Starting an IPSF Chapter



International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation

Contact Person’s Report

[pic]

American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP)



Cory A. Nelson

usaipsfcp@

1. Introduction

APhA-ASP is one of three academies within the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and it represents APhA’s student pharmacist members. There are currently 34,500 student pharmacists that are members of APhA-ASP at 129 colleges of pharmacy across the United States of America (U.S.A.).

The mission of APhA-ASP is to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy.

The day-to-day operations of APhA-ASP are conducted by staff members as well as the nationally elected National Executive Committee, made up of five student pharmacists. These APhA-ASP leaders also work with four designated APhA-ASP National Standing Committees: Communication, Education, Policy, and International. The International Standing Committee is comprised of the IPSF National Officers.

2. Education and Practice Activities

American Pharmacist Month

October is designated as American Pharmacist Month. Under the banner of “Know Your Pharmacist, Know Your Medicine” student pharmacists and other APhA members around the country focus on educating the public, policy makers, and other healthcare professionals about the importance of pharmacists as members of the healthcare team. Focus is placed on commitment to patient safety, proficiency as medication experts, and the financial and medicinal effectiveness that pharmacists bring to the healthcare system.

Midyear Regional Meetings

APhA-ASP is organized into eight regions across the United States of America. Each of these regions hosts a Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM), the only meetings in the U.S.A. that are designed solely for student pharmacists. They include leadership training, job expositions, informational presentations, poster presentations, and regional awards. Student pharmacists are able to collaborate with other chapters from around their area. This helps to keep communication between chapters and good ideas circulating. All eight of the regions hold their own MRM every fall. Hundreds of student pharmacists attended each of the MRMs this year.

APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition

APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition is the largest meeting held annually by APhA and includes programming specifically for APhA-ASP members. Pharmacists and student pharmacists convene in the House of Delegates to declare annual policies that further define the organization’s mission towards the field of pharmacy. Student pharmacists also meet separately as the APhA-ASP House of Delegates to set their vision of the future of pharmacy via policy, where there is representation from each chapter. Other student programming includes the Closing Celebration, educational programs, career connection, and community pharmacy residency showcases. This year Annual Meeting & Exposition was held in Los Angeles, California. Thousands of pharmacists and student pharmacists were in attendance.

National Patient Counseling Competition

The National Patient Counseling Competition (NPCC) begins at the local level. Each chapter holds a competition to select one student pharmacist who will represent them at APhA Annual Meeting at the national level. The local winner travels to APhA Annual Meeting to compete. At the national level student pharmacists are evaluated on both the content and style of the counseling session. The top ten finalists are recognized and the top four receive cash prizes.

Summer Leadership Institute

Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) is a leadership training conference that occurs each July. Student pharmacists who are in leadership at local, regional, and national positions meet in Washington, DC. Time is spent teaching new leaders about APhA-ASP as well as leadership development. The highlight of the weekend is a dinner on the roof of APhA Headquarters overlooking the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall.

3. Public Health Activities

HIV/AIDS:

Many schools across the U.S.A. participated in events to promote HIV/AIDS awareness. Some of the events included weeklong activities, wearing red to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS, handing out the red ribbon, and having guest speakers talk about HIV/AIDS to students. Last year an event called “A Drive for Change” was held to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. This year the event was carried out and three schools of pharmacy worked together to raise over $460 for the foundation.

Humanitarian Campaign:

This year a few schools of pharmacy put together a blood drive. The total units of blood collected were over 260. At Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) student pharmacists decided to promote this campaign through a short video on the importance of donating blood. They also made the blood drive a competition between other health care professionals. Students from all healthcare professions (dental, medicine, etc.) at VCU competed to collect the most number of units of blood. The winning prize was a pizza party. The student pharmacists at VCU collected the most amount of blood and won the party. Even though the number of units of blood collected on a national level was low, next year the Vampire Cup will still be a priority for APhA-ASP and IPSF in the U.S.A.

Diabetes:

In the U.S.A., IPSF works in collaboration with APhA-ASP to promote diabetes awareness. One school raised money for the American Diabetes Association by allowing students to wear jeans in a professional pharmacy laboratory class. The students were able to raise $100 for the American Diabetes Association. Schools also participated in events on World Diabetes Day. They screened patients for diabetes, educated the public on how to manage diabetes, and held walks to raise money and awareness about Diabetes.

TB Campaign:

The Stop TB Partnership and World Tuberculosis Day on March 24th are publicized to all APhA-ASP members via email and social media. This year schools educated patients through international health fairs on TB and how to prevent the spread of TB. One school, Idaho State University, held a TB awareness luncheon to educate pharmacy students about TB. The event was successful and reached student pharmacists from two schools of pharmacy.

Tobacco Alert Campaign:

Student pharmacists primarily focus on education and screening for smoking cessation for the Tobacco Alert Campaign. This spring IPSF members from two colleges of pharmacy held this type of event. Students from South Dakota State University organized an Anti Tobacco Lock-In Event where they invited local grade school students to the university to participate in tobacco prevention education, play games, and watch movies. Also, student pharmacists from Ohio State University helped a local clinic to identify patients that could best utilize help with cessation and proceeded to contact those patients to set up appointments.

APhA-ASP Patient Care & Community Service Projects

APhA-ASP also has many of its own campaigns known as Patient Care Projects and Community Service Projects: Operation Heart, Operation Diabetes, Operation Immunization, Operation Self-care, and Generation Rx. Each focuses on education, screening, and community outreach for its respective disease state: heart disease, diabetes, vaccine-preventative diseases, over-the-counter medication use, and prescription drug abuse. Many APhA-ASP chapters focus much of their efforts on these projects. Outstanding chapters in each of these projects are recognized for their achievements at APhA Annual Meeting and the individual MRMs.

4. Student Exchange Programme

The Student Exchange Programme (SEP) is continuing to grow in numbers over the years as APhA-ASP student pharmacists learn more about the program and become more aware of its presence. The U.S.A. national officers have worked hard to increase the awareness of SEP throughout the country and to keep the program running smoothly. 

In September 2012, we began the pre-application process to select students who would be participating in SEP from the U.S.A.  One hundred pre-applications were received, and from them, 36 students were selected based on their pre-application and their curriculum vitae. From the 36 students, 33 have been offered places by an association. 

On the other side of the program, information on available U.S.A. host sites was obtained from December 2012 to February 2013. Host sites provided the number of students they could accept, their accommodation options, their work site(s), and any other details that their site required. Beginning in late January 2013, incoming application forms were evaluated. Selected students were presented to local exchange officers within the U.S.A. for possible placement and those accepted by the local exchange officer began discussing details of the exchange. When the pharmacy work site and exact dates of exchange were established, the student was marked as placed in the database. After placement, invitation letters were sent to each student. This process continued from the end of January until June 20th, when the last reserved student was placed. . 

Presently, SEP is occurring at a number of different host sites across the United States of America. Students will continue to come through the end of September. We hope for a very successful year of SEP, and continue to promote the program throughout the U.S.A. An important goal we set for last year was to increase the number of host sites in the U.S.A. We were able to increase the number of accepted students last year from 23 to nearly 40 for summer of 2013. We have established new outreach techniques and will continue to work towards expanding SEP throughout the United States of America. We continue to promote SEP through various forms of media and hope for continual growth of interest in the future.

5. Other Activities

In the past year policy and advocacy for the profession of pharmacy have become a primary focus of APhA as well as APhA-ASP. It has become evident that if the profession of pharmacy is to realize its full potential, pharmacists and student pharmacists must advocate for these changes.

The healthcare system of the United States of America is amidst the greatest period of reform in decades. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, enacted by President Barack Obama offers much opportunity for pharmacists to become an integral part of the health care team. The idea of team-based healthcare is still a new concept as payment models shift from fee-for-service (FFS) payment to incentive based models. Numerous studies have shown how the integration of a pharmacist into a patient centered health care team can reduce costs, improve outcomes and allow patients to receive the best possible care from each practitioner.

APhA-ASP and IPSF continue to work together to provide student pharmacists with patient care experiences geared towards a changing health care climate. Students participating in these programs show the public and other health care professionals the benefit of having a pharmacist involved with primary patient care and drug therapy optimization. Collaborative initiatives focused on chronic disease states such as type 2 diabetes allow student pharmacists to engage in patient education from the moment they begin pharmacy school. Our student leaders are not born, but made through the interactions with patients where students can apply their therapeutic knowledge from the classroom; APhA-ASP and IPSF help students develop that leadership.

The APhA-ASP National President, Brandi Hamilton, is currently inspiring all APhA-ASP/IPSF members to be agents of change in accordance with her presidential theme: Be The Change. We must not resist changes to our profession, but embrace new opportunities if we want to see our profession flourish in the coming years. Our health care system is not stagnant, but full of moving pieces, where various participants are looking to define their roles in improving patient health. Our student pharmacists, through collaboration between IPSF and APhA-ASP, are better prepared to contribute to the strength of the healthcare team and improved patient health.

6. Closing Remarks

IPSF within APhA-ASP is rapidly growing in several aspects. Record numbers of APhA-ASP members have applied for placement at the 59th World Congress and the SEP has increased both local exchange sites and our placements abroad. In this year alone we nearly doubled our number of host sites. However, the one aspect of IPSF that has remained rather quiet is the IPSF-sponsored Public Health Activities. This is not for lack of effort, as many of these campaigns have been well sponsored via email newsletters, websites, and Facebook pages. It is also known that APhA-ASP members are interested in pharmacy on an international level given World Congress and SEP applications.

One reason for the lack of IPSF Public Health Activity Participation is they are in competition with APhA-ASP Patient Care Projects. Student pharmacists in the U.S.A. who are members of APhA-ASP and IPSF must choose where to spend their time and energy. The APhA-ASP International Committee members are working with the APhA-ASP Educational Standing Committee members to attempt to bridge this gap in the coming year. The goal is to help chapters understand how they can incorporate IPSF and APhA-ASP projects together (i.e. IPSF’s Tobacco Alert Campaign and APhA-ASP’s Operation Heart).

In summary, it has been an excellent year for IPSF and APhA-ASP. As we move forward into the future of healthcare, student pharmacists that choose to get involved with these organizations are certainly more prepared to encounter the problems they will face in a variety of settings in their future careers. IPSF and APhA-ASP are two very strong, involved organizations serving as a voice for student pharmacist. Hopefully, increasing the amount of coordination between the two will greatly increase the strength of that voice within the U.S.A. for years to come.

-----------------------

APhA-ASP International Standing Committee ● 2215 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037 ●

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download