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