I attended two different congressional open houses this week. I saw Keith Ellison in North Minneapolis on Monday and Betty McCollum in Saint Paul on Wednesday. Each open house was extremely effective at addressing the constituents and fielding their questions.
Representative Ellison hosted his congressional open house in his office building. It was informal and he spoke with all attendees. I, along with residents Andrew Bzowyckyj and Alison Knutson, had the opportunity to speak with Representative Ellison regarding health care and pharmacy. I was impressed with his willingness to listen and consider our perspective. This experienced reinforced how pivotal it is for pharmacy to share our perspective on legislation.
Representative McCollum hosted an open house at the Stepping Stone Children’s Theater in Saint Paul. This event was very structured and geared towards maintaining funding for the arts. It was a good opportunity for me to see a specific issue that I otherwise would have no exposure to.
Some issues are felt and experienced by all citizens – taxes, education, etc. Other topics are specific to a profession. It is that profession’s responsibility to educate the public on the issue and its ramifications. The profession needs to be the voice that guides change. The recent health care reform spawned several topics specific to the profession of pharmacy. These are issues that greatly affect pharmacists and interpreting the issue can only be accomplished by pharmacists. For this reason, pharmacists need to be vocal about the issues that directly affect our profession. Pharmacists have an expertise and we need to share our opinions. If we remain silent, then someone else who is not immersed in the profession will make decisions for us. Attending the congressional open houses reiterated this point.
-Chris
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Emotional vs. Analytic Thinking in Pharmacy
What do I care about? I would ponder this question for hours. I would analyze and think and analyze more. I never was able to identify what my issues of interest were. Then I stopped analyzing and pondering. I found that the issues that evoked emotion in me were the issues I should pursue. Analytic thought still has a profound place. Analyze a dose calculation, an antimicrobial choice, or a TPN admixture. Analyze a plan of action - the steps, the people, the scenario, and the outcome. Use emotions as a guide to identify what is of interest to you. When you have your list of issues then analyze how you can achieve the outcome.
The topics, events, and issues that evoke a strong emotion (frustration, enthusiasm) are the ones that should be pursued. I believe these emotions are extremely resourceful at helping individuals identify what they are passionate about. The difficulty is being able to apply that strong emotion into a rationale and respectful plan of action. Too often people will ride off of emotion without analyzing the ramifications and their efforts will erode. Emotion should be a guide to identify, not the guide to decide.
This week I have become increasingly interested in political activism. Those close to me will naturally say, “Of course, that is because you like politics.” I agree, I follow politics. But the more accurate reason why this interest has grown is because I like pharmacy. If you are interested in pharmacy then by default you will be interested in a portion of political activism. The current talks and debates among state legislators do not allude to, hint at, or whisper about the profession of pharmacy - they speak directly about our profession, primarily how our role is evolving and how our profession can be optimized. As pharmacists we need to collectively promote our skills and our passions. Other health professionals have become very good at vocalizing what they can bring to the health care team. Now it is our turn.
I have had the privilege of attending some recent committee meetings at the Capitol dealing with health care and all the surrounding issues. The talks and ideas are diverse but the themes are consistent. The major themes are increasing patient care, ensuring every health practitioner practices to the full capability of their training, and guideline-based medicine delivered by a health care team. All of the underlying efforts of these committees parallel the efforts of MPhA.
The topics, events, and issues that evoke a strong emotion (frustration, enthusiasm) are the ones that should be pursued. I believe these emotions are extremely resourceful at helping individuals identify what they are passionate about. The difficulty is being able to apply that strong emotion into a rationale and respectful plan of action. Too often people will ride off of emotion without analyzing the ramifications and their efforts will erode. Emotion should be a guide to identify, not the guide to decide.
This week I have become increasingly interested in political activism. Those close to me will naturally say, “Of course, that is because you like politics.” I agree, I follow politics. But the more accurate reason why this interest has grown is because I like pharmacy. If you are interested in pharmacy then by default you will be interested in a portion of political activism. The current talks and debates among state legislators do not allude to, hint at, or whisper about the profession of pharmacy - they speak directly about our profession, primarily how our role is evolving and how our profession can be optimized. As pharmacists we need to collectively promote our skills and our passions. Other health professionals have become very good at vocalizing what they can bring to the health care team. Now it is our turn.
I have had the privilege of attending some recent committee meetings at the Capitol dealing with health care and all the surrounding issues. The talks and ideas are diverse but the themes are consistent. The major themes are increasing patient care, ensuring every health practitioner practices to the full capability of their training, and guideline-based medicine delivered by a health care team. All of the underlying efforts of these committees parallel the efforts of MPhA.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Welcome Chris Misfeldt!
Hello MPhA members! My name is Chris Misfeldt and I am a fourth-year pharmacy student at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I will spend five weeks here at MPhA and am excited to gain exposure to a new pharmacy environment. I am originally from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, or as it is more commonly known, the home of Leinenkugel’s Brewery. My grandfather was a University of Wisconsin Pharmacy graduate that went on to own an independent pharmacy fittingly titled Badger Pharmacy.
Prior to beginning pharmacy school I completed three years of undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a major of sociology. My interest in sociology allowed me to approach health care and pharmacy from a unique perspective. I look forward to developing this interest into a passion during my five weeks at MPhA. For the past three and a half years I have worked at the University of Minnesota Medical Center – Fairview as a pharmacy technician and pharmacy intern. My time with UMMC-Fairview has given me experience with striving to improve patient care while simultaneously adhering to an increasingly tight financial budget. The challenge of advancing the profession of pharmacy while minimizing costs increased my interest in MPhA. During this rotation I wish to gain exposure to how pharmacy policy is derived and what steps are essential for the profession of pharmacy to continue to evolve.
Throughout the next five weeks I will be sharing my experiences and reflections with you. During my stay I wish to accomplish a couple of objectives. First, I am beginning to familiarize myself with the House and Senate Bills that relate to the practice of pharmacy and health care. I wish to evaluate each bill and formulate a stance on each. As a future pharmacist it is my duty to serve my patients – this includes day to day pharmacy care as well as promoting legislature that advances their care. My second primary objective to is identify how MPhA interacts with non-pharmacy entities including legislature, the department of health, and the College of Pharmacy.
My pharmacy experience is quite homologous and I am looking to increase my exposure to the profession. I look forward to working with MPhA in the coming weeks and will be posting my experiences and impressions throughout my rotation.
Visiting the Capitol
To start my second week at MPhA I received a tour of the State Capitol in St. Paul. It was my first visit there but I will be returning in the future. I was most impressed with the abundance of symbolism housed within the Capitol. The gold four-horse chariot on the top of the capitol is known as the Progress of the State. The chariot symbolizes pulling forward and progressing. I feel this theme is just as appropriate today as it was over a century ago.
Progress represents striving for improvement. It illustrates the effort to repair, to innovate, and to advance. Just as Minnesota was a state of progression a century ago, so too are we today. My first week at MPhA was spent identifying and familiarizing myself with areas that pharmacy continues to progress.
The main topic of my interest this week has been expanding the definition of pharmacy in order to allow pharmacists to practice at their highest level allowed by their education. The discussion primarily focuses on allowing the dispensing of medications to occur at sites other than the area defined as a pharmacy by Minnesota Statutes. This would allow pharmacists to more feasibly practice medication management therapy and better serve their patient population. Ultimately this would require rewriting or revising the MN Statutes 151.01 and 151.15. I look forward to following this issue in the future and gaining exposure to the enormous efforts that are required to improve the profession.
- Chris
Prior to beginning pharmacy school I completed three years of undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a major of sociology. My interest in sociology allowed me to approach health care and pharmacy from a unique perspective. I look forward to developing this interest into a passion during my five weeks at MPhA. For the past three and a half years I have worked at the University of Minnesota Medical Center – Fairview as a pharmacy technician and pharmacy intern. My time with UMMC-Fairview has given me experience with striving to improve patient care while simultaneously adhering to an increasingly tight financial budget. The challenge of advancing the profession of pharmacy while minimizing costs increased my interest in MPhA. During this rotation I wish to gain exposure to how pharmacy policy is derived and what steps are essential for the profession of pharmacy to continue to evolve.
Throughout the next five weeks I will be sharing my experiences and reflections with you. During my stay I wish to accomplish a couple of objectives. First, I am beginning to familiarize myself with the House and Senate Bills that relate to the practice of pharmacy and health care. I wish to evaluate each bill and formulate a stance on each. As a future pharmacist it is my duty to serve my patients – this includes day to day pharmacy care as well as promoting legislature that advances their care. My second primary objective to is identify how MPhA interacts with non-pharmacy entities including legislature, the department of health, and the College of Pharmacy.
My pharmacy experience is quite homologous and I am looking to increase my exposure to the profession. I look forward to working with MPhA in the coming weeks and will be posting my experiences and impressions throughout my rotation.
Visiting the Capitol
To start my second week at MPhA I received a tour of the State Capitol in St. Paul. It was my first visit there but I will be returning in the future. I was most impressed with the abundance of symbolism housed within the Capitol. The gold four-horse chariot on the top of the capitol is known as the Progress of the State. The chariot symbolizes pulling forward and progressing. I feel this theme is just as appropriate today as it was over a century ago.
Progress represents striving for improvement. It illustrates the effort to repair, to innovate, and to advance. Just as Minnesota was a state of progression a century ago, so too are we today. My first week at MPhA was spent identifying and familiarizing myself with areas that pharmacy continues to progress.
The main topic of my interest this week has been expanding the definition of pharmacy in order to allow pharmacists to practice at their highest level allowed by their education. The discussion primarily focuses on allowing the dispensing of medications to occur at sites other than the area defined as a pharmacy by Minnesota Statutes. This would allow pharmacists to more feasibly practice medication management therapy and better serve their patient population. Ultimately this would require rewriting or revising the MN Statutes 151.01 and 151.15. I look forward to following this issue in the future and gaining exposure to the enormous efforts that are required to improve the profession.
- Chris
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