PGY1 Residency Report

A growing demand has emerged in the healthcare field for well-trained pharmacy technicians to assist the pharmacist in many practice settings by assuming greater responsibilities. These may include order entry, filing prescription orders, compounding sterile preparations, cart fill exchanges, inventory control, operation of automated technology, utilizing the computer system as well as fulfilling other patient specific duties. Well-trained pharmacy technicians in retail and institutional settings are a vital part of the healthcare team.

My Butler University academic training and intern experience has positioned me to recognize and appreciate the essential role performed by the clinical pharmacist. Although sometimes transparent, it is the clinical pharmacist that is central to a patient’s ultimate successful recovery. This was evident during my clinical rotations, where I directly participated in the optimization of medication therapy to achieve patient-specific outcomes; it is for this reason I am impassioned and compelled to pursue a residency. As a PGY-1 resident, I plan to apply my clinical knowledge in the acute and ambulatory care settings to identify medication-related problems and make therapeutic recommendations in collaboration with other practitioners. Upon completion

As future pharmacists, we are going to face with not only the medications but also the patients, which the former ones are our tools while the latter ones are the people we use correct tools to care about. We are required to combine our pharmacy knowledge among medications with patients’ different health conditions to create the patient-centered care and provide the best outcomes. However, this care trend is in transition now, from professional-orientated to patient-centered.

When doctors prescribe medication for their patients, a local retail pharmacy is most likely to be utilized to fill the order. However, there is a growing population of older Americans that are no longer able to live independently and must reside in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. In order for this vulnerable population to receive their medications, a different kind of pharmacy is needed, these are known as LTC, long term care pharmacies. Within these specialized pharmacies there are highly trained employees called CPhTs, certified pharmacy technicians who are overseen by state licensed

During the two and a half years of my pharmacy journey, I have been thinking what can a pharmacist do within the healthcare interprofessional team to better help the patients in order to achieve the best health outcome. I work in a clinic as well as inpatient pharmacy, additionally, I had my rotations at CVS and Regions Hospital. all these experiences shape my version of the pharmacists at different settings. Therefore, in various pharmacy settings, pharmacists can work differently with the whole healthcare team. The recent PED-Rx events inspired me how important pharmacists can play roles in when working in a team.

With the huge shift in the U.S. healthcare system, healthcare services are now trending towards value-based outcomes.1 With passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it has become increasingly important to improve quality of care while simultaneously reducing health care costs.2 Pharmaceutical care services are one of the key components that has an essential impact on optimizing therapy outcomes; minimizing cost and enhancing quality of life of chronically ill patients. Community pharmacists are the third largest healthcare provider group in the world after physicians and nurses.3 Despite the fact that many studies have shown that community pharmacists’ provision of direct patient care can lead to improved patient outcomes and reduced health care costs. However, community pharmacists are the only health professionals who are not primarily rewarded for delivering health care and hence are under-utilized as public health professionals.3 Community pharmacists could help to improve health by reducing drug-related adverse events and promoting better medication adherence, which in turn may help in reducing unnecessary provider visits, hospitalizations, and readmissions while strengthening primary care delivery across the health system.

Several factors drew my attention in applying for the RN Residency Program at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. Healing and human kindness is the heart of Dignity Health. Northridge medical center is committed to providing high-quality affordable health care services to the community. I can personally relate with the values of Dignity Health which define their mission. My personal values include respecting every individual and advocating for social justice. I believe that given an opportunity to work with Dignity Health and specifically Northridge Hospital Medical Center, I would be able to serve my community and practice nursing without having to sacrifice my own personal values. After learning about the mission, vision, and values of Dignity

According to the 56 resident post-Target surveys, 100% of the residents rated their current understanding of : 1) what their medication(s) are used for, 2) how to take their medication(s), 3) how to store their medication(s) and 4) how to dispose of their medication(s) as good or very good at the conclusion of the TARGET program. Ninety-three percent of the residents at the end of the program, rated their current understanding of what side effects to watch for when taking their medication(s) as good or very good; a 55% increase from the pre-Target survey. Eighty-seven percent of the residents at the conclusion of the program, rated their current understanding of how to monitor how well their medication(s) are working as good or very good; a

Attached for your review are my job responsibilities during my internship in River’s Edge Specialty pharmacy. During my internship in River’s Edge Specialty, I served various type of patients: cancer patients, HIV patients, Hepatitis C patients, patients living in long term care facilities and nursing homes, as well as typical outpatients. River’s Edge Specialty practice incorporates elements of both the typical community and institutional functions and thus working on River’s Edge Specialty enriched my in both

In my NUR-301 Class, I had the opportunity to practice on Interprofessional Education. Our nursing student team was partnered with first year pharmacy school students to learn about each other professions and to study on how we could work in a team of healthcare professionals to attain a common goal. As this was my first time experience to meet other students from a different department of Notre Dame of Maryland University, I was not sure what to expect from our discussions. Even if I have some experiences working both in hospitals and in a pharmacy, I was no fully aware of the responsibilities of a pharmacist directly to the patient or to the healthcare field specialists.

In the first week of the Integrated Lab class focused on becoming familiar with HER during which we learned how to navigate and access important patient information. EHR is utilized by all healthcare professionals to document all therapeutic interventions. Documenting everything efficiently and accurately ultimately leads to better patient care. I believe by being accustomed to using and documenting in an EHR, pharmacy students can be better prepared when transitioning to their APPE rotations. The second few weeks we spent time learning drug information research techniques, Aminoglycoside dosing, abbreviated SOAP notes and vital skills Lab. In drug information research, we were taught how to respond appropriately to a drug related question posed by a health care professional. There was a class review of the appropriate resources to utilize while formulating a response to the inquiry. Appropriate citing methods were also highlighted during that session. Learning how to respond in a clear and concise manner while referencing appropriate literature is a skill set indispensable to all healthcare professionals. During the last few weeks, we did inpatient hospital simulation, IV room simulation and APPE Boot Camp.

In general, pharmacists should obey standards of professional behavior when assessing a patient, which includes quality of care, ethics, collegiality, collaboration, education, research, and resource allocation. However, there are some specific responsibilities that student pharmacists should take. Firstly, when meeting the patient, we should establish a therapeutic relationship with the patient. Secondly, when gathering the medical information and health records from the patient, we should carefully listen to them, check with them. Lastly, we should make proper medication therapy decisions for patients under the supervision pharmacists. Pharmacotherapy Workup Note is a really important and useful tool when assessing. It would be wonderful if I have more chance to practice with

In the first year of the course you have two placement opportunities to reflect on the role of the community pharmacist within the multi-professional team:

Johnston, M. (2006). The Pharmacy Technician Series: Fundamentals of Pharmacy Practice. Upper Saddle, NJ: Prectice

My past experiences will be of great use to me in my goal of becoming a pharmacist to care for and love people. One challenge I had to overcome was when I had to change high schools. I had attended a small school my entire life where I knew everyone, but before my junior year, I transferred to a large school where I knew no one. It was very difficult for me to readjust and make new friends when I only had two years left, and it was a tumultuous time in my life. This taught me a valuable lesson that directly transfers to pharmacy and patient care, and that is that everyone is fighting a battle, no matter how put together or polished they appear to be. I tried to appear to be fine, but I was terrified at this new school. This transfers directly to patient care by demonstrating that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect, because you never know what a person may be facing.