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Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy
IFN Interprofessional Event
by Aisha Alsliman, PS2, ICHP Philanthropy Chair, Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy
Midwestern University's ICHP Philanthropy Committee hosted an interprofessional brown bag medication event at the Islamic Foundation North mosque in Libertyville, IL, on February 28, 2016. In addition to a brown bag, ICHP set up sleep hygiene education, smoking cessation education, and a free blood pressure screening booth to further address the needs of the community. We invited the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the Association of Indian Pharmacists in America (AIPhA) to not only volunteer and collaborate with us, but to help each of us learn how to effectively work in an interprofessional healthcare team. Nine interdisciplinary volunteers, including student pharmacists and medical students, worked under the supervision of two pharmacists and a physician to make the event a success! The volunteers arrived at the venue half an hour before the event in order to review the materials that we prepared for the event. This included a step-by-step consultation for the brown bag, blood pressure protocol for the screening, and the poster board information for smoking cessation and sleep hygiene.
Our targeted disease states for this event included cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease. In particular we chose smoking cessation for respiratory disease. We chose cardiovascular disease because we noted the high prevalence of high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems in this particular community. Since we wanted to target the needs of the community, we provided free manual blood pressure screenings and medication adherence counseling, stressing the importance of adhering to blood pressure medications to optimize cardiovascular disease. In addition, smoking cessation was a focus due to the prevalence of tobacco usage within the community. This need of the community was reaffirmed at the event as various community members approached us about tips and medication options to help them quit smoking. To make the smoking cessation and sleep hygiene poster boards more interactive for children, volunteers passed out smoking cessation stickers and the sleep hygiene board was set up so community members could lift a picture flap on the board and the volunteer would explain the meaning of the picture flap in a game format.
The brown bag event was an opportunity for community members to bring their medication bottles and lists to be reviewed by a student pharmacist under the supervision of licensed pharmacists. At the event, we also offered education regarding medication safety and were able to create updated medication lists that schedule medications by time of day, with food and drink, and special storage instructions for community members. We were also able to counsel patients regarding their medication concerns, and advocated the pharmacy profession by explaining the role that pharmacists play in healthcare to community members. Additionally, we stressed the importance of medication adherence during the event, handing out wallet-sized Script Your Future medication adherence lists for community members to keep in their wallet to remind them to take their medications.
Overall, about 60 community members attended the event, of these community members, 45 were also counseled. By the end of the event, we fulfilled our goal of educating patients on medication adherence, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and sleep hygiene. Additionally, we were also able to learn how to successfully collaborate as an interprofessional team, a skill that will undoubtedly aid us in our future careers. The ICHP MWU chapter looks forward to hosting future brown bag events, targeting more individuals and collaborating with a variety of organizations to offer new and exciting philanthropy events that the community can benefit from.
Volunteers from left to right: Fatima Elahi, Krina Modi, Shaziya Barkat, Sumera Bhatti, Reem Farooq, Cassandra Phan, Aisha Alsliman, Samad Farooqi, and Saba Hamid.
Patients being counseled on sleep hygiene and having their blood pressure taken.
