Out with the old, in with the new!

Week 2 of my rotation at MPhA kicked off by relocating the office! This involved some hardcore organizing and “executive” decisions of what to throw out, what stays, and what comes with us! While moving never sounds “fun” it actually has been enjoyable since instead of being the “new” person – everyone is “new”! (Thus, one of the marvelous benefits of being a rotation student is being the new person 8 times in a row!) I have been able to help organize the MPhA office materials so I actually know where “stuff” is. Over the week I have been working with the amazing new staff here at the Ewald Consulting Firm. The new team really helps offer a bright future for MPhA!

Aside from dusting shelves and moving boxes, I was privileged to attend both a Technician Academy Meeting and a Board Meeting last Thursday. The Technician Academy meeting was a phone conference with 4 technicians from around Minnesota. During the meeting, we discussed the Board Rules Package changes that affect technicians – including minimum technician age, education training, and required pharmacist breaks meaning some rural pharmacies that don’t have the pharmacy separated from the rest of the store would have to close the entire store during that 30 minute lunch break. Goals for future pharmacy nights are to encourage all pharmacists to bring a technician with them. Last week was “Technician Recognition Week”. To any pharmacists reading this, make sure you thank your technicians for all that they do!

The Board meeting was a great time for me to meet and network the major players of MPhA (especially during the “beverage” reception after the meeting). The meeting allowed people to meet the new staff, discuss the transition and what it means for MPhA, review finances, re-cap pharmacy nights, and strategic planning. Some of the most “heated” topics included advocating for internet access for all pharmacists on the job. The argument was that there are vast amounts of valuable resources online that are required during the work day in order to provide optimal patient care, but some pharmacies still have restricted or no internet access at all. Also discussed were MPhA’s goals in looking at revising the “Pharmacy Practice Act” to be more patient-care oriented and allow pharmacy services outside the traditional pharmacy setting. We want to make sure evaluating this act is a valuable use of our resources, which the board seems to agree that it is. Along with this discussion, we further reviewed the Board Rules Package changes and discussed pro’s and con’s of each proposed change. I thought the discussion during this meeting was much more interactive than previous pharmacy nights.

Surprisingly, it was made clear to me at this meeting that MPhA represents only a minority of pharmacists in Minnesota. The million dollar question is, WHY? Why are pharmacists not getting involved in MPhA and advocating for their profession? There might be a potential project here for me. Perhaps trying to design an extremely short survey to query pharmacists about MPhA might help us understand this. Do they understand everything that MPhA advocates for? Pharmacists can do immunizations and have Collaborative Practice Agreements because of MPhA’s advocacy! Why are they not a member and what can MPhA do to aid in their involvement?

I must comment that I was very impressed with the student presence at the board meeting. Not only were 7 students present, but they actively gave their input on issues! Not only is the fore mentioned involvement issue a problem at the pharmacist level, but at the student level as well. If students can grasp the importance of professional involvement during their college years, imagine what mountains can be moved after graduation! MPhA helps direct our future! Let’s be involved!