Welcome, Sean Kenny!

Hello everyone. My name is Sean Kenny and I am a fourth-year pharmacy student from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy on rotation with Julie Johnson from MPhA. I have just finished my first week with MPhA and have already learned loads about what professional organizations do.

The week started off by Lindsay, Julie, and myself finishing the final preparations for Legislative Day at the Capitol. Legislative Day started at the University Club in Saint Paul in the morning. I had never been to Legislative Day so everything about this experience was new to me. During the morning we had a number of presentations and discussion about important issues in pharmacy and why they are important for the profession of pharmacy and patient care. I found this discussion especially rewarding because I was able to meet and speak with many interesting people. I gained a greater understanding about the importance of pharmacy advocacy as a result of this experience. After the morning I went to the capital and helped to direct pharmacy advocates to their various representatives. I have not been to the capital in many years and it was exciting and refreshing to see all of the action going on downtown.

Later during the week I had the opportunity to attend two meeting including a MN Board of Pharmacy meeting a MN Healthcare Reform Access Task Workforce meeting. I had never been to a BOP meeting and it was interesting to gain an understanding of the process. During the meeting various members of the pharmacy community spoke with the goal of obtaining variances for individual needs. The BOP seemed to care about the concerns of the speakers and acted in a way that was fair and balanced. The MN Healthcare Task Workforce meeting was very different from the BOP meeting. It was much more formal and seemed less focused. There were several instances when the meeting had to be refocused because the discussion had gotten off topic. Although, there was a little diversion along the way, the committee was able to come to a consensus by the end of the meeting.

In the upcoming weeks I look forward to learning more about pharmacy advocacy and also learning about leadership skills from the MPhA team. 

Thanks,

Sean Kenny