Pharmacists make practice connections in San Francisco

Source: Healthcare Digital

Date :03/07/2007 09:08:11

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists concluded its 2007 Summer Meeting and Exhibition this week in San Francisco.

The week-long meeting offers a mix of educational programming and policy deliberations on the profession’s issues. Attended by pharmacists, health care professionals, and pharmaceutical industry exhibitors, the conference is also home to the annual session of the Society’s policymaking body, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) House of Delegates

Continuing Education: Educational programming at the Summer Meeting featured diverse offerings to help pharmacists advance their professional practice, including a track of programming on applying evidence-based principles to key pharmacy areas such as pneumonia and immunization, asthma management, and use of IVIG.

Other popular programs included:

• An update on the Joint Commission’s medication management standards and National Patient Safety Goals,

• Strategies for designing work schedules that promote a positive work-life balance,

• Treatment options for managing acute pain,

• The impact of informatics on the workforce, and

• Updates on proposed changes to USP Chapter 797 on sterile compounding.

• The Summer Meeting also served as the launch of a new program designed to connect teams of emergency department (ED) pharmacists with pharmacists who wish to develop these practices in their own hospitals. Part of ASHP’s Patient Care Impact Program, the initiative’s goal is to provide an on-site educational experience followed by activities that will help participants apply what they’ve learned. Twenty pharmacists, including an international participant, will participate in the six-month pharmacy certificate program, which will conclude at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting held in December in Las Vegas.

Attendees were treated to several thought-provoking speeches, including the inaugural address of incoming ASHP President Janet A. Silvester, MBA, FASHP, who encouraged attendees to build relationships with patients, other health care providers, and colleagues to help further pharmacists’ patient care mission. The meeting’s keynote speaker, David Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., the nation’s first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, gave an overview of the state of health information technology in the U.S. and also participated on a panel with ASHP members to discuss the impact of technology on health-system practice.

ASHP CEO and Executive Vice President, Henri R. Manasse, Jr., Ph.D., Sc.D., who received health-system pharmacy’s highest honor, the Harvey A.K. Whitney Lecture Award on Tuesday evening, gave a stirring address that called upon today’s leaders to nurture the ideals and idealists who will help pharmacy fulfill its societal imperative.