A spirited group of 40 OSU|OHSU students flocked to Orlando, Florida in December to attend the 2013 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting. To help prepare students in their residency endeavors, Midyear provided many exciting and informative events such as the national Clinical Skills Competition, SSHP Student Society Showcase, keynote speaker General Colin Powell, residency showcases, student and resident poster presentations, seminars and much more!
Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired General Colin Powell helped to launch enthusiasm for the profession in this year’s Midyear as the keynote speaker. Powell shared his thoughts on the current healthcare system and noted the hope and importance of being able to provide universal healthcare. Powell took it a step further to emphasize the significant role of pharmacists in coordinating patient care ranging from an acute care setting to day-to-day medication management as the healthcare system progresses.
College of Pharmacy faculty member and alumni Dr. Daniel Rackham (‘08) presented at two sessions. As a panel member for a session titled, “Preceptor Development for the Resident: Balance Between Being Precepted and Precepting Students,” Dr. Rackham addressed the “Residents’ Challenging Role: Preceptee, Preceptor, or Both.” His session discussed the current thoughts on the critical balance between precepting residents and allowing residents to precept students. Dr. Rackham also presented the clinical pearl, “To Dip or Not to Dip: A Bedtime Story About Antihypertensives,” that addressed the recommendation from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Standards for Medical Care in Diabetes for diabetic patients to take one or more antihypertensives at bedtime. The clinical pearl described the theory and evidence behind the ADA’s recommendation. Overall, Dr. Rackham enjoyed his experience as a presenter and the opportunity to interact with other Midyear attendees. Dr. Rackham was also very proud of the representation from all OSU|OHSU students.
The Clinical Skills Competition (CSC) was one of the major highlights of Midyear. Chapter finalists, Amy Higginson (P4) and Natalie Cardoza (P4), competed in the CSC at the national level. Thank you to both for representing OSU|OHSU College of Pharmacy during the Midyear meeting!
OSU|OHSU College of Pharmacy was proudly represented by over 20 posters in the student poster presentations. Poster first authors included P4 students Kala Berkey, Natalie Cardoza, Kylee Kastelic, Christina Kowalewska, Mirue Lee, Joseph Mousa, Rachel Novak, Amar Patel, Tina Patel, Michelle Pfeifer, Andrew Quach, Tiffany Ruiz, Andrew Sowles, Andreea Steward, Vivian Tang, Michael Tice, Amanda Trieu, Long Trinh, Arrash Vahidi, and Stellar Yi and P3 student Jesse Feammelli. Several faculty members from the Department of Pharmacy Practice mentored students on these projects and posters. Thank you to Kathy Ketchum, Angie Mettie and Drs. JJ Furano, Dean Haxby, Megan Herink, David Lee, Jessina McGregor, Myrna Munar, Harleen Singh, Ted Williams –your mentorship, guidance and support is greatly appreciated. This year’s poster topics greatly varied from lean management strategies to analyzing oral medications for the use in vegetarians and vegans to evaluating the appropriateness of antibiotic use. To view the full list of students’ poster titles, please visit: http://www.ashp.org/DocLibrary/Midyear13/Student-Poster-Listing.pdf. Congratulations to all for your hard work!
Students who attended Midyear found the experience to be informational and inspiring. They look forward to the next ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting scheduled in Anaheim, California from December 7-11th, 2014 and hope you will join!