteel, Member Services Manager, at lcasteel@aacp.org. ©2021 by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. All rights reserved. Content may not be reprinted without prior written permission.

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Tricia Gordon Digital Designer

Sean Clark

AACP’s Professional Supporter Program

Freelance Writer

Joseph Cantlupe

Promotion Supporter

Freelance Writer

Emily Jacobs

Freelance Writer

Athena Ponushis

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

Volume 14 2021 Issue 4

@AACPharmacy a look inside

community impact

Delivering Medication Safety Messages to Young Audiences A new 4-H project book published in partnership with The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy teaches medication safety to elementary students.

Fierce Collaborators The Federally Qualified Urban Health Network provides a model for collaboration that includes pharmacists as part of primary care teams serving low-income populations.

campus connection

12 The Nontraditional Route The Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center pushes students to find gaps in the profession and fill them with radical roles.

Self-Care Takes Center Stage Pharmacy schools and organizations— including AACP—shine the spotlight on well-being for faculty, students and staff.

@AACPharmacy

Lights, Webcam, Action! Timely topics, new ways to network and can’t-miss discussions were all part of Virtual Pharmacy Education 2021 for a second year as the Academy continues to navigate the pandemic.

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community note publisher’s impact

Dear Colleagues: The articles in this issue of Academic Pharmacy Now brought smiles to my pandemic-weary face! They also fortified my appreciation that the priorities emphasized in the 2021-2024 AACP Strategic Plan are spot on and highly significant. There is a focus in all of these stories on well-being—of our students and faculty, of pharmacists and their colleagues on interprofessional teams and of patients. Strategies to enhance well-being and resilience have never been more important than where we find ourselves 18 months into a global pandemic and in the midst of the Delta variant surge. AACP is committed to expanding programs, services and collaborations targeting well-being for all as a top priority in the coming years. Practice transformation and innovation are highlights of the articles on the FUHN network of community health centers in Minnesota and the Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center (KPIC) at the University of South Carolina. Practice transformation is Priority No. 1 in AACP’s plan, which may seem off base to some members. The AACP Board of Directors, staff and delegates to the 2021 AACP House disagree. Until widespread change to create sustainable patient care pharmacist services is achieved, inadequate career opportunities will continue to plague the profession. Pharmacists will continue to feel cheated and frustrated by their inability to fully utilize their education, and young talented students will be actively discouraged from pursuing a pharmacy career. That challenges the viability of colleges and schools of pharmacy, which directly impacts AACP. As I prepare this letter, I am also preparing to conduct three finalist interviews for a new staff position at AACP. We will hire the Senior Director of Transformation in a few short weeks. This individual will lead the development of the Center to Accelerate Practice Transformation and Academic Innovation (CAPT, or simply the Center). A high priority of the new center leader will be identifying all the existing centers like KPIC and the work of Past President Sorensen in Minnesota to learn of their scope and structure. Helping member institutions that aspire to create similar programs to do so as quickly as possible is a goal because AACP recognizes that practice change must happen locally or regionally. A national organization can facilitate these efforts, and we are committed to doing so with the new expertise and energy that the Senior Director of Transformation will bring to our work. The KPIC story also emphasizes academic innovation (Priority No. 2) and the impact it can have on the careers of students and practicing pharmacists. Working closely with national partners like the National Community Pharmacy Association’s Innovation Center and our advocacy partners that have operated so cohesively throughout the pandemic will also be the Center’s priorities. In constructing the new plan, planning committee chair Stuart Haines emphasized that this is not simply a “to-do” list for the AACP staff. Realizing the full impact of acting upon these priorities will not only make AACP a stronger organization in support of our members, but it will require that we find new ways to mobilize our members strategically to address these top priorities. I sincerely look forward to watching this work accelerate across the coming months and years. Sincerely,

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

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community impact

When it comes to teaching children healthy habits, medication safety may not be the first thing that comes to mind. Yet it could be a lifesaving lesson. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that 8,986 children and adolescents died from opioid poisonings between 1999 and 2016. The mortality rate for this period increased 268.2 percent. Thousands of children visit the emergency department every year for accidental medicine poisoning. Numerous such cases are preventable. Many U.S. children have some experience with medication use. According to data published by the CDC in 2019, 18 percent of U.S. children under age 12 use prescription medications. That does not include over-the-counter medicines and supplements, such as cough syrup or children’s vitamins. Even if a child does not take medicine, someone else in the household probably does. Ageappropriate lessons about medication safety can help teach children how to use medicine correctly, avoid accidental poisoning and may even help them avoid substance misuse later in life. Generation Rx at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy has partnered with Ohio 4-H to create a new project book, “Medicine Science and Safety,” that aims to teach students in third through fifth grade about the proper use of medications and how they are developed. The project book is the creation of Dr. Cynthia Canan, director of the Generation Rx Lab at COSI; Dr. Molly Downing, associate director of Generation Rx; and Dr. Katie Summers, Generation Rx project faculty. Generation Rx provides free educational resources that teach safe medication practices among all ages and help prevent medication misuse. The program was launched at OSU College of Pharmacy in 2007 and powered through a partnership with the Cardinal Health Foundation since

2009. With the “Medicine Science and Safety” project book, Generation Rx wanted to publish a resource that matched its key messages on medication safety and used evidence-based, age-appropriate learning techniques.

Positive Associations With Pharmacy Downing pointed out that children in elementary school are at a critical age to learn about the proper handling, storing and use of medications. “Our philosophy is that, because our society consumes billions of medications each year and medication is easily accessible and visible in their homes, that [children] should be equipped with an understanding of medication safety at an early age,” she explained. “It’s really about equipping them with a foundation for understanding how to safely use the medicine before they enter those teen and adult years, where that concept of misuse behaviors may come into play.”

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community impact

“Our philosophy is that, because our society consumes billions of medications each year and medication is easily accessible and visible in their homes, that [children] should be equipped with an understanding of medication safety at an early age.”

tte Junior & Cade

ME TRIVIAYGSA HEET AC TIVIT

acy. PHARMACY d dispenses medicine in a pharm . ury who fills an l inj ua or ivid se ea ind 1. Name the ease or injury. ed to treat dis ibes to treat dis tance that is us scription. a doctor prescr y without a pre 2. Name a subs t ac tha arm ine ph a dic ed at e of me as typ rch a pu me be n Na 3. that ca e of medicine 4. Name a typ PATROL TY FE SA me. N IO dicines in a ho MEDICAT ce to store me bathroom. pla FE SA a medicine in the 1. Name re sto to ce kitchen. FE pla SA the in UN container? an ine dic me me 2. Na store t of the original SAFE place to a plastic bag ou in ine dic 3. Name an UN me store to FE SA UN 4. Is it SAFE or ide these ey need to div PUZZLER illin tablets. Th PRESCRIPTIONreceives a shipment of 25 penicch bottle will have tablets. ist Ea The pharmacist 1. The pharmac iption bottles. day, for 10 days. across 5 prescr pill, 3 times a tablets evenly tient to take 1 pa a cts once a day. tru of a medicine patient. 2. A doctor ins lligram tablets e pills to the e three, 100 mi should dispens . tak to ine nt dic tie me pa tructs a armacist has milligrams of 3. A doctor ins e halves. If the ph patient will tak done. ine tablet into are dic y me the ch en In one day, the ea wh ak tablets in total ist needs to bre ve 4. The pharmac ha l ak, they wil 12 tablets to bre dock. Rhymes with E M dicine cabinet. TI E RHYM to secure a me y. pair. 1. Use a ymes with sand s with anyone. Rhymes with y look like . Rh rents or dicine 2. Medicines ma such as your pa prescription me ver an ne of ld ission rm 3. You shou pe the h dicines wit . 4. Only take me es with consult guardian. Rhym Kim’s k. Sarah uses ON gins to feel sic FINAL QUESTI playing outside, and Sarah be are Kim and Sarah r. lp her feel bette medicine to he Kim break? did Sarah and e rul y fet sa What medicine

I SPY IN THE

uired Introducto ry Activities

“It’s really about equipping them with a foundation for understanding how to safely use the medicine before they enter those teen and adult years, where that concept of misuse behaviors may come into play.” —Dr. Molly Downing

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

Junior/Cadet

te (4-8) • Medication Safety for Tee ns • Spelling Bee • • • •

Trivia Game List It Medication Saf ety Skits Medication Saf ety Sleuth Dig ital Game • Survey • Speak with a person who works in a pharmacy. • Schedule a Connect (choos time to visit a e two) pharmacy. • Interview a person whose job teaches or affe cts safe medica tion practices, like a primary care physician, psychologist/p sychiatrist, cou nselor, law enforcement officer, or judge. Take Action (ch oose one) • Share a classro om focusing on safe talk (peer-to-peer), medication use storage. and • Host a com munity progra m. • Help younge r Girl Scouts ear n the Generation Rx patch. • Inspire and educate Discover (choos e two

)

Senior/Amba

Required Introdu ctory Activities

ssador (9-12 )

• Medication Safety for Tee ns • Champions of Rx

• • • • •

Lead the Scene Plot Twists List It Beat the Buzzer Activity Trauma Digital Game • Interview a person in you r community whose job tea ches or affects safe medication pra ctices. • Talk to a rec overy group faci litator. • Invite someon e who works in Connect (choos a pharmacy or who is a first e three) responder to • Schedule a speak. time to visit a pharmacy or an emergenc y department • Interview som . eone who has been affected by me dication misuse . It could be a former mis user, or a fam ily member or friend of a misuser. Take Action (ch oose one) • Classroom talk abo misusing prescr ut dangers of iption medica • Lead prescr tions. iption drug mis use awareness day at school. • Host a com munity progra m, perhaps with a pharmacist or other expert. • Help younge r Girl Scouts ear n the Generation Rx patch. • Choose a pro ject to educat e others. The Ohio Discover (choos e thre

State Universi ty College developed Gen eration Rx, a nat of Pharmacy and the Cardina l Health Founda ional prevention educate people tion education pro of all ages abo gram designe ut medication Council has par d to safety. Girl Sco tnered with Gen uts of Ohio’s Hea eration Rx to inco safety educati rtland on into the mis rpo rate this importa sion of Girl Sco nt medication uts.

This program

is in partnersh

ip with:

• Candy vs. Me dicine Game • Q&A Safety Rounds • Prescription Discover (choos Label Lookouts e one) • Good Choice/ Bad Choice Gam • Some Things e Aren’t Meant to Be Shared • Speak with a person who wor ks a in Connect (choos pharmacy. e one) • Schedule a time to visit a pharmacy. • Talk to or rec eive resources from the National Poison Control Center. Take Action (ch oose one) • Medication Saf ety Skits • Medicine Hid eou • Share the Can ts: Safe or Unsafe dy vs. Medicine Game with others.

Required Introdu ctory Activities

U CO There are three LS UT GIR program guide CO LS s split by Girl and activities GIR Scout grade lev in each of the Cadette/Junio els with age-a three keys – Di r to complete the ppropriate int scover, Conn number of req roductory activ Daisy/Brownie ect, and Take uirements ind three guides, ities Action. Girls in icated in their in case you ha each grade lev guide. Here is ve multiple tro el need a progression ops, a troop tha of requiremen t splits grade ts for all levels, or want Daisy/Brown to know what’ ie (K-3) s next! Req

IO’

PATCH PRO GRAM

SH EART LAND

—Dr. Molly Downing

LS GIR

U CO

Sen./Amb.

community impact

The project book includes five hands-on activities that address four medication safety principles:

ɋɋ ɋɋ ɋɋ ɋɋ

Talk with trusted adults about medicine. Take your medication as instructed. Never share your medicine. Keep medication safe in your home.

Each project book allows students to learn about a topic through 4-H’s experiential learning model. Participants work through a self-paced, guided project and record their results within the book’s pages. Students are also encouraged to engage in service learning by sharing this knowledge within their social groups or through community projects. A series of questions helps students process their experiences and apply their new skills. For example, to illustrate the concept of following medication instructions, students were told to follow a specific set of directions for building a paper airplane. They then followed a second, different set of instructions. At the end of the lesson, students could see how two sets of instructions yielded two different results. This provided a hands-on illustration of how changing medication directions may impact health-related outcomes. The 4-H project book is not the first time that Generation Rx has partnered with organizations to teach age-appropriate medication safety. Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland also have the option of earning a Generation Rx medication safety patch. To receive this patch, participants must connect with local pharmacists and doctors and learn how to safely store, use and handle medication. Unlike the 4-H project book, which focuses on older elementary students, the Girl Scout patch program spans from kindergarten through high school. Currently, the 4-H project book and the Girl Scout Generation Rx patch are only available to participants located in Ohio; however, work with the organizations is underway to apply those projects to their national programs. Besides promoting medication safety, Generation Rx leaders also hope to promote interest in medicine and other areas of science through positive, effective learning experiences. For example, when the project book discusses the importance of not sharing medicine with others, it includes ageappropriate education related to genetics and DNA. More specifically, students who complete the project book receive an introduction to pharmaceutical careers. Each concept or activity in the project book profiles different career paths within the field of pharmacy. These include the community

pharmacist, pharmacy technician, pharmaceutical scientist and the hospital pharmacist. “When we think about pharmacists, we always try to highlight to students the community pharmacists that [children] recognize and have seen before,” Downing said. “But to also understand that it’s so much more than that.” In a student-led collaborative within the OSU College of Pharmacy, student pharmacists are spearheading Generation Rx programming efforts and community outreach efforts. This includes engaging with 4-H students as a “trusted adult,” or working with Girl Scout troop leaders in medication safety programs. This year, a pharmacy studentled collaborative from OSU will work directly with 4-H students. Due to disruptions during the pandemic, this will be the first academic year for in-person partnership. “Creating space and opportunities in their professional training for community outreach allows student pharmacists to leave feeling like, ‘I’ve developed a passion,’” Downing noted. “We think they’re poised to be changemakers in the community and hope that medication safety outreach becomes part of what they feel like their job responsibilities are.”P Emily Jacobs is a freelance writer based in Toledo, Ohio.

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community impact

Fierce Collaborators The Federally Qualified Urban Health Network provides a model for collaboration that includes pharmacists as part of primary care teams serving low-income populations. By Joseph A. Cantlupe Nearly a decade ago, a group of 10 federally qualified health centers in Minneapolis-St. Paul was competing for dollars and patients in a big way. Their relationship was “fiercely competitive,” according to a Dartmouth College study. Over the years, however, they bonded together to provide high-quality care to low-income and medically underserved populations and formed one of the nation’s first safety net Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). These once “fierce competitors” were now “fierce collaborators,” the Dartmouth researchers noted. For a long time, the full network lacked pharmacists and student pharmacists, although some were at individual clinics. That has changed, and it’s making a big difference in providing care. While each of the clinics had pharmacy positions, only recently did the entire network begin to include pharmacists and pharmacy residents. Their actions have gone a long way to improve their multidisciplinary framework, improve medication management and ease the burden on the physician. With the service of pharmacists, these clinics have seen major improvements in caring for patients, many of whom have comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. Known as the Federally Qualified Urban Health Network (FUHN), the collaboration model includes at least eight clinics with multiple service sites. Its clinics serve about 60,000 patients, of which 27,000 are Medicaid patients. The clinics, in particular, have worked closely with the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, their students and their residents, said Dr. Todd Sorensen, professor and senior executive associate dean for strategic initiatives and faculty affairs at UMN. They have reported “significant improvements in quality measures when pharmacists are part of the primary care team,” he said. Under the program, with value-based agreements with Minnesota Medicaid and the managed care plans, cost savings and additional revenue stemming from those

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

agreements have driven the expansion of pharmacists into primary care services, Sorensen said. The network structure that manages these ACO agreements has made integration of pharmacists one of their top priorities in part because of the significant impact on quality measures they have seen, he added. The ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high-quality care to their Medicare patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When an ACO succeeds in delivering high-quality care and spending healthcare dollars more wisely, the ACO will share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program.

Improved Care With Pharmacists’ Involvement UMN began developing relationships with Federally Qualified Health Centers that eventually came to form FUHN two decades ago. The collaboration started with a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to establish clinical pharmacist services in three FQHCs. The collaboration has been maintained over 20 years through FQHC residency positions affiliated with UMN’s PGY1 residency program, hosting student APPEs as well as efforts to expand clinical pharmacy services to additional clinics in the network. Clinic officials have praised the collaboration and its impact on patient care, Sorensen noted. In addition, the FUHN program has had fiscal benefits through the Medicaid program, with money shared back with the project. “They are looking to expand this over time,” he said. UMN recently received a $1.5 million Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grant in collaboration with FUHN to implement and evaluate strategies to improve medication use in care transitions of patients who receive primary care in FUHN-affiliated FQHCs. Dr. Joel Farley is the principal investigator, leading a team of researchers and practitioners from the College of Pharmacy, UMN School of Public Health and FUHN. The effort directly targets cost savings

community impact

The FUHN clinics serve more than 60,000 patients— the overwhelming number of whom are poor and from diverse communities. Nearly half are served in languages other than English. “It’s the savings/new revenue that is coming from those agreements that are driving the expansion of pharmacists into their primary care services.” —Dr. Todd Sorensen

goals established by FUHN’s value-based agreements with Minnesota Medicaid. The FQHCs are community-based healthcare providers that receive funds from the federal HRSA Health Center Program to provide primary care services to underserved areas. A strict set of requirements must be met, including fees based on ability to pay, and they must be overseen by a governing board that includes patients. The FUHN clinics serve more than 60,000 patients—the overwhelming number of whom are poor and from diverse communities. Nearly half are served in languages other than English. “It’s the savings/new revenue that is coming from those agreements that are driving the expansion of pharmacists into their primary care services,” Sorensen explained. In turn, capacity has grown for pharmacy resident and student pharmacist experiences that engage them in learning about social determinants of health, pricing programs and insurance impacts, he said. The possibilities for economic benefits of such programs are endless, advocates say. Other similar pilots described average annual savings per patient exceeding $1,000 a year in overall medication claims when a pharmacist had a faceto-face meeting with a patient in the primary care practice. Physician-pharmacist collaborative models have produced a 504 percent return on investment, according to a National Academy of Medicine on High Quality Primary Care report. Indeed, pharmacists, residents and students have played key roles in providing care and improving outcomes, said Colleen McDonald Diouf, chair of the FUHN Board of Directors. She also serves as the CEO of the CommunityUniversity Health Care Center at the University of Minnesota. “We have many providers, some of whom were challenged, and burned out and fatigued, and now they have

someone on their team who is managing and supporting those patients who need more care,” she said. Pharmacists have been brought in to work closely with different clinics, some of whose patients may have similar healthcare issues but require different approaches to care due to cultural or language barriers. Diabetes and hypertension are among the top issues for the patients, though that may differ in each community, Diouf said. “Our mission is to help communities become healthier, to reach folks not served by mainstream healthcare because of a multitude of reasons: structural racism, poverty, trauma or having disproportionate rates of chronic diseases,” she added. “We are health centers that grew from the communities we serve, each with unique approaches. We build upon each health center’s strengths.” A recent grant to FUHN via one of its health plan partners supported an initiative where a pharmacy resident designed and implemented a program in which a clinical pharmacist and a community health worker pair provided medication management services that helped patients with diabetes control their hemoglobin A1C, Diouf said. In 2019, the program demonstrated that clinics were able to significantly improve the number of patients achieving an A1C measurement at goal. Contributions by clinical pharmacists have played a significant role, she pointed out. Before pharmacists became involved, the clinics “didn’t have pharmacy team members to help with those medications. We had a lot of sick people at our clinics. But it’s an example of what FUHN does best—it takes the best practice from a community health center and spreads it out to other health centers,” Diouf said. “We worked really hard to get funding to do the pilot projects with the (Minnesota) College of Pharmacy.”

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community impact

Before pharmacists became involved, the clinics “didn’t have pharmacy team members to help with those medications. We had a lot of sick people at our clinics. But it’s an example of what FUHN does best—it takes the best practice from a community health center and spreads it out to other health centers.” —Colleen McDonald Diouf

Dr. Swetha Pradeep, a clinical pharmacist with FUHN, said she started working with the program in 2019 after completing her residency and works at three clinics: Neighborhood HealthSource, Native-American Community Clinic and Southside Community Health Services. “What is unique about this practice is its population health approach,” Pradeep said. “Rather than relying solely on medical provider referrals to the pharmacist, we take a proactive approach in identifying patients not meeting a clinical quality goal. Not meeting this quality goal is a ‘ticket in the door’ to see the pharmacist.” Pharmacists apply the comprehensive medication management model when assessing patients, ensuring that all of a patient’s medication needs—including indication, effectiveness, safety and convenience—are addressed. Collaborative practice agreements with primary care providers add efficiency to the team’s services. Of note, Pradeep added, “Many of our patients have challenges with medication access or affordability. I can help navigate insurance formularies and cost-savings programs for patients.”

Delivering on a Promise Bringing pharmacy and physician teams together to improve care represents a longtime goal for Sorensen. While this has been a challenge previously, shifts to value-based payment have created new opportunities for the adoption of teambased care. This was a priority theme when Sorensen served as AACP President in 2019-20. His focus for the AACP standing committees was to establish strategies that would advance physician-pharmacist collaborations as a strategy to support pharmacy practice transformation. The AACP 2020-21 professional affairs standing committee focused its report on pharmacists’ unique role and

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

integration in healthcare settings, said Dr. Gina Moore, chairwoman of the committee and associate dean for administration and operations and associate professor at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Among other tasks, the committee identified studies that showed positive outcomes from patient care services provided by pharmacists in non-primary care settings. They included healthcare team satisfaction, drug savings, improvement in patient medication adherence, patient satisfaction and a reduction in hospital readmissions. The report showed that regulatory barriers have held back the pharmacy profession from “practicing at the top of their license,” the committee said. Other workplace issues must be overcome, Moore said. “There is a considerable knowledge gap when it comes to other providers knowing what pharmacists can do and the synergies that can be tapped into. Luckily, in primary care practices, particularly in federally qualified health centers and in clinics in which interdisciplinary care is practiced, pharmacists tend to practice at the top of their scope of licensure and make considerable impact on patient care.” However, the committee noted that “while the challenges can be numerous, the integration of pharmacists into the healthcare model continues to expand and the profession needs to continue to facilitate overcoming these barriers.” Sorensen is starting to see a realization of the impact of pharmacist involvement stemming from the FUHN program. “I have known many of the CEOs and leaders across the network for 20 years,” he said. Those collaborations are the foundation for an increased pace of growth of pharmacist integration with the primary care team now that quality of care and clinical outcomes are increasingly driving organizational investments and decisions. P Joseph A. Cantlupe is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

community impact

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campus connection

The Nontraditional Route The Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center pushes students to find gaps in the profession and fill them with radical roles. By Athena Ponushis Toward the end of her residency, Emily Russell called a pharmacy that she knew was not hiring to speak with the owner. She told him she had identified clinical services and potential revenue she could bring to his pharmacy. She asked if he would like to discuss the matter further. He asked her to please stop by for an interview. She showed up with an eight-page business plan. “The original pitch for my position came from everything I learned in residency,” Russell said. “I built this business plan of services the pharmacy was already offering that I could enhance, future services I thought I could implement, as well as the return on investment for each one. That was all in my plan. Fortunately, I found the right pharmacy that was willing to take on a determined pharmacist with forwardthinking ideas.” Dr. Russell, now a clinical pharmacist working at Family Pharmacy in Aiken, S.C., completed her community pharmacy residency through the Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center (KPIC) at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy. The center sees pharmacy as a frontier ripe with possibility and strives to act as a catalyst, connecting faculty, students and mentors to reshape pharmacy education and practice. “We focus on students, pharmacists and technicians, helping them achieve their professional goals, particularly in the nontraditional route. That’s our aim,” said Dr. Patti Fabel, executive director of KPIC and clinical associate professor at the UofSC College of Pharmacy. “Everyone always says find your passion but it’s really built. We provide the materials and mentorship to help our students start building their passion, and by doing so, we hope to dramatically impact the personal and professional fulfillment of our graduates.”

show them sensible ways they can pursue their pharmacy dreams and elevate the profession. A number of student pharmacists have essentially earned a business minor through the business program and more than 500 pharmacy professionals have been trained by KPIC, notably in the area of sterile compounding, since the center opened in 2010. The center exists thanks to the commitment of Bill and Lou Kennedy, co-owners of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation, who gave an initial $10 million gift and an estate gift of an additional $20 million. “KPIC is training the next generation of pharmacists, and Bill and I could not be more proud of the progress they continue to make,” Lou Kennedy said. “Thanks to the team of rock stars at the college of pharmacy and KPIC, students are blazing trails and truly making a difference when it comes to research and development, entrepreneurism and improved health outcomes. The best part is that they are just getting started.”

Providing Opportunities When Russell was thinking about gaps in the profession and roles that she could fill, she envisioned herself working in a community pharmacy setting, interacting with the community while simultaneously working alongside physicians and their mutual patients. She met a few past residents who talked her through what they were doing post-residency. She took advice from all of them and built her business plan. Her original pitch to Family Pharmacy was to set up a medication synchronization program, work with nonadherent patients to improve mediation therapy management, start immunization clinics and initiate physician-pharmacist collaborations. Russell ended her residency in June 2018 and started her new job three weeks later, having convinced the owner to hire her for a nontraditional role.

Fabel and her colleagues took a good look at the college and what it offers, as far as coaching and career planning, and did “Pharmacy school is great and it teaches you so much, you precisely what they prepare their students to do: look at the learn about different career paths. But KPIC introduces you pharmacy field and see the holes you can fill. KPIC exposes to people who are doing this in real life, people who can students to thought leaders and business influencers who share insights with students who don’t have the experience

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

campus connection

yet or don’t know where to go to ask questions,” Russell explained. “If KPIC had not been involved in my residency or had not developed the business side of the residency, I may not have even known where to look for the information that I used to build my current career.” Through the business program, students gain educational experiences and co-curricular opportunities. They compete in the pharmacy ownership business plan competition, intended to design creative practice models for community pharmacies and ultimately lead to more pharmacy entrepreneurs. The National Community Pharmacists Association sees “community pharmacies as ‘laboratories of innovation’ for the profession.” The top team from the college of pharmacy represents UofSC at the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. KPIC also hosts an annual pharmacy ownership boot camp, where students and recent graduates engage with industry experts who share insights to help prepare them for independent pharmacy ownership or management. KPIC recently revamped its business program. Fabel and her colleagues identified the critical knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) of a pharmacy entrepreneur, mapped out the

Pharm.D. program to see where these KSAs are covered and found places where the center could enhance the curriculum, ensuring that students are not only learning the KSAs but have opportunities to practice them. It’s this commitment to academic innovation and practice transformation that Fabel believes makes the center visionary. “I feel pharmacy education of the future will be more competency based,” she said. “We will be guiding students, helping them use the information that’s out there. Rather than just providing information, we will be providing opportunities, collaborating with students, mentoring them and supporting them. That’s what I have been trying to do, not only as a faculty member, but as the executive director of the center.” Through the career enhancement series, coaches help students with their resumes, CVs, elevator pitches and branding. Students see what networking actually means. They see what they can do with their Pharm.D. degrees. At the innovation career summit, which KPIC holds once a year, students are able to meet a variety of pharmacists working in nontraditional roles, whether it be information technology, public health, consulting or regulatory, boardof-pharmacy-type work.

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“Pharmacy education of the future will be more competency based. We will be guiding students, helping them use the information that’s out there. Rather than just providing information, we will be providing opportunities, collaborating with students, mentoring them and supporting them.” —Dr. Patti Fabel

“If one of our graduates can create their own career that they find fulfilling, to me that is success. We have had several examples of students—either through the residency program or the business program—opening their own pharmacy, which may sound traditional but I would argue is pretty incredible in today’s market, because you have to be unique and offer more than dispensing services to survive. One former resident comes to mind who built a pharmacy within a mental health clinic, providing patient care services,” Fabel noted. “And we have people who have literally created a position that did not exist before they created it, either within an entity or they created their own business. That’s what I find rewarding. It’s a success story for the center, being able to help someone do that.”

environmental control on ways to promote and expand pharmacists’ collaborations with primary care centers, particularly in rural areas, in hopes of creating more job opportunities and improving patient care. KPIC recently engaged in a pilot with a rural health center, where a community pharmacy and a medical practice will share a pharmacist to further demonstrate the value and sustainability of having a pharmacist on the team.

Russell is still working on her goal to partner with local physicians to provide services under the community pharmacy name but has found that, especially in a small community, it might serve her best to establish herself in the community and get to know some of the providers better before pitching such a contemporary concept. “Traditionally, you think the doctor’s office is over here, the pharmacy is Patient Satisfaction and Professional over there. You go see your doctor, then go to your pharmacy, Fulfillment but the idea of a pharmacist being in the same place as a The transformation of pharmacy practice may be its primary doctor, making recommendations or talking about your focus, but KPIC also evaluates the outcomes of pharmacy medications at your visit, it’s so new to some practices that practice innovations. “KPIC operates in a collaborative these initial talks are taking a while. I am still hopeful,” she practice and innovation environment. Its faculty, staff said. Trying to imagine what her career would look like and students work with a variety of healthcare providers, without KPIC, she added, “Honestly, I think I still would policymakers and insurers (community pharmacies, Medicaid, hospital systems and physician family practices) to have had the same dreams and ambitions for myself, but it evaluate the outcomes and efficiency of practice innovations,” would have taken a lot longer to get there because I learned so much in that one year of residency through the Kennedy said Dr. Gene Reeder, director of outcomes research at KPIC Pharmacy Innovation Center.” and a professor at the UofSC College of Pharmacy. “These evaluations then inform the development of cost-effective, Pushing students to pursue their pharmacy dreams and sustainable practice models that improve access to care as carve out careers they find fulfilling has given Fabel her own well as patient outcomes. For example, KPIC has supported sense of fulfillment. “I went into pharmacy because I like pilot studies where pharmacists were imbedded in three to help people and I want to be of service and it led me into family practice centers. These pilot studies demonstrated academia where I get to help students,” she said. “What I that pharmacists improved patient care, satisfaction and love about the center is that I get to play a part, even if it’s financial sustainability of the practices.” just a small part, in helping someone achieve a goal, and that goal could be as big as a career.” P KPIC continues to work with the South Carolina Pharmacy

Association and its state department of health and

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Athena Ponushis is a freelance writer based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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Improving patient health through partnership in research, education and philanthropy Upcoming Deadline! Applications for the next class of Faculty Scholars opening Fall 2021 For more information about this community practice-based research mentorship program: www.nacdsfoundation.org/priorities/education

Proud Platinum Sponsor of the AACP 2021 Annual Meeting Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community impact

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 3

community impact

Self-Care Takes Center Stage Pharmacy schools and organizations— including AACP—shine the spotlight on well-being for faculty, students and staff. With a growing recognition that wellness is also intertwined with holistic patient care, lifestyle medicine could present new career paths for pharmacists. By Jane E. Rooney

At AACP’s virtual Annual Meeting in July, at least a dozen sessions were directly focused on well-being, including the closing session by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness. Daily mindfulness sessions saw higher attendance than in past years. Wellness and well-being were certainly on the radar for pharmacy schools prior to the pandemic (AACP released policy statements in 2017 and 2018 promoting a culture of wellness in pharmacy education), but the past year and a half highlighted the urgent need to devote more resources to the topic, particularly for health professionals who have been under constant stress.

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Wellness and well-being are also likely to become more integrated into pharmacy school curricula, which means greater opportunity for student pharmacists to explore how patients can benefit from lifestyle medicine. The American College of Lifestyle Medicine defines this as “the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention—including a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection—as a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat, and often reverse chronic disease.” Faculty and pharmacists discuss how colleges of pharmacy are taking more deliberate steps to improve well-being for their own communities as well as to ensure that it becomes a routine part of patient care.

A Sustained Focus on Wellness

After being identified through surveys and listening sessions as a top area of interest and concern among members, “wellbeing for all” became a priority in AACP’s new strategic plan (see sidebar). AACP will provide resources and guidance to member schools to support faculty, staff and students. “We want to look at the kinds of evidence-based approaches that have been shown to improve a person’s sense of well-being. It’s not just about physical health—we have to consider wellbeing in a holistic manner,” said Dr. Stuart Haines, president of AACP and professor and director, Pharmacy Professional Development at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. “We need to create a culture of well-being, and in addition, individual faculty and students need to build awareness about the areas in their own lives causing stress. At a structural level, we have to take a look at workload and how technology is affecting stress. There are constant demands, so we don’t get a chance to disconnect. It’s easy to pile on more and more work in our electronic age. There’s not a thoughtful approach to managing work. The amount of work people do today is significantly more than 20 or 30 years ago and the way we manage work has placed increased demands on our time and attention.” Haines pointed out that while the pharmacy community will be AACP’s initial focus, this strategic priority extends to other health professionals as well as patients. “AACP will likely work in collaboration with other health profession organizations and patient advocacy groups. It’s not something we can tackle alone as an association.”

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In 2019, while undertaking her own wellness journey and adding more content to the curriculum, Dr. Elizabeth Buckley, professor of pharmacy practice, Concordia University Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, discovered that pharmacy schools had an overwhelming interest in wellbeing content. She worked with Dr. Eleanor Vogt, professor emerita, University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, to create the AACP Connect Community for Well-Being and Resiliency. More recently, Buckley initiated a survey of pharmacy schools in the U.S. and Canada that explored well-being content in terms of overall curricular inclusion, experiential learning and faculty development. The overall curricular survey included responses from 10 Canadian schools and 89 U.S. schools. The survey data is being prepared for publication at this time. Preliminary results from the data collected from January through May 2021 indicate that schools and colleges of pharmacy are devoting more resources and personnel to improve focus toward well-being. However, less than half of respondent schools include well-being in the school of pharmacy’s strategic plan or have a dedicated person or group working on initiatives. “Overall, the majority of programs were covering topics within intellectual (selfawareness, mindfulness) and emotional (self-care, stress management) well-being,” she said. “Some schools were covering occupational wellness (resiliency, burnout prevention), but many other wellness topics are not being addressed, indicating that we have a ton of room to grow.” More schools reported that well-being was covered by cocurricular offerings rather than through electives or required

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courses and the most robust offerings came from student organizations. “The intellectual and emotional pillars of wellness house a lot of the future of well-being and selfcare,” she continued. “Things like coping and kindness give you the lifelong skills. The occupational pillars of wellness are also vital to learning lifelong skills so we are equipped to not burn out when we become pharmacists.” Buckley noted that the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy stood out for having a task force, a committee and a director devoted to wellness, as well as robust curricular offerings. Dr. Suzanne Harris, an assistant professor and the school’s director of well-being and resilience, said that the senior leadership recognized the importance of making well-being a priority in the strategic plan for the entire school community. Leadership buy-in and

involvement were critical, as was building the infrastructure to have a sustained program. Evidence of rising mental health concerns in college-aged students and a student’s suicide four years ago opened their eyes to the need to better support students, faculty and staff. Harris’s own work in psychiatric pharmacy already focused on mental health, including stigma and barriers to seeking help. “Our interim dean at the time [in 2018] had interest in this and we had a task force for looking at well-being and resilience in pharmacy. It was all volunteers; we had over 70 people who wanted to learn more about what can be done,” Harris recalled. “One of the top recommendations

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“Recognizing that if we invest in well-being, it’s not just for our own personal and professional growth but thinking about how that translates into improved patient outcomes.” —Dr. Suzanne Harris

by the task force was that a standing committee should be formed. We now have a well-being and resilience committee that includes faculty, staff, students and some of our hospital partners to leverage and integrate systemwide changes. Another recommendation was to create a position for a director to oversee the schoolwide efforts around well-being and resiliency. I’ve been in that position since June 2020 to move forward our initiatives.” One of those initiatives was a well-being website that launched in September 2020, which promotes wellness events and provides resources for students, faculty, staff and post-graduate trainees. Rather than devoting one course or elective to wellness, the school incorporates it throughout the curriculum and in the co-curriculum. Mental health first aid training is part of a required third-year core course, Patient Care Experience, which emphasizes communication with patients, including those who are struggling with mental health issues. An elective in the third year examines pharmacotherapy and mental health. Before students go on rotations, they take an immersion prep course that includes sessions on well-being and resilience. Several courses throughout the curriculum address work/life integration, time management and healthy coping skills. “Survey results show that 61 percent of pharmacists reporting high levels of burnout in practice,” Harris said. “We need to address it at the pharmacist level. We know it does impact and factor into the work they do. It affects interactions with patients—you see an increase in medical errors and it can have an impact on relationships with patients as well as teammates. Recognizing that if we invest in well-being, it’s not just for our own personal and professional growth but thinking about how that translates into improved patient outcomes.”

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Harris said that while the pandemic highlighted burnout in the profession from frontline workers to educators, she did see a silver lining. “As a profession we really united in wanting to bring attention to this. Another focus that will continue is checking in more with students, and supervisors understanding to check in with employees and each other,” she said. “I hope pharmacy has an opportunity to learn from these challenges. Even on a personal level I think many of us were able to connect more with our families and build in self-care. As an educator I really saw how much the students appreciated that connection that faculty made with them and creating spaces for promoting wellness. I hope faculty continue to do that and holistically this will continue to promote a culture that supports the well-being of our people.”

Leaning into Lifestyle Medicine Practicing pharmacists and student pharmacists need to attend to their own well-being as well as ensure that wellness is routinely addressed in patient care. Buckley noted that she would love to see academic institutions create director-level positions focused on wellness. “We need to embrace whole care and have pharmacists partnering with the alternative medicine path and looking at whole health,” she said. “If a pharmacist is involved, we can talk about how that matches your meds and whether something is safe and including all of it instead of being so siloed. I would love to see that as a career path for pharmacists.” Lifestyle medicine may present an opportunity for pharmacists to expand their career options. “Pharmacists get trained in so many areas—we’re like the Swiss Army knives of healthcare. There are so many opportunities for pharmacists to advance the health of the country in many different roles,” explained Dr. Ed Stein, a retiring USPHS

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pharmacy officer with the Indian Health Service. “A lot of times when we’re recommending therapies for folks, there’s a lifestyle intervention that’s going to help. Sometimes it’s an add on and saying, clean up your diet, do more exercise. What I’ve learned through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is that lifestyle medicine is a primary intervention. It’s not complementary and it’s not an alternative to conventional medicine. It’s a foundation for conventional medicine. For pharmacists, if we can think about lifestyle medicine intervention as a beginning place to start with patients, then the impact we can have with preventing, treating and reversing some diseases could be huge.”

The six pillars of lifestyle medicine are eating whole foods; getting regular exercise; reducing stress; avoiding risky substances; getting restorative sleep; and having positive social relationships. Stein added that lifestyle medicine is well-suited to interprofessional collaborations. “As pharmacists are being integrated into healthcare teams, the lifestyle medicine approach helps support that. We’re seeing this a bit already with pharmacists involved in motivational interviewing with patients. Lifestyle medicine is a modality that emphasizes and encourages that team-based approach to working with the patient. It brings in patients as well; it puts the choices in front of them and they become active team members in their healthcare.”

The Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine

Eating Whole Foods

Getting Regular Exercise

Reducing Stress

Avoiding Risky Substances

Getting Restorative Sleep

Having Positive Social Relationships

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“Pharmacists get trained in so many areas—we’re like the Swiss Army knives of healthcare. There are so many opportunities for pharmacists to advance the health of the country in many different roles. A lot of times when we’re recommending therapies for folks, there’s a lifestyle intervention that’s going to help.” —Dr. Ed Stein

Stein became interested in lifestyle medicine when he began or prevent the progression of chronic diseases. She said exploring how nutrition relates to chronic diseases. His this is absolutely an area of growth for the profession. studies on how lifestyle interventions can have an impact “Opportunities in lifestyle medicine beyond residency on patients with chronic diseases led him to his current role training can include the institute of integrative health as the chair of the pharmacists’ member interest group at training in mind-body medicine, becoming a credentialed ACLM. “As we move away from an isolated drug distribution health and wellness coach, pursuing credentials in lifestyle model and toward a more holistic component, it would be medicine by ACLM and a variety of mindfulness-based appropriate for pharmacists to be recommending those stress reduction course offerings and trainings to provide sorts of interventions to help patient management,” he meditation and mindfulness-based practices as credentialed said. “What I would like to see is people in a traditional teachers,” she explained. mode of pharmacy who are recommending therapeutics Stein pointed out that individuals who were not in good and managing patients—whether in a community pharmacy health fared worse with COVID-19, and the pandemic setting or in a hospital or a healthcare organization—adopt lifestyle medicine practices as part of the foundation. If we’re underscored the need to address the overall health and rising level of obesity among the U.S. population. Therefore, talking about a patient with hypertension, we should be incorporating lifestyle medicine interventions. I would like to equipping student pharmacists with every possible tool to treat patients is vital. “We want to mitigate and prevent see that become integrated within the practice of pharmacy.” chronic diseases. We want to bring lifestyle medicine into Dr. Seena Haines, professor and chair, Department of students’ lexicon; it would be very valuable for them and Pharmacy Practice, University of Mississippi School for patients,” he emphasized. “There are a lot of ways to of Pharmacy, is lead faculty, well-being and resilience do that. ACLM has put together curriculums for medical champion, for the Office of Well-Being at the University of residency programs. How can we get lifestyle medicine into Mississippi Medical Center. She previously spent 16 years in the pharmacy students’ experience? It can be integrated clinical practice as an ambulatory care practitioner working into existing courses, it could be an elective or a required alongside other healthcare professions. “Our diverse component or within the therapeutic realm. It could be part training and expertise provided comprehensive care to help of pharmacy residency with standards built around that.” delay and/or prevent disease progression. We worked with UNC’s Harris sees opportunity particularly for community culturally diverse special populations to build intrinsic and ambulatory care pharmacists who work with chronic motivation and patient empowerment in patients who care management. “What we think about is traditional were at risk for chronic disease,” Haines noted. “Lifestyle medication therapy management, but having this integrated medicine was and remains a cornerstone of treatment lifestyle approach is useful as well,” she said. “A lot of chronic even when pharmacotherapy is warranted. Having been illness is focused on the prevention piece and I think that’s a dietitian before becoming a pharmacist, I knew well the where lifestyle medicine fits in. Sometimes you do both value and importance of lifestyle and behavioral medicine.” [medication and non-medication preventive strategies], but Haines agrees with Stein that pharmacists are uniquely it’s the combination that will support sustained change.” P positioned to practice lifestyle medicine to help slow

Jane E. Rooney is managing editor of Academic Pharmacy Now.

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

community impact

AACP’s Strategic Plan Prioritizes Well-Being AACP’s inclusion of “well-being for all” in the new strategic plan reflects a natural progression of promoting well-being in pharmacy over the past several years. Dr. Stuart Haines, president of AACP and professor and director, Pharmacy Professional Development at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, noted that the pandemic accelerated the stress and anxiety that is affecting health professionals, and additional factors such as financial insecurity and social isolation are also adversely impacting well-being. Many schools have already implemented practices to address these concerns. “AACP will make a wide range of resources available to our members and we want to learn what institutions are doing and what’s working. Our student affairs committee has been charged with examining what are the best practices and what institutions can and should do to address faculty, staff and student well-being in a holistic way,” Haines said. “Right now, many are focused on physical and mental health, which are critical, but I don’t know if schools are going beyond those two domains of well-being or committing enough resources. We need to look at the structural issues—how are we managing the workload for faculty and staff and assignments for students?” Libby Ross, AACP’s senior director for student affairs, is a staff co-lead on the well-being priority in the new strategic plan and supported the well-being task force established by the board of directors in 2019. She noted that there is greater recognition in healthcare and higher education that well-being requires a holistic approach and encompasses factors beyond mental health, including workload issues, financial health and even substance abuse or food insecurity. She visualizes AACP’s new priority as a pyramid. “The top goal represents what we can do to support the well-being of both our individual and institutional members,” she explained. “The next goal broadens the scope to include all aspects of pharmacy education—not just what’s happening at schools but with all pharmacy learners, educators and staff in various settings, including residency and fellowship programs. The third goal goes further and focuses on the well-being of health professionals, including pharmacists. Even before the pandemic, pharmacists and other providers were reporting higher rates of anxiety, burnout, depression, stress and suicide. Collaboration and communication will be key to finding solutions, such as highlighting how pharmacists can contribute to physician well-being by managing their more complex patients. At the base of the pyramid, we aim to support patients and caretakers. We know that pharmacists are

key to a patient’s health and quality of life. If pharmacists have better well-being, so will their patients.” Pharmacy has been on the front lines throughout the pandemic, exacerbating existing stressors. “Most pharmacists cannot work from home,” said Emma Zaenglein, AACP’s meetings manager who is staff co-lead with Ross on the strategic plan. “Prioritizing your own wellness is incredibly important, as is giving pharmacists the skills to do so.” Previous AACP outreach efforts have focused on mindfulness programs for faculty and addressing burnout. The National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience launched in 2017 and aims to inform a national strategy to build health systems that engender clinician well-being and ultimately improve patient care. AACP Executive Vice President Dr. Lucinda Maine will serve as a member of the steering committee and represent pharmacy during the remaining 18 months of the NAM initiative. The Collaborative has three goals: raise the visibility of clinician anxiety, burnout, depression, stress and suicide; improve baseline understanding of challenges to clinician well-being; and advance evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions to improve patient care by caring for the caregiver.

Download the full plan: https://www.aacp.org/sites/ default/files/2021-09/aacp-strategic-plan--2021-2024.pdf

Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

@AACPharmacy

AACP Annual Meeting P July 19–22, 2021 “Even though we could not meet in-person this year, we remain deeply connected by the challenges and successes our profession has experienced in the fight against COVID-19,” Immediate Past President Dr. Anne Y. Lin said as she began the Opening General Session. Amidst a surge in cases across the country, the 2021 AACP Annual Meeting gave members a safe space to connect over the year’s most pressing issues: From combatting anti-science thinking and boosting well-being, to adapting experiential activities to virtual settings and more. More than 2,100 faculty, staff and students connected across over 120 sessions to learn the latest in best practices and move pharmacy education forward.

An Academy Asserting Itself “We really got a good news-bad news story here,” says Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said during the Opening General Session, Combatting Anti-Science Thinking. “The public has been watching science as it develops and quite frankly, they watched the development of this vaccine in a fishbowl.” The session saw a panel led by Mary Woolley, CEO and president of Research!America, and featuring Dr. Bruce Gellin, chief of global public health strategy for The Rockefeller Foundation, alongside Dr. Benjamin, tackling the pushback to vaccines and science in the wake of the pandemic. “Normally this stuff happens below the radar, and then all of a sudden, boom: it’s time to get your flu shot,” continued Dr. Benjamin. “In this case, the public watched the scientific process, [and therefore saw all of the regular] deliberations that occur.” Beyond just assessing current trends, however, the panel spoke toward specific ways colleges and schools of pharmacy can join in efforts to combat the anti-science movement. One

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such method championed by Wooley: “Valuing advocacy by their faculty, by their students, everybody. [I’m] not talking about lobbying; but making the case for what you do serving the public’s interest.”

Ready for a Close-up “This isn’t your grandpa’s documentary!” This is how Christopher Schueler, director of the documentary, Vaccination from the Misinformation Virus, summed up the exclusive clips previewed by the online audience at a Q&A session during Virtual Pharmacy Education 2021. Led by Rear Admiral (ret.) Dr. Pamela Schweitzer, former assistant surgeon general and 10th chief pharmacist officer of the United States Public Health Service, the session saw Schueler recounting his interactions with citizens across the country, in a quest to find solutions to vaccine misinformation.

Pressing Reset “During the 12 months that have transpired since our last annual meeting, we have faced many challenges,” noted President Stuart T. Haines during the First House of Delegates Session. “But adversity and disruption lead to opportunities…I’m so proud of the key role our colleges and schools of pharmacy—our faculty, staff and students—have played during the pandemic.” Recognizing the Academy’s extraordinary circumstances, Dr. Haines sought to find “something that sets the tone and— hopefully—stirs people toward action,” for the theme of his presidential term. That theme, “Rejoice & Rejuvenate! The Academy Resets, Recovers, Reimagines & Recommits,” will guide the work of the Academy during the coming year.

@AACPharmacy

Top: Immediate Past President Anne Y. Lin virtually “passes” the gavel to President Stuart T. Haines, to mark the start of his term. Middle: Dr. Lucinda L. Maine, AACP EVP & CEO, joins Christopher Scheuler, film director, and Rear Admiral (ret.) Dr. Pamela Schweitzer, former assistant surgeon general and 10th chief pharmacist officer of the United States Public Health Service, to discuss the process of creating Scheuler’s new documentary, Vaccination from the Misinformation Virus. Bottom: (From left to right) Mary Woolley, CEO and president of Research!America, discusses science misinformation with a panel of Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, and Dr. Bruce Gellin, chief of global public health strategy for The Rockefeller Foundation, at the Opening General Session.

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@AACPharmacy

Rejoice to Rejuvenate Closing General Session speaker Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, distinguished professor and vice chair of psychology at University of California, Riverside, showed attendees the importance of finding the “how” and “why” of happiness—the conditions under which practices such as gratitude or kindness work best, and yield happier, healthier, more connected and more flourishing individuals. “I want to start by defining the term ‘happiness,’” said Dr. Lyubomirsky. “It consists of two components…the first of which is the experience of frequent positive emotions, like joy, interest, pride, enthusiasm—not all the time, but frequently.” “The second is having the sense that your life is good; That you’re achieving your life goals, that you’re satisfied with the direction that your life is going.” Happiness doesn’t just feel good, she posits, but ensures more creativity, productivity, helpfulness and stability.

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#VirtualPharmEd Connections Social media captured the buzz before, during and after sessions, becoming a place for members to continue discussions with speakers, poll other attendees, share resources and send photos of their home offices across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Relive a few of the Twitter highlights: @DrladyButler: “As a leader you sometimes have to make unpopular decisions that are yet in the best interest of the organization” @AnneRx I wholeheartedly agree! Leaders have to be bold yet as transparent as possible #VirtualPharmEd #leadership https://twitter.com/DrladyButler/status/1417515839855734790 @LynetteBBaker: Wonderful session to conclude #VirtualPharmEd!! @AACPharmacy staff truly appreciate our leadership, our members, our friends and stakeholders and all of the sponsors for this awesome meeting! (Image 1) https://twitter.com/LynetteBBaker/status/1418315904337817603 @kathrynmarwitz: Yes, #misinformation debunking takes courage! Putting your professional expertise out there is not easy. Do it anyway! #PharmEd #pharmacists #twitteRx #publichealth #VirtualPharmEd @AACPharmacy https://twitter.com/kathrynmarwitz/status/1417145041903050765 @TrishaBranan: Debriefing with our awesome @AACPharmacy Walmart Scholars on impressions and takeaways from the Teachers Seminar. #TeachersSeminar #VirtualPharmEd #TwitteRx @SESmithPharmD @KendallHuntt @aliya_abdulla @ UGAPharmacy (Image 2) https://twitter.com/TrishaBranan/status/1415465134462537732 @carolineewelles: Nacho is loving @AACPharmacy #VirtualPharmEd so far! (Image 3) https://twitter.com/carolineewelles/status/1417271443499360273/

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@_AnthonyDonovan: I love the term shoe leather - public health and don’t think I have heard that expression before. Pharmacists are some of the most ideal professionals and scientists to be on the street, going door to door, and meeting patients at their level to combat vaccine hesitancy. https://twitter.com/_AnthonyDonovan/status/1417136936200794112 @BJDSOP_ADAA: Phone voting at the @AACPharmacy HOD is so good; I hope we keep using it in the future when a voice vote isn’t enough. One silver lining from changes forced onto #VirtualPharmEd https://twitter.com/BJDSOP_ADAA/status/1418282078324547595 @CJohnsonRx: It only took @ATraynPharmD ~60 seconds to start talking about Kotter’s Leading Change & The Iceberg is Melting Takes me back to my @CUWPharmacy days!! #VirtualPharmEd https://twitter.com/CJohnsonRx/status/1418211467212566528 @David_Steeb: Actually kind of sad that today is the last day of @AACPharmacy #VirtualPharmEd. Presentations and discussion were spot on and just what I needed before the upcoming semester. Unpopular opinion, but can we just keep it going for a bit longer? https://twitter.com/David_Steeb/status/1418227440640397317

Looking Ahead to 2022

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We’re excited to present Pharmacy Education 2022, July 23–27. AACP remains committed to delivering the best possible meeting experience, whether in-person, virtually or a combination of both, and as we continue planning, we remain hopeful to see you all in-person.

2022 Academic Pharmacy NOW  2021 Issue 4

Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

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AACP Awards Now Accepting Submissions Innovation in Teaching Award: This award recognizes innovative teaching and learning strategies and assessment methods and provides an opportunity to engage faculty in a process of documenting their scholarly approach to teaching and learning. Letter of Intent deadline: Nov. 5, 2021, https://bit.ly/InnovationInTeachingAACP Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award: This award is designed to recognize excellence of our academic pharmacy faculty engaged in and/or supporting scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Application deadline: Dec. 8, 2021, https://bit.ly/DistinguishedTeachingScholar Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant: This grant provides research funding for active members of AACP who are engaging in educational research. It is important to the future of the Academy that faculty are engaged and creating new knowledge in this area in order to further advance the discipline of teaching and learning. Application deadline: January 12, 2022, https://bit.ly/SoTLGrant Award for Excellence in Assessment: This award acknowledges an assessment initiative or project that uses systematic collection, review, and use of information to improve the Pharm.D. program. Application deadline: Feb. 9, 2022, https://bit.ly/ExcellenceInAssessment Emerging Teaching Scholar Award: This award is designed to recognize excellence of our academic pharmacy faculty engaged in and/or supporting scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Application deadline: Feb. 25, 2022, https://bit.ly/EmergingTeachingScholar