Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fall Business

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It’s hard to believe that this rotation is already half over; the time has gone by very quickly!

I started my week early by attending the Fall Symposium at the Ewald Conference Center. I learned about current events for pharmacy including progress on JNC-8 and upcoming changes to Medicare Part D. On Wednesday, I attended my first Board of Pharmacy meeting. To those students who haven’t taken this opportunity yet – I highly recommend it! Attending the Board meeting gave me a new perspective on how state statutes affect the practice of pharmacy here in Minnesota. There were several interesting presentations given while I was there, including the new Walgreens model proposition. I rounded out my week by attending the MSHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and getting more information on the residencies available to me here in Minnesota.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Encourage your friends to join MPhA today!

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Well, here we are at the end of week two already. The time has gone by quickly here. The new MPhA journal, which will go out to ALL pharmacists in the state of Minnesota has been edited several times. I think this is a very cool opportunity for us all. With every pharmacist holding a copy of the journal in their hands this month, it is a great time to reach out to other pharmacists and encourage them to join MPhA if they are not already members.  We have tried to highlight some of the advantages of MPhA membership in the journal – there will be an article talking about the Accountable Care Act, what it means and how we got to where we are today. Also, there is a story about the PBM auditing bill – MphA helped make this possible!  That is a great speaking point for recruitment; MPhA has helped improve the workplaces of ALL pharmacists in the state, including those who aren’t members.  Won’t you help us advance pharmacy in Minnesota by becoming members?

Also this week, we were able to reach out to the new first year pharmacy students. At a meeting on campus, I met up with our MPhA liaison, Amy Herbranson , and we talked to students about the benefits of MPhA. As students, they are all eager to pitch in and promote pharmacy in Minnesota – even though they are on student salaries. Unfortunately, when students finish school, many of them do not continue to be members of MPhA.  I was talking with Julie about this issue prior to the meeting, and suggested to her that we should have discounted rates for new pharmacists while they pay down their student loans.  Did you know that MPhA already does this? I did not, so I will share with you what I found out.

My apologies if this week’s blog has sounded like an advertisement for MPhA; after seeing the things that MPhA does for its members, I have a hard time understanding why so many pharmacists in Minnesota do not continue to support the organization. Encourage your friends to join MPhA today!  ;)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

MPhA Welcomes Zach Merk!

Untitled Document Hello all!  My name is Zach Merk, the next of Julie Johnson’s fourth year pharmacy student bloggers. One of the first things that I noticed when I started this rotation was the list of names of Julie’s white board. What an illustrious list of names. I was surprised at both how many names I recognized, and how many of those names that I viewed as leaders of our profession. I hope that I am able to someday further this tradition. 

Since we will be spending a few weeks together, allow me to share a little bit of my background with you.  I grew up in rural southwest Iowa, and moved to Wisconsin when I was 15. I finished high school there and went to UW- Stout for undergrad.  I served in the Army National Guard for nine years, and deployed to Iraq for 18 months with the Infantry half-way through my BS in Applied Science. Upon completion of undergrad, I chose to take a year off and move to San Diego; the beach had been calling my name for a number of years already. Having soaked up enough sun, for now at least, I traveled back to the frozen tundra and prepared for pharmacy school at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I now find myself pursuing the Leadership Emphasis Area, which has lent me the opportunity to choose this rotation as my leadership APPE.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect on this rotation. I suspected that I would spend some time at the capitol, attend a number of meetings, and take some time to learn about how to advocate for my profession. Already this week, I have made minor contributions towards the MPhA journal coming out in September, updated presentations for AWARxE, participated in meetings and phone conferences, and learned a lot about MPhA and what it means to advocate for the profession full time. I am looking forward to the opportunities with MPhA that already checker my upcoming calendar. Plus, I’ve got my own desk and work space, which is pretty luxurious for an APPE student!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The End?.....I Think Not!

Today is the last day of my 5-week Leading Change rotation with MPhA, and it has been a blast!  I am so sad that it has come to an end, but am I am confident that the things I have learned will benefit me in my upcoming rotations and more importantly, in my future career.  I especially thank my wonderful preceptor, Julie Johnson, for her mentorship and for all that she does for the members of MPhA. 

I am also grateful to have been a part of MPhA during a time of significant positive change in the organization.  What kind of change, you ask? Well, for one thing, MPhA made an important change in how the association is managed and how members are served by contracting with Ewald Consulting, the premier association management company in Minnesota.  Now experts in association management are working to provide MPhA members with the highest quality newsletters, educational opportunities, events, and more, and I have been lucky enough to meet and work with some of these people at Ewald during my time at MPhA.

Perhaps the biggest change that MPhA has recently initiated is the introduction of the Organizational Memberships.  Now pharmacists and pharmacy technicians not only have the option of obtaining membership as individuals, but several employers have contracted with MPhA to provide membership to all of their pharmacists and technicians!   So far the organizational members include Walgreens, Goodrich Pharmacy, Trumm Drug, and the list is growing.  What does this mean for the association?  It means not only a larger membership pool, but also more energy and activity within the organization, as MPhA works to engage new members to utilize the association and be involved in moving the profession forward.  

So, as sad I am that this rotation has ended, I leave it excited about the future of MPhA.  The association is growing and evolving, so get on board!