Week 5: My Last Week!

Monday evening was my first experience visiting the MN Board of Pharmacy.  Julie and I attended the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) Meeting – for which she is on the Advisory Committee.  For those of you not familiar with PMP, it is an online database that went “live” on 4/15/10 where pharmacies report the dispensing of controlled substances.  To date, over 5 million prescriptions have been reported and the database has 3,397 users – most of which are physicians.

Presentations at the meeting were given by Virginia Ghafoor, a PharmD specializing in pain management from UMMC Fairview and Sergeant Matthew St. George, from the Financial Crimes Unit at the Minneapolis Police Department specializing in pharmaceuticals investigations. Both presenters explained the importance of using the PMP database in their practice.  Physicians are more comfortable treating pain when they know the patients true prescription history, especially in the emergency room setting.  Also, the system is obviously very useful in crime investigations at the Police Department when suspects are found with prescription drugs to find out if they truly had a legitimate prescription for them or not.

New legislative issues coming about from the PMP program include adding Methadone, Tramadol, and Schedule V drugs to the list of medications monitored.  Currently, PMP can only be used by healthcare professionals for prescribing or filling purposes.  There is discussion about expanding the list of appropriate uses to include queries in the ER for an unresponsive patient, intake in a pain clinic or methadone clinic, prospective transplant patients, and use by family members for cause of death.

So far, all feedback from healthcare professionals regarding PMP has been all positive except for a single comment stating, “The online system was confusing.” It seems that the program thus far has been a great success and will continue to grow in this direction. 

Tuesday night in the Twin Cities was our last pharmacy night for the year! There was a wonderful turnout exceeding 150 pharmacists, students, and technicians. Again, I learned about asthma for the 7^th time and even got a demo Advair inhaler!

Wednesday was our AWARxE strategic planning meeting.  During the meeting we mainly discussed goals for the next 3 years to facilitate in writing grant proposals.  We are hoping to expand the amount of school presentations, add faith stories to video presentations, and create a package to market nationwide.

My 5 weeks at MPhA has taught me aspects of pharmacy that the College of Pharmacy curriculum hasn’t.  I have seen a new span of opportunities that has opened my eyes to new career choices I had not considered in the past.  MPhA has shown me that being involved in your profession has benefits in any stage or field of pharmacy.  I had never considered becoming a member of MPhA before this rotation, but will undoubtedly join immediately after graduation and sign up with the MTM Academy.  I have unlimited gratitude for Julie, who’s passion for teaching students is incredible.  Thanks Julie and Ewald staff!!