LECOM School of Pharmacy Garners Top Honors in the First-Ever “Script Your Future” Medication Adherence Challenge The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine was among five schools of pharmacy recognized for public education efforts that aid patients in the understanding of the importance of taking medications as directed. The month-long program of patient-education has earned the students of the LECOM School of Pharmacy one of the top awards in the nationwide Medication Adherence Challenge. The National Consumers League (NCL), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation (NACDS), and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) selected the LECOM students as an award recipient of the inaugural Script Your Future Medication Adherence Challenge for student pharmacists. The Medication Adherence Challenge is part of a public awareness campaign that was launched in 2011 by NCL and that involved more than 100 public and private stakeholder organizations, including NACDS Foundation and AACP. The campaign, titled Script Your Future, seeks to increase awareness of patients about the importance of taking medication as directed. More than 40,000 student pharmacists educated more than 250,000 individuals nationwide in this concerted public effort that highlighted the importance of medication adherence. The National Challenge Award went to the LECOM student pharmacists who conducted an educational campaign both in Erie, Pa. and in Bradenton, Fla. during American Pharmacists Month in October. Students provided more than 2,000 in-person patient informational sessions to children, adolescents, adults, and seniors. They developed a special Facebook page for the campaign and they provided a link to the Script Your Future medication reminders program, whereby individuals may join to receive text message medication alerts. The students extended their Script Your Future efforts 18 | LECOM CONNECTION | spring 2012
to include the HIV/AIDS community. Directed by student government leaders, Matthew Madurski and Dan O’Neill, the Erie students also held a Health Fair in Meadville, Pa. They also presented a Medication Adherence Awareness Day at the Therapeutic Riding Equestrian Center in Erie, where disabled children rode horses as the student pharmacists discussed with their caretakers the importance of taking medication as prescribed. To complete the program, the pharmacy students also collected thousands of unwanted medications during a Drug Take-Back Day. “This award brings national recognition to the LECOM School of Pharmacy,” said Janene Madras, PharmD, Director of Admissions and Student Services and Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice. “The Script Your Future campaign was an effort that brought together students and faculty from the Erie and Bradenton campuses for one purpose, which was to
promote medication adherence.” Dean Hershey S. Bell, MD, noted that the College is extremely proud of the hard work and of the extended hours that the pharmacy students contributed to the project. Matt Madurski, a secondyear pharmacy student at the Erie campus explained that “as LECOM students, we have a unique opportunity to interact with the community and to apply the lessons that we learn in the classroom while helping to serve the health needs of the public. Script Your Future allowed our classmates in Erie and in Bradenton to work together and to develop programs and materials to educate the public, and we are grateful for the recognition that we are receiving for the hard work that we put into this effort.” “Getting into the community and spreading the message of Script Your Future not only made me become more aware of the issue that we are facing as health care providers, but it also inspired me to become a pharmacist who will stress the
Pharmacy students in Bradenton proudly display Script Your Future posters that they used in their award winning program. L-R: Melinda Buchanan (P3), faculty advisor Katherine Tromp, PharmD and Shinelle Pierre (P3).