Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

ICHP KeePosted

November 2021

Volume 47 Issue 4

Print Entire Issue

Directly Speaking

President's Message

Columns

Government Affairs Report

Board of Pharmacy Update

Hi Tech

Membership Spotlight

Professional Affairs

New Practitioners Network

Educational Affairs: Call for Posters

Educational Affairs: Director of Educational Affairs Reflection

Educational Affairs : Impact of Pharmacist-Led Medication Reconciliation Programs on Readmission Rates, Costs, and Patients' Outcomes During Transition of Care: A Systematic Review

2018 Best Practice - CPE Opportunity!

ICHPeople

Features

Election Results

Call for Delegates: Attention ASHP Pharmacist Members

Annual Meeting Recap

Pharmacy Action Fund - Auction With A Twist!

College Connection

Chicago State University College of Pharmacy

Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy

Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy

Rosalind Franklin University College of Pharmacy

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy

More

Welcome New Members!

ICHP Pharmacy Action Fund (PAC)

Board of Directors

Upcoming Events

Directly Speaking
Welcome to the New KeePosted

by Scott A. Meyers, Executive Vice President

Here it is, the first new edition of the redesigned, revitalized, and re-energized KeePosted!  In 2012, ICHP moved into the digital world and away from a paper version of KeePosted as a money-saving idea that also satisfied members who were either trying to go paperless or felt that the paper version was not environmentally sound.  We did save money but it became fairly clear that we lost readers.

More importantly, we lost a valuable route of communication to our members!  You see many members don’t receive the important e-mails and digital issues of KeePosted that we send out.  If your e-mail address is a work address, there’s a good chance that your employer’s firewall is blocking our transmissions.  

So if you have a personal e-mail, please send it to us so that we can reach you with important and often time-sensitive information about pharmacy laws, regulations, and other practice changes.  We are working daily to reduce the e-mails we send so that when you see one you will want to open it because it is important.

And because we were only providing the KeePosted online, the extra step of going after it to read it has seemed to be a barrier for many.  We will also be sending a copy of each quarterly KeePosted to all the hospital pharmacy directors across Illinois, regardless of whether they are a member of ICHP.  This copy is designed to be shared with pharmacy staff members, keeping them in the loop and encouraging those who don’t receive this at home (non-members) to join ICHP so that they may receive all the value of membership all year long rather than just once every three months.

While the KeePosted has been reduced from 10 issues a year to 4, we will make sure you get the important changes to pharmacy statutes, rules, and practices as soon as they are available - thus the need for an e-mail address that can receive the updates.  We will summarize any changes in each issue of KeePosted but it may be two or three months after all our members see them, so membership will still have its privileges!

You will see printed details related to our statewide meetings, legislative day, and more in the print KeePosted which may entice you to dig deeper online and then register to attend.  We will highlight the activities of each of ICHP’s student chapters in each edition so you can get a better picture of the future of our profession.  Overall, we think that more members will be better informed with the new print version of KeePosted!

The new KeePosted will be printed on recycled paper.  And paper, in general, is a renewable resource that is now farmed and managed professionally, creates and maintains jobs, and is ecologically clean.  So for those of you who wanted to save the planet or just reduce clutter, you may still opt out of the paper version but we think most members will continue to receive it.

We hope you find the new KeePosted refreshing and a positive improvement in the way we communicate with you.  We hope you read every issue and open other lines of communications with us after you read this in the first issue of the new KeePosted!  (By sending the ICHP office your personal e-mail address to receive important news right away!)  And don’t be afraid to let us know what you think about this important change, what articles you would like to see, and other ways we can communicate with you more efficiently and effectively!■


President's Message
Impact - ICHP Presidential Address

by Noelle Chapman, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP ICHP President

I am truly humbled to be able to share my thoughts with you today.  No one accomplishes anything alone and looking out over the room, I see so many of you who have helped and guided and supported me in my career and as a person and I want you to know without you I would not have this opportunity.  Thank you to the ICHP Board and staff— I’m honored to work alongside you all.  To my Northwestern Pharmily—you motivate and inspire me daily to be my best.  I’m so lucky to be a part of such an amazing team.  Specifically, Desi, without whom I would not have understood the value of a professional network and Travis who truly has elevated my passion for this opportunity through his mentorship this past year.  There are so many more of you that I can’t mention by name because Scott promised he would hook me off the stage if I took too long! But I can’t stand here without thanking my family: my parents and sisters who helped frame who I am (my sister in Florida actually helped edit this!); and my husband and kids (Chris, Aidan, Leila, Kaiser, Farrah) who are my reason.  I do crazy things like this to hope to have an impact on the world to make it better for them to live in.

Most of you who know me or have interacted with me in any way know I’m a little bit cheesy (I am from Wisconsin).  For example, I love ice breakers!  I start a lot of meetings with ice breakers and one of my favorite questions to use is if you had a walk out song, what would it be? I have no idea why I would ever need a walk out song but it feels like something everyone should have ready in their back pocket.  We all need a theme song to pump us up for the big moments, to tell people a little bit about ourselves without having to say anything at all.  Who’s been to a Cubs game and hasn’t started singing “Warm it up Kris” when Kris Bryant is getting ready to bat?! My walk out song? Taylor Swift’s “…Ready for it”.  If you don’t know it, shame on you but you can find it on Spotify or Apple Music after the program.  I want to make a distinction that your walk out song is different than your favorite song.  Your walk out song has a purpose: to pump you up, to inspire you, it makes you want to get up and do something—dance, hit a home run.  I picked “…Ready for it” because it does that for me and it begs the most important question: are you ready for it? Not are you ready for me but are you ready for it?  The moment you’re fighting for.  We are all moving in various directions but for what and towards what?  And are we ready for it when we get there? The opportunity to take the next step, face the challenge, achieve your dream, to make an IMPACT. 

There are lots of things we could choose to IMPACT in pharmacy, but I’m going to focus on three issues today. First, let’s talk a bit about provider status.  ICHP, as an organization, has been a great advocate for provider status in Illinois.  This is exceptionally important for many reasons, but I’m going to say something potentially controversial.  We shouldn’t be waiting for provider status.  We need to be impacting care in the ways that we know are right and best now, so we are ready for it.  Payor strategies are going to change, it’s not about the money.  Yes, we should be paid for what we do, but provider status is about value.  It’s about the IMPACT we have on patient care and safety and the health care team.  We practice in a very progressive part of the country as far as pharmacy is concerned, yet we can accept that as fact, or we can seek to stay progressive and continue to improve our practices.  Does every patient in your health system or practice area know their pharmacist?  Are we impacting their world in the best way possible? Or are we just doing our job? Is our walk out song stuck in their head?  Or are they just wanting to walk out?

When I first started dating my husband I was young and I wanted to define who I was and I told him he was a luxury, not a necessity.  He looked at me and said, “you can call me what you want, but I know what I am.”  It wasn’t too long after that that I started calling him my boyfriend and then fiancé and now husband.  He got the status he was looking for.  I tell this story because we know what we are and what we bring.  We need to stay present and relevant in the fight for provider status but more importantly, we need to have a positive IMPACT on patient care outcomes so it can’t be denied that’s what we are.  Are you ready for it? 

Similarly, what about technician practice?  There have been debates nationally for years about where technician practice fits in the scope of pharmacy practice, specifically in regard to professional organizations.  Pharmacists and technicians work hand in hand, but organizationally, issues affecting technician practice are commented on, but have few actionable plans.  Another reason I am so proud to be a part of ICHP is for as long as I can remember technicians have been a part of this organization.  We were a founding member of PTCB.  There’s been technician programming at this meeting for years.  We live in a state that requires licensure and certification which is amazing and allows technicians to have more impact.  But is it good enough?  There’s a technician shortage, accredited training programs are hard to come by, and involvement, although growing, is a necessity to move the dial on any technician-related issues. EVERYONE on the team needs a walk out song as they are essential to making an IMPACT.  We need to be creative in our approach to technician practice issues and think outside the box to promote engagement.  We all bear the burden of pushing the technicians at the institutions we work at to understand the value of a collective technician voice in pharmacy issues.  We need to IMPACT demand.  

There was a study done many years ago on women in the workplace.  Some company (I can’t recall which one) decided to embrace gender diversity before that was a thing and they placed one woman in each of their company offices across the country.  Because there was only one woman the woman was on an island and often changed her approach to be consistent with her male colleagues.  But when they put even two women in the same office, group diversity and productivity changed dramatically for the better because the women felt empowered to use their voice rather than alter it.  Technicians, we need more of you at the table.  Use your power to IMPACT the direction of pharmacy practice.  Are you ready for it? 

Lastly, I want to talk about the future.  Having an IMPACT means leaving a lasting impression for the future, a continuing message or legacy.  For the efforts we put forth to be truly meaningful, we need to emphasize their importance and incorporate the involvement of the next generation of practitioners: students, residents, new practitioners.  I say often that the reasons I got into pharmacy are very different than the reasons I stay in pharmacy.  Part of the reason I got into pharmacy was because I could do something meaningful, in that I could help people and it made sense for who I was and what I wanted in my life.  I had no clue about being a lifelong learner, about leadership or the challenges of the business of healthcare.  I was altruistic and a little risk averse, but now I am purpose-seeking and energized and I think about what more could be done if I had only realized I had a voice earlier.  To make an IMPACT, we need to make connections.  With leaders, with organizations, with patients.  Learn from the past to form your future.  Involvement helps achieve that.   

I love quotes.  I think it’s because I think in bullet points so nuggets appeal to me.  My favorite quote is modified from Maya Angelou, “If you don’t like something, change it.  If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”  Students, residents, newbies—you have the opportunity to IMPACT this profession in ways the rest of us can’t imagine.  I encourage you to start now.  Use your voice, get your walk out song stuck in our heads.  Whether you ultimately choose health-system pharmacy or not is not important.  It is important for you to know what is out there.  To explore, to find the you-shaped hole in the profession.  You can only create that hole by having an IMPACT.  Are you ready for it?

In closing, I leave you with my hook—not Scott’s hook that will rip me off the podium in a few seconds but more of a musical hook.  My theme for this year is IMPACT.  I chose IMPACT because it conveys action and change.  We need to be ready to make an IMPACT.  On patients, on practice, on each other.  Are you ready for it? ■

Columns

Government Affairs Report
Hey Task Force, What Ya Doin'?

by Jim Owen and Scott A. Meyers

Since we’re feelin’ groovy, it is summertime and the legislature has been quiet - except for the election commercials which are mostly for races for Governor and Attorney General - we’re going to update you on what’s growing out of the Collaborative Pharmaceutical Task Force.  Having met again in August and September, it has continued to review many of the 16 items charged to it by the General Assembly.  

August’s eighth meeting of the task force and the first one attended by pharmacy labor’s representative Tom Stiede, focused on mandated breaks and e-prescribing.  No consensus was reached at the August or September meetings on if pharmacists should receive a mandated 30-minute lunch.  Currently in Illinois, every employer is required to provide at least one 20-minute break to anyone who works at least 7½ hours consecutively, with the break occurring during the first 5-hours of the shift.  The only exceptions are for employees working under a collective bargaining agreement that does not include that requirement or for those who monitor individuals with developmental disabilities or mental illness.  The latter group is allowed to eat while monitoring their charges.  The next step the task force will take is to discuss this issue with representatives from the Illinois Department of Labor to determine how closely this break requirement is enforced and if pharmacy employees have whistleblower protection for reporting non-compliance to this law.  This statute is part of the One Day of Rest in Seven Act – 820 ILCS 140.

Discussions related to e-prescribing identified an effort that is under discussion at the federal level that would require physicians to use e-prescribing for all or some of the prescriptions for Medicare patients.  The task force is going to investigate further to determine if the new rules will apply to all medications or only to controlled substances.  It is a goal of the task force to align Illinois requirements with the federal CMS rules, if possible.  The task force identified that most e-prescribing software currently includes an e-cancellation function, but physicians are reluctant to use it because most pharmacies don’t accept those transmissions.  Many current pharmacy software packages include this capability and there is no transmission fee for sending or receiving a cancellation order.  The task force is strongly leaning toward requiring implementation of the e-cancellation process in the future, regardless of whether they require physicians to e-prescribe. 

The September meeting provided a continuation of these discussions with more to come.  In addition, the task force revisited medication error reporting with a strong recommendation to require pharmacies to establish their own quality improvement processes that may or may not include participation in a Patient Safety Organization (PSO).  Participation in a PSO or being part of a hospital quality improvement program provides protection from discovery for the “work product” of the program.  This is critical protection that the task force agrees must be provided if a mandate to establish these programs is recommended.  
The next meeting of the Task Force will be held in Chicago and Springfield on Tuesday afternoon, November 13th at 1:30 p.m.  Exact locations for the meeting will be posted on the Pharmacy section of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation website www.ildfpr.com.   These meetings are open to the public and pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and student pharmacists are welcome to attend.  Attendees will be required to sign in and introduce themselves to the task force and other attendees at the beginning of the meeting. ■

Board of Pharmacy Update
Highlights of the September Meeting

by Scott A. Meyers, Executive Vice President

The September 11, 2018 Board of Pharmacy Meeting was held at the Michael A. Bilandic Building, 160 N. LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. These are the highlights of that meeting.

Moment of Silence – The Board and audience observed a moment of silence to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 disaster in New York City, Washington, and rural Pennsylvania.  On September 11, 2001, the Illinois Board of Pharmacy was scheduled to meet but its meeting was cancelled when downtown Chicago was evacuated as a precaution for additional attacks.

Remediation Resources – The Board was provided a summary of research conducted by Board member Desi Kotis and her residents at Northwestern Medicine.  They discussed potential programs, both live and online, for pharmacy graduates who have failed the NAPLEX or MPJE three times.  Applicants must complete remediation of 30 hours or more before they may sit for the failed exam again.  The Board will continue to review programs and build a list of pre-approved offerings as they learn more.  Approximately 15-20 students are required to complete remediation annually.

2018 District IV Meeting – Will be held in Grand Rapids, MI and hosted by Ferris State University College of Pharmacy and the Michigan Board of Pharmacy on November 7-9, 2018.  Several Board members have committed to attend.

Department Update – Compounding rules have been sent to JCAR and should be heard in September.  These should be approved, barring any unforeseen concerns before the end of the year.
Collaborative Pharmaceutical Task Force – Recent meetings of the Task Force were discussed and a more detailed report of those activities appears in the Government Affairs Report in this issue of the KeePosted.

Legislative Update – The July Board Meeting update was presented by IPhA Executive Director Garth Reynolds.  The Spring Session of the General Assembly ended at the end of May and the bills reported on have appeared in earlier editions of the KeePosted™. 

Next Meeting – The next meeting of the Board is set for November 13, 2018 at 10:30 am in downtown Chicago. Check the IDFPR Website for exact location.  These meetings are open to the public and pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy students are encouraged to attend.■

Hi Tech
Introducing Kristine Vankuiken

by Kristine VanKuiken, CPhT- ICHP Technician Representative

My name is Kristine VanKuiken and I am your new Technician Representative on the ICHP Board! I know some of you and hope to meet many more in the coming year. I met some of you at the 2018 ICHP Annual Meeting. I thought that all the presentations were very informative. One of the things that I will be asking of you in my new position is for your ideas and input as to what can make your ICHP experience better. 

I have been interested in pharmacy since I was in high school. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child, and as they aged and developed medical conditions I was concerned that most of the time they did not seem to understand for what they needed all of their different medications. They lived in a time when a person just did as their doctor told them to do. I always thought it would be helpful if someone could actually explain to them the purpose of each drug. Then I thought, why couldn’t that person be me? I could learn these things and help them as well as other people. That reality did not happen for my grandparents but I continued to pursue my dream. I went to college with the intention of becoming a pharmacist, but life intervened so I became a CPhT instead and I have never regretted my decision. In my career so far, I have worked in many different positions of pharmacy, from inpatient to outpatient and from employee to leader. I have enjoyed each and every one of them!

Being a pharmacy technician encompasses so many different aspects of pharmacy and I hope to hear many of your stories and ideas. I also hope to be able to get other technicians that are not currently ICHP members involved. I would love to work with those of you that are already members to accomplish that.  My boyfriend recently attended a training workshop for his job and, as he described what they learned, I thought it seemed quite relevant to some of my goals of my new position at ICHP. The theme was HELP ME HELP YOU!  That is my message to you my fellow technicians!
HELP ME HELP YOU! 

Please reach out to me as much as you like. You can email me at kvankk@uic.edu. I would love to get to know all of you and hear what kinds of things are important for you as a member of ICHP. I welcome all questions, concerns and suggestions. I promise to do my best to HELP YOU!

Talk to you soon,
Kristine ■

Membership Spotlight
Meet Billee Samples



















Leadership position in ICHP: ICHP Sangamiss Chapter President; I plan all the meetings for our local chapter of ICHP in Springfield.

Practice site: Clinical Pharmacist at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL. I work on different units throughout the hospital including the stroke floor, ICU, cardiac floor, intermediate care unit, general floor, and really all over the hospital. 

I made a difference:  My biggest impact to patient care is implementing a penicillin allergy skin testing protocol at my practice site. Since implementing this protocol and making this testing available, many patients have been able to receive the most appropriate antibiotics for their infection. This also helps to decrease resistance to antibiotics in the future. 

Why pharmacy is for me: I decided I wanted to study pharmacy my senior year in high school. My oldest sister first told me what she did as a pharmacy technician and about the pharmacist with whom she worked. I went on a college visit to SIUE and fell in love with the campus and location. I enjoyed what pharmacy had to offer with being in the medical field but avoiding the surgical aspect of being a doctor. I know I made the right choice becoming a pharmacist because I love going to my job every day and making a difference in patient lives. I love being a lifelong student and sharing my knowledge of pharmacy with those I precept. I am excited to continue my growth as a pharmacist and advance the profession of pharmacy.

ICHP is crucial because: It gives a voice to pharmacists in Illinois and allows for the advancement of pharmacy as a profession. ICHP has many great resources for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians through learning via conferences and community events. It allows for networking and connections to be made so that others may share information and success stories with one another.

First time joining ICHP:  I initially joined ICHP as a student pharmacist. I began going to the Sangamiss chapter events as a P4 pharmacy student and loved the environment of networking at the meetings and the learning they provided. I went to Legislative Day as a student pharmacist as well and enjoyed meeting the representatives and senators. I thought it was important for them to know what the profession of pharmacy is and give them information on the items they would be voting on in the future.

Special thanks to Zachary Samples for making me who I am today in my career:  Zachary Samples is my husband and he is also a pharmacist. He has encouraged me throughout my career as a pharmacy student, resident, and still today. He has listened to every presentation and read everything that I have done throughout my schooling and career without complaint. He continues to give me advice and support during the hard times at work. He is a pharmacy manager and demonstrates what a true pharmacist should look like. Even during his most trying days, he keeps a positive attitude, loves his profession, and cares for patients. I love that we can discuss our days and give each other support.

Advice for a student:  I would tell student pharmacists to enjoy yourselves and learn as much as possible. Keep your mind open to residency and never avoid doing something just because you do not think you will make it. I almost did not complete a residency because I was nervous to apply; however, it is one of the best decisions that I have ever made for my career.
My special interests or hobbies outside of work:  My newest interest is spending time with my new daughter, Avalynne. She is now five months old and I love seeing how much she grows and learns every day. My husband and I have enjoyed taking her to the zoo and pool this summer. We go on walks with our puppies and cuddle with our kitties. I also enjoy reading, boating, crossfit, and being outside.

Favorite place to vacation:  My favorite place to vacation is Hawaii. My husband and I spent 14 days traveling to four of the Hawaiian Islands for our honeymoon. We were able to experience many new things including ziplining, volcanos and lava, hiking, swimming, a helicopter ride, laying at the beach, Pearl Harbor, and many other fun activities together. We hope to go back soon! ■

Professional Affairs
Medical Reserve Corps

by Tara Vickery Gorden, PRh and Cindy Li, PharmD candidate

In mid-May of this year, a breakage in a central water plant in southern Illinois led to a water shortage lasting several days and affecting several counties. Members of the Illinois Medical Reserve Corps and local EMS came to the rescue, distributing water to residents of the area. Pharmacist Tara Vickery Gorden was among those who ensured that the local water shortage was managed effectively, and that residents did not have to suffer the consequences of running out of water or drinking the contaminated water from their taps. Gorden, a member of the Hamilton County Medical Reserve Corps unit, was called on to distribute fresh water to residents of neighboring Mt. Vernon. “If I had not been a member of the Medical Reserve Corps, I wouldn’t have been asked to help,” she says.

The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a national network consisting of local units with civilian volunteers inside and outside of the medical professions. In addition to responding to local emergencies like this recent water crisis, it organizes community health events and holds drills that simulate large-scale medical emergencies.

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can play a special role in responding to natural and manmade disasters, epidemics, terrorist attacks, and other emergencies affecting public health. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can use their special training and expertise to manage the distribution of medications during these events, and ensure that patients are given the appropriate medications based on their needs and characteristics.

Emergency response must start before the emergency, in the preparation of an emergency response plan and training of volunteers. Therefore, emergency preparedness occurs constantly, regardless of the timing of the event. One way that you can prepare for an emergency is to volunteer for your local MRC unit.

If you are interested in volunteering go to https://mrc.hhs.gov/FindMRC, then search for your MRC by entering your address or zip code. From the map, select the unit closest to you to contact the unit leader for further details on how to volunteer.  You will also want to register at https://www.illinoishelps.net/

New Practitioners Network
Where Has the Time Gone? A Year in Reflection

by Bernice Man, PharmD, Practice Coordinator, Specialty Pharmacy, Northwestern Medical

As pharmacists, we are trained to look up information and concepts we are unfamiliar with by consulting guidelines or conducting literature searches. Even if we think we know something, we err on the side of caution and will access references if any internal seed of doubt exists with our knowledge base. I not only find myself doing this with pharmacy-related topics but with something as simple as clarifying the definition of a word. I completed this very task today when the word “reflection” came to mind. Merriam-Webster lists nine different definitions for “reflection,” which range from describing the word as it relates to physics to how it relates to one’s thought process. The most relevant definition of “reflection” for the purpose of this composition is “consideration of some subject matter, idea or purpose.”1 I think it is very important that we all reflect on our past experiences as the act of doing so can only serve to better how we handle ourselves in the future.

As some may know, a circuitous route led me to the pharmacy profession, which began with an economics degree, spanned the theatrical, graphic, and cinematic arts, and concluded with where I stand today. It feels like just yesterday that I was in a folding chair at the University of Chicago’s campus quadrangle listening to a classmate of mine humorously reflect on his college experience. It also feels like just yesterday that I sat in a different folding chair in my green and black graduation robe at Chicago State University College of Pharmacy. And most recently and just one year ago, it feels like just yesterday that I sat in the Quadrangle Club at the University of Chicago at my residency graduation. As the years have passed, “Where has the time gone?” has crossed my mind a multitude of times and it crosses my mind today as I ponder the past year I spent as the Chair of ICHP’s New Practitioners Network (NPN). 

When I ran for NPN Chair-Elect, one of my goals was to encourage new practitioner collaboration with organizations outside of the pharmacy profession. I was inspired to start this initiative because of the collective, interdisciplinary reflection my Schweitzer Fellowship cohort participated in during our monthly meeting discussions. I am proud to say that over the course of the past year, the NPN successfully collaborated with students for service projects from the Illinois College of Optometry, Rush Medical College, and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. These projects included a presentation on medications that highlighted the importance of adherence and encouraged communication with pharmacists, a brown bag event, a teaching session on how to read and understand medication labels, as well as discussions on the profession of pharmacy. Target populations for these projects were housing insecure, low income, and homeless individuals in Uptown, Chinese-speaking older adults in Chinatown, and high school students with an interest in pursuing healthcare professions. Due to the success of this past year’s collaboration, a plan is in place to continue with 2018-2019 fellowship cohort. Thus far, we have received interest from pharmacy students at Midwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. I am excited to be spearheading the continuation of this initiative with our NPN members over the course of the next year.

I am also happy to report that NPN e-board membership increased over the past year, particularly among Chicagoland area residents. We had multiple networking opportunities for our members, which included sessions at the ICHP Spring and Annual Meetings and an industry-sponsored social dinner at Sunda Restaurant. Our community service involvement included preparing brunch at the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago and participating in the American Heart Association Heart Walk. ICHP leadership recognizes the opportunity we have to engage and retain new practitioner members, and increased participation from our resident members has been a great place to start. The NPN e-board is open to new and innovative thoughts on future networking and community service opportunities as well as ideas on increasing engagement. I encourage our new practitioners to please reach out with their ideas.

In order to generate thoughtful conversation on issues that new practitioners face in addition to promoting leadership principles among our group, we had leadership article discussions during every conference call. We reflected on topics such as transitioning gracefully into a new job, sexual harassment, mentorship and sponsorship, the Oz Principle, tips on email efficiency, gaining buy-in on tough decisions, John Maxwell and the Five Levels of Leadership, and how millennials are changing health care. We promoted open and honest conversation and I look forward to more of these discussions and reflections in upcoming calls.

As I pass the leadership torch to Bryan McCarthy, I look forward to continuing to participate on the NPN’s e-board. I am so thankful for the opportunity to lead this past year and am excited to see how new leadership moves the group forward. I would like to thank everyone who participated in our e-board calls during my tenure as chair this past year. It could not have been successful without your continued engagement. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Bryan for his continued mentorship over the years as he has been a consistent sounding board and has always been open to reflective discussion since my first interaction with him as a fourth-year pharmacy student. I have no doubt that he will bring his innovative and entrepreneurial spirit to the NPN during his term as Chair. Please contact Bryan (bryan.mccarthy@uchospitals.edu) if you are interested in joining the NPN e-board as ICHP is always seeking new and varied perspectives from our new practitioner community.

In the iconic 1980’s movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, the title character states, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Our new practitioner years will fly by before you know it and at some point, you may also be wondering “Where has the time gone?” With this in mind, I encourage all of our NPN members to take time to regularly reflect on where you have been, where you are, and where you want to be. ■
Pictured from left to right: David Gu, Tyrone Johnson,
Samah Qasmieh, PharmD, Bernice Man, PharmD




















1. Reflection. Merriam-Webster website. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reflection. 2018. Accessed September 13, 2018.

Educational Affairs: Call for Posters
Deadline: January 10, 2019

Are you working on a project that others could learn from?  Please consider sharing the outcomes with your colleagues at the poster session during the ICHP Spring Meeting March 29-30, 2019 in Collinsville, IL! This is a great opportunity to share innovative ideas with others and learn about trends in Illinois health-system pharmacies. 

Categories/Presentations/Eligibility
All ICHP members are eligible to submit abstracts to be considered for presentation at the Spring Meeting.  For more information on categories for submission, platform presentations and eligibility criteria, please visit our website: https://www.ichpnet.org/pharmacy_practice/pharmacy_education_and_cpe/posters/poster_guidelines.php

Submission:
Members wishing to submit a poster should use the online submission form. Be sure to click "Submit" after completing your form. The deadline for submissions is January 10, 2019. Please direct any questions to Trish Wegner at  TrishW@ichpnet.org.

Deadlines:
Submission deadline is January 10, 2019. Authors will be notified of acceptance of their poster via email in February, 2019.

Criteria determined by the Educational Affairs Division

Educational Affairs: Director of Educational Affairs Reflection

by Lara Ellinger, PharmD, BCPS

Like many Midwesterners, my favorite season change is summer to fall. Crisp weather with jackets and boots, football, pumpkins, crunchy leaves, and…the ICHP Annual Meeting. Fall is a great time for change and the Annual Meeting embodies that, too. Installation of new officers, calls to action, re-connecting with colleagues; many members leave the meeting feeling re-energized. This Annual Meeting I am reflecting on my time spent as Director of Educational Affairs Division (EAD), an experience that had its seasons of being challenging, rewarding, draining, and exciting.

I was a little hesitant at first to put my name in the running for a position that was a 2-year term (and a 1-year elect position!), but I had lots of encouragement from Trish Wegner, Mike Fotis, and Travis Hunerdosse (who was Director of EAD before me). And that alone is one of the benefits of being involved in ICHP: encouragement from your colleagues and mentors. The theme for the 2017 meeting was related to innovation, and for the 2018 meeting, it was elevating your practice. These themes carried through my time as Director of EAD and were reflected in some of our major agenda items throughout the last couple of years. I think the Division was innovative and also elevated practice by holding the ASHP Residency Program Design and Conduct (RPDC) workshop alongside the 2017 Annual Meeting. This allowed members and non-members to reap the benefit of the workshop without having to travel to the ASHP National Pharmacy Preceptors Conference, or pay the ASHP price. We were also innovative and elevated practice by assessing concerns among APPE student rotation sites and the discordant rotation schedules from various Illinois colleges of pharmacy. As a result, ICHP has called for a reconvening of the Illinois Coalition, which will comprise deans from IL colleges of pharmacy, experiential education representatives, an IL Board of Pharmacy member, and staff from ICHP and IPhA. This Coalition will provide a forum to identify and discuss experiential education issues and allow for collaboration between health-systems, community pharmacy, and schools of pharmacy in order to support experiential education. Our first meeting coincided with the 2018 Annual Meeting.

When I reflect on the time I spent with the Division members and Subcommittees of the Division (i.e., the Annual and Spring Meeting Planning Committees each year), I realize that there were a LOT of calls. One call per month for the Division and 8-10 weekly meetings twice a year for meeting planning works out to approximately 32 x 1-hour calls per year! No wonder at times I found the work draining. But what drained out of me was refilled so that my net energy, motivation, and excitement for the work I was doing were always in the positive. 

Below are some of the greatest challenges I learned how to navigate during my time as Director:

  • Motivate people to actively contribute in a conference call setting. The dynamic of the committee can lend itself to easy conversation and members who are quick to volunteer, and other times there may be a lot of silence and shyness from the group. In the latter case, you learn to call out specific individuals and ask for their opinion or to work on something. Those situations can be uncomfortable, but are important to exercise so that you are not volunteering yourself each time something needs to be done. I was fortunate enough to mostly deal with excited groups of people who were not lacking for ideas or eagerness to get further involved.  

  • Manage logistical issues of calls.  Coordinating a time for everyone to meet can be challenging. Pharmacists have direct patient care and academic responsibilities, as well as standing meetings that cannot be moved. They are volunteering their time to serve on an ICHP committee so there are often competing priorities during the times of the calls. Also, running a call when you do not have a private office can be difficult. There may be noises or conversations in the background that can be distracting for everyone. Taking minutes while running a call is one of the ultimate forms of multitasking! It is best to identify a volunteer to be the secretary when the committee is convened, or ask at the beginning of the call if someone can assist.

  • Make the position a priority when it is not your actual job.  This is much easier to do when you are passionate about it. But time passes quickly between calls, and before you know it, the next call is on the horizon. Often, it comes at a time when new issues have cropped up at your actual job. When it rains, it pours!  

  • Exercise effective time management. The sooner the action is taken after a call, the better. Momentum and motivation can languish if weeks pass before you get to those follow-up items.

  • Recognize when a thoroughly-explored idea is not right to implement.  There is a season for ideas to not work out, too. After much debate and an agenda item that seemed to hang on forever, the Division decided that digital badges were not something ICHP should explore at this time. Disappointing as it was, it became apparent that this interesting idea did not make sense to implement.

So what do you really get out of serving in a leadership position within ICHP? 

These were the greatest benefits that I experienced during my time serving:

  • Further development of my leadership style
  • Improved confidence in leading a group
  • Delegation skills
  • Giving back to an organization that gives to me and my colleagues
  • Becoming a part of a community
  • Networking opportunities
  • Support and encouragement from colleagues and mentors
  • Identifying members’ needs and using them to form relevant programming
  • Running efficient meetings
I am so glad that I had this experience and encourage anyone interested in becoming more involved in ICHP to do so. The skills I have gained are transferable to my practice setting and have allowed me to grow in general as a pharmacist. On my last call as Director of EAD, I was asked what I will do next. I did not have an answer, because I am unsure what and when my next move will be. At this time I am focusing on my family, and learning that it is ok to take a step back from some of the professional committees with which I am involved in order to do so. After all, there is a season for that, too. Seasons change quickly, so I have no doubt I will embark on a new leadership adventure in the near future. ■

Educational Affairs : Impact of Pharmacist-Led Medication Reconciliation Programs on Readmission Rates, Costs, and Patients' Outcomes During Transition of Care: A Systematic Review

by Marija Andreevski,PharmD Candidate, Martina Bidzhova, PharmD Candidate, Ernestas Sutas, PharmD Candidate, Abby Kahaleh BPharm, MS, MPH, PhD Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy

Discussion

The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the benefits of pharmacist-led patient care programs during transition of care, based on economic, clinical, and humanistic outcomes (ECHO). The goal is to identify and clarify gaps in the current understanding of pharmacist provided medication reconciliation services on reducing 30-day readmission rates, increasing patient cost savings, and improving patients’ quality of life. In our efforts to review these programs, we  hope to provide more insight into beneficial strategies that employ medication review with the goal to result in positive health and economic outcomes.

Background

Description of the problem

Transition of care presents a significant challenge to health care providers. The vast number of physicians, nurses, and other health care personnel involved in treating and discharging a patient increases the odds of miscommunication and can result in a variety of medical errors. It is estimated that approximately 60% of medication errors happen during transition of care.1  In fact, because preventable transition of care errors make up such a large portion of all medication errors, the Joint Commission included Medication Reconciliation as a national patient safety goal for 2017.2 

In addition to patient safety, poorly coordinated transitions of care can negatively affect treatment outcomes and lead to increased health care expenses. Insurance companies - especially the federally and state subsidized Medicare/Medicaid programs that cover elderly, disabled, and patients below the poverty line - are very concerned about the increase in mortality risk and the substantial financial expenses associated with frequent hospital readmissions.3 Approximately 3.3 millions adults were readmitted within 30-days in 2011, with the associated total health care costs of $41.3 billion.3 Seniors 65+y/o on Medicare made up 55.9% of all readmissions, while patients covered by Medicaid and 18-64y/o made up 20.6% of all readmission.3 In 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began to institute the directives described in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which lead to reduced reimbursement payments for certain types of readmissions (ex; stroke, CHF) within the 30-day period following the discharge from the hospital.4 The resulting change in the hospital health care model from quantity-of-service to quality-of-service, provided hospitals with a financial incentive to reduce their readmission rates. 

Description of the condition

The ACA instituted a shift in the US health care model, with a bigger focus on the quality of service and preventative measures. The new policy ties reimbursement rates and other incentives to several key metrics, such as 30-day readmission rate, which forced the entire health care system to search for new strategies that would satisfy the required criteria. Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation programs have grown in importance over the years because such programs provide pharmacists with an opportunity to oversee the entire treatment process, which reduces costs and medication errors.

Description of the intervention

Medication reconciliation and management service is a clinical process with pharmacists providing medication optimization, counseling and education to patients either pre-discharge or post-discharge from the hospital environment. The service can be provided in a variety of different ways including face-to-face, telephonic, and electronic interactions. The systematic review includes face-to-face and telephonic medication management sessions, with a focus on reducing 30-day readmission rate. Secondary benefits of medication reconciliation programs are also examined as they pertain to the economic and patient related quality of life outcomes.

How the intervention is important

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission express concern regarding patient safety and the positive treatment outcomes during transition of care. The National Patient Safety Goal for 2017 features medication reconciliation and patient education as one of the key points for hospital excellence, while CMS continues to update the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program with new diagnosis conditions that should be treated in one admission within the 30-day period.5 Pharmacists can help reduce medication errors through medication reconciliation programs due to their broad access to patient treatment information. This helps to reduce errors that occur due to poor communication within the health care system during the transition of care period, and it can also optimize prescription treatment regimen for each individual patient. It could also lead to a reduction in 30-day readmissions, which would result in less financial penalties for hospitals per CMS rules, while increasing patient safety, quality of life, and satisfaction.

Why the review is important

Review of current studies is necessary to understand the benefits and costs associated with employing medication reconciliation programs during transition of care. This review can benefit hospitals in their decision to adopt or reject pharmacist-led medication management programs or other patient care projects, by looking at the overall clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes. Medication reconciliation programs are associated with certain costs, such as hiring additional pharmacists, so it is necessary to have a complete understanding of the benefits and risks of medication reconciliation programs during transition of care.

Objectives:
The objectives evaluated in this review included an evidence-based assessment of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation interventions in reducing hospital readmission rates, lowering health care costs, and improving patients’ quality of life. The purpose of the review is to determine if such programs will be beneficial if implemented and whether or not they will yield positive results based in the ECHO model. The systematic review analyzes the influence of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, patient education, and post-discharge follow-up within the confines of this model.

Methods:

Types of studies:

The review includes fifteen studies conducted in the US in the past seven years, published in English, which studied the benefits and drawbacks of pharmacist-led medication review projects. These studies were prospective or retrospective cohorts, or randomized control trials.
 
Types of participants:
All studies included patients who used health care services in the United States.

Inclusion criteria:

All studies included in this review had to be conducted in a US health care system between 2010 and 2017, and had to be published in English. The studies had to include pharmacist-led medication review and intervention programs and had to evaluate the outcomes on these programs either on an economical, clinical, or humanistic level. 

Types of interventions:

Interventions consisted of different types of medication therapy management, including therapy regimen assessment and optimization, medication replacement, discontinuation, initiation, and/or dose and frequency adjustments. Pharmacists also conducted patient education pre-discharge, along with face-to-face or telephonic post-discharge follow-up.

Types of outcomes measured:

1. Primary outcome:
           A.  Impact of medication reconciliation programs on reducing hospital readmission rates within the 30-days post-discharge. 

2. Secondary outcomes:
           A.  Impact of medication reconciliation programs on:
                    a.  Reducing healthcare costs.
                    b.  Reducing the number of hospital and ED visits.
                    c.  Reducing medication errors and ADE.
                    d.  Improving patients’ quality of life.

Search method used for identification of studies:

Our search was conducted through PubMed, Medline Complete and EBSCO Host online database. Search terms used to find the studies include: “MTM”, “medication reconciliation”, “pharmacist-led programs”, “medication therapy management”, “medication review”, pharmacist-led hospital programs”. All information and data was organized, analytically reviewed and revised individually by 3 of the authors. 

Data collection:

Selection of studies

Studies were individually selected and analyzed by 3 authors. All studies were further evaluated by each researcher and if the study was approved by all three, it was included in the review. Titles and abstracts were reviewed, findings examined, and outcomes confirmed through collective discussion. The initial research contained 28 studies and 15 of them were included in the comprehensive research; 13 studies did not fit our inclusion and exclusion criteria and as such were not included in the evaluation. Three types of outcomes were researched and analyzed:  hospital readmission rates, cost savings, and improvements in quality of life as they pertain to the outcomes of the ECHO model.

Data extraction

The selected studies were ranked based on the primary and secondary outcomes and the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study with the most relevant information within an outcome domain (i.e., economic, clinical, humanistic), was ranked as “1” and the study with the least relevant information was ranked as “5”. The studies were then placed into a table, with the most relevant study being listed as the first entry in the table, and the others in the descending order based on their relevance.

Assessment of risk of bias:

The following criteria were used: 
          -  Study funding
          -  Design of the study
          -  Study sample size
          -  Methods used for data analysis
          -  Study population
          -  Patient self-selection
          -  Examination of confounders

Limitations:

Conducting a review for evaluating the effects of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation programs during the transition of care process can be difficult due to the lack of randomization and the imbalance of important covariates between the intervention and control groups. Small sample sizes can impact the power to detect significant differences between groups. Studies conducted at a single site can lead to statistically different results in comparison to other hospitals due to their geographical and/or socioeconomic limitations. Inability to see actual patient data due to poor communication between health care facilities/systems can lead to the misinterpretation of true treatment outcomes in cases where patients are readmitted elsewhere. High risk and low risk patients can be hard to compare due to different classifications among the research studies.

Measures of treatment effect:

The following measures were used to assess treatment effect:  reduction in 30-day readmission rates, total net cost savings for each patient and the health care system, reduction in medication errors and ADEs, patient satisfaction, and improvement in quality of life. 

























































































































































Results Summary:

Summary of main results:

Medication reconciliation programs show evidence in being able to reduce medication errors, improve costs, and increase patients’ quality of life. This systematic review focused on the effectiveness and benefits of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation programs during the transition of care process. For the purpose of this review, we were primarily concerned with the relationship between these programs and  30-day readmission rates. The 30-day readmission rate statistics were chosen because this measurement is utilized by CMS to calculate hospital reimbursements in several readmission categories.5 In our findings medication reviews produced a clinically significant readmission rate reduction in patient populations considered as high-risk and not across the board for the general public. However, while the definition of who is considered a “high-risk” or “low-risk” patient varied among our studies, one of the limitations of this systematic review is that positive clinical outcomes appear to be closely associated with patients’ medical literacy level and the cause for their admission to a hospital. In comparison to the clinical aspect of medication reconciliation programs, the economic and humanistic outcomes are not limited to high-risk patient populations. Pharmacist-led medication reviews demonstrated significant individual health cost savings for the majority of patients and the total reduction in expenses for insurance companies. It also showed valuable improvements in patients’ quality of life by decreasing medication discrepancies, adverse drug events and other medication complications.5
 
Net reduction in health care costs was averaged through all five studies to be between $153-$1,030 USD per patient for participants receiving medication reconciliation, particularly for those with a high-risk health conditions. Advanced age, high-risk dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, acute coronary syndrome and other health status variables were used to classify patients as “high-risk” in order to determine the maximum cost savings made possible with the use of medication review programs during the transition of care process.5 This review shows the positive benefits of pharmacists’ interventions in reducing transition of care issues and medication list optimization. A reduction in errors was seen during transition of care, particularly for patients deemed as high-risk and/or with inadequate health literacy.

Conclusions:

In the fifteen studies evaluated in this review, medication reconciliation consistently showed positive results in increasing patients’ quality of life while decreasing the overall health care expenses for the majority of patients and providers of health care services. However, medication reconciliation programs  do not appear to make a statistically significant impact in reducing the 30-day readmission rates in low-risk populations or populations with adequate health literacy levels. Therefore, we suggest that hospitals consider carefully the characteristics of their patient population when determining whether to use medication reconciliation solely for the purpose of reducing their 30-day readmissions rates. Due to the unique position that pharmacists have in the treatment process, pharmacist-led medication review remains a valuable option for managing transitions of care because this can increase patient safety via medication reconciliation, optimization, and patient education. For the most part, the majority of these benefits are seen only in the long-run or in specific patient populations.7,17 We feel that hospitals should utilize pharmacist-led medication review during transitions of care due to the overall positive effects in every population, and specifically in patients who can be classified as high-risk. Hospitals should implement pre-discharge medication review to optimize treatment regimens, decrease medication errors, and increase patient safety. Face-to-face medication management performed in hospital settings for inpatient hospitalizations should be prioritized due to the easy and direct access to the patient. Post-discharge telephonic follow-up is a low cost method to further monitor and counsel patients, but it is not always as viable as pre-discharge medication reconciliation when patients cannot be contacted. We suggest further studies to be performed by each individual hospital to evaluate its own benefits of such programs. ■


































References
  1. American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Kirwin J, Canales AE, et al. Process indicators of quality clinical pharmacy services during transitions of care. Pharmacotherapy. 2012;32(11):338.
  2. The Joint Commission. National patient safety goals 2017. Available at:  https://www.jointcommission.org/standards_information/npsgs.aspx. (accessed 2017Jul 12.)  
  3. Conditions with the largest number of adult hospital readmissions by payer, 2011. The HCUP report: Healthcare cost and utilization project (HCUP): Statistical briefs; 2014 ASI 4186-20.172; Statistical brief no. 172. 2014.
  4. Anderegg SV, Wilkinson ST, Couldry RJ, et al. Effects of a hospitalwide pharmacy practice model change on readmission and return to emergency department rates. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2014;71(17):1469-1479.
  5. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Readmissions reduction program. Available at:  https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/AcuteInpatientPPS/Readmissions-Reduction-Program.html. (accessed 2017 Jul 20).  
  6. Kilcup M, Schultz D, Carlson J, et al. Postdischarge pharmacist medication reconciliation: Impact on readmission rates and financial savings. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2013;53(1):78-84.
  7. Shaya FT, Chirikov VV, Rochester C, et al. Impact of a comprehensive pharmacist medication-therapy management service. J Med Econ. 2015;18(10):828-837. 
  8. Moore JM, Shartle D, Faudskar L, et al. Impact of a patient-centered pharmacy program and intervention in a high-risk group. J Manag Care Pharm.  2013;19(3):228. 
  9. Thatcher EE, VanWert EM, Erickson SR. Potential impact of pharmacist interventions to reduce cost for medicare part D beneficiaries. J Pharm Pract. 2013;26(3):248-252.
  10. Najafzadeh M, Schnipper JL, Shrank WL, et al.   Economic value of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation for reducing medication errors after hospital discharge. Am J Manag Care.  2016;22(10):654. 
  11. Walker PC, Bernstein SJ, Jones J, et al. Impact of a pharmacist-facilitated hospital discharge program: A quasi-experimental study. Arch Intern Med.  2009;169(21):  2003-10.
  12. Sanchez GM, Douglass MA, Mancuso MA. Revisiting project re-engineered discharge (RED): The impact of a pharmacist telephone intervention on hospital readmission rates. Pharmacotherapy. 2015;35(9):805-812.
  13. Shcherbakova N, Tereso G. Clinical pharmacist home visits and 30-day readmissions in Medicare advantage beneficiaries. J Eval Clin Pract. 2016;22(3):363-368.
  14. Eisenhower C. Impact of pharmacist-conducted medication reconciliation at discharge on readmissions of elderly patients with COPD. Ann Pharmacother. 2014;48(2):203-208. 
  15. Ploenzke C, Kemp T, Naidl T, et al. Design and implementation of a targeted approach for pharmacist-mediated medication management at care transitions. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2016;56(3):303-309.
  16. Bell SP, Schnipper JL, Goggins K, et al. Effect of pharmacist counseling intervention on health care utilization following hospital discharge: A randomized control trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2016;31(5):470-477.
  17. Hutchison LJ, Mayzell GG, Bailey SC, et al. Impact of a discharge medication therapy management program in an extended care hospital. Consult Pharm. 2014;29(1):33-38.
  18. Lu Y, Clifford P, Bjorneby A, et al. Quality improvement through implementation of discharge order reconciliation. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2013;70(9):815. 
  19. Miller DE, Roane TE, McLin KD. Reduction of 30-day hospital readmissions after patient-centric telephonic medication therapy management services. Hosp Pharm. 2016;51(11):907-914.

2018 Best Practice - CPE Opportunity!
Use of Multimodal Analgesia in Women Post-Cesarean Section: From Innovation to Bedside

by submitting author: Zahra Khudeira, PharmD, MA, BCPS, CPPS co authors: Ashleigh Swearingen, MD; Carlos Sandoval, MD; Lelas Shamaileh, P4; Noha Mohamed, P4; Serene Abuzir, P4; Alexander Frank, MS

Objectives:
  1. Describe the multimodal analgesic approach
  2. Recognize the advantages of the multimodal approach

Pain management has received extra attention over the past few years as the opioid epidemic was declared a major healthcare issue in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that over 42,000 Americans died due to opioid overdose in 2016, an average of 115 people per day, with about 40% of these deaths resulting from prescription opioids.1,2 Opioids come with a multitude of side effects, including but not limited to nausea, vomiting, constipation, fatigue, pruritus, and life-threatening respiratory depression. With dependence, patients experience tolerance to the drug’s analgesic action, increased sensitivity to pain, and hyperalgesia.3 Notwithstanding, opioids have been instrumental in improving the lives of countless patients. Before opioids were regularly prescribed, many patients’ pain was not being adequately controlled, subsequently impacting mobility – which in and of itself causes many health complications – and quality of life. With all this in mind, healthcare professionals are on a mission to devise strategies for adequate pain control while minimizing opiate dependence and its consequences.

Surgery is controlled trauma.  It is common practice to prescribe opioids for the treatment of acute pain following surgery, such as a cesarean section (C-section). Controlling pain in the post-cesarean patient population is particularly important because the immobility caused by the pain further increases these women’s risk for thromboembolic events beyond their already increased baseline risk. Additionally, uncontrolled pain may negatively affect mother-baby bonding and can increase risk for postpartum depression and anxiety.4-6 While opioids are still the most common form of postoperative analgesia in this patient population, many institutions are looking for other treatment modalities that will minimize opiate use to avoid their associated complications. 

In 2016, the American Pain Society (APS) worked with the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) to develop guidelines for postoperative pain management.7 These guidelines strongly recommend multimodal analgesia for postoperative pain management in adults and children, which they define as “the use of a variety of analgesic medications and techniques that target different mechanisms of action in the peripheral and/or central nervous system (that) might have additive or synergistic effects.” Furthermore, the guidelines recommend scheduling around-the-clock non-opioid analgesics, explaining that this practice may not only decrease the likelihood of long-term opiate use and its associated risks/complications, but it can also offer superior pain relief versus opiates alone. 

Mount Sinai Hospital’s labor and delivery unit underwent a paradigm shift in analgesic practice.  The traditional opioid and as needed-based regimen was revamped to the multimodal approach (Figure 1). Before implementing this multimodal analgesic approach to post-C-section patients, the labor and delivery unit was utilizing patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with morphine for the first 24 hours after cesarean delivery followed by oral acetaminophen with hydrocodone or codeine. Additionally, women were often discharged from the hospital with opioid prescriptions. After implementing multimodal analgesia, the new physician order set included the following non-opioid medications: ketorolac (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug), acetaminophen, and gabapentin. Hydromorphone was incorporated into a patient’s pain management when she reported a pain score of at least 7 on a 10-point scale. The goals with this multimodal approach were to standardize post-cesarean analgesia in a way that minimized opiate use while still maintaining pain control immediately postpartum and at discharge. Other endpoints of the study included length of hospital stay and overall patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, there is limited information regarding multimodal analgesia specifically in the C-section patient population. Thus, this study contributes to the discussion of multimodal analgesia by providing perspective into the use of this technique in this specific patient population. 






























The current postoperative pain management strategy is a multimodal approach described as simultaneous use of analgesics with different mechanisms of action for an additive and synergistic effect, but also with fewer side effects.7  Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen work together to provide anti-inflammatory and antipyretic relief, reducing visceral pain originating from the uterus. Gabapentin offers a synergistic effect mediating neuropathic pain. The multimodal approach reduces opioid requirements and the subsequent adverse effects while simultaneously increasing pain relief via modification of signal transmission throughout the pain pathway.

Description of Program
 
The multidisciplinary team that worked on this multimodal approach and studied its outcomes included obstetrics/gynecology physicians, nurses, pharmacists, medical students, pharmacy students and a statistician. Our labor and delivery unit serves a high-risk population in collaboration with the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit delivering an average of 160 babies per month.  There are 28 attending OB/GYN physicians and 16 OB/GYN medical residents. There are at least 2 attending physicians and 2 residents available 24 hours/day. We care for high-risk women who may be dependent on illegal substances, have multiple comorbidities, and often do not receive routine prenatal care nor take their prenatal vitamins.

Our team met regularly to discuss barriers to implementation and ensure success of the program.  The initiative went live November 27, 2017.  The current order set was revised to reflect all changes. The core research team submitted an Institutional Review Board (IRB) application to analyze the effectiveness of the new analgesia modality.  The IRB-approved study focuses on two time periods, pre-implementation and post-implementation of multimodal analgesia.  The pre-intervention period was September through November 2016 and post-intervention period was January through March 2018. 

The study design was a retrospective chart review.  The patients were identified from historical discharges through the electronic medical record.  Inclusion criteria were C-Section patients aged 18 to 46 years old who received PCAs or multimodal analgesia post-operatively.

Exclusion criteria included:
  • Most or all pain scores missing in patient charts
  • Patient delivered both vaginally and c/s for same pregnancy (twins)
  • Vaginal delivery
  • Intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) delivery
  • Patients that are unable to receive NSAIDs or opiates (contraindication)
An unpaired t-test 2-tailed with heteroscedasticity (unequal variance) for each variable was utilized to determine the p-values.

Data collection included:
  • Age 
  • Weight/Body mass index (BMI)
  • Parity and number of prior C-sections
  • Length of stay (date and time of admission and discharge)
  • Allergies
  • Inpatient post-operative analgesia (including route, dose and date/time of administration)
  • Pre- and post-pain scores
  • Discharge medications

Experience with and outcomes of the program
 
The implementation of multimodal analgesia to C-Section patients involved a paradigm shift, with a goal of standardizing analgesia in post-operative C-Section patients and reducing length of stay as well as opioid use. The impetus for this change in practice was threefold. First, nurses reported a time delay in receiving PCA pumps from central supplies, meaning women may already have pain before the PCA began. Second, the clinical team wanted to reduce the use of opioids with a model similar to the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol by utilizing multimodal analgesia, which has been successfully employed in gynecological patients. Third, we wanted to improve patient satisfaction by allowing patients to ambulate earlier after surgery. The admission and post-operative analgesia order sets were updated. The changes were positively embraced by most of the healthcare professionals on the Labor and Delivery and Mother Baby Units.  After implementing this new technique, women are ambulating hours after the C-Section; Foley catheters are discontinued, and diets are advanced sooner; and most importantly, patients are being discharged from the hospital on average after 3.2 days.

After the implementation of the multimodal order set, the use of PCAs significantly decreased (Figure 2). There were many obstacles to using PCAs including obtaining the pump from central supply department in a timely manner, ensuring the pump is programmed correctly, providing adequate patient education, documentation of medication infused, standardized nurse documentation per shift, consistent documentation of pain scores into the medical record, etc.  



Discussion of innovative aspects of programs and achievement of goals

The United States has the highest rate of opioid consumption in the world. We consume 99% of the world's supply of hydrocodone and 81% of the world's supply of oxycodone.8 Physicians have a remarkable ability to combat this epidemic directly by decreasing the number of opioids provided.  Patients are more prone to continue long-term opioid use after taking them for just 5 consecutive days.1 Thus, when treating acute pain, using multimodal therapy is ideal to achieve the lowest effective dose of immediate-release opioids for the shortest duration possible, if an opioid is necessary at all. Three days are often sufficient, and more than 7 days is rarely needed. 

Our efforts to minimize opioid use both during hospitalization and upon discharge proved to be successful.  After analyzing our data (Tables 1 and 2), we found that the calculated inpatient oral morphine equivalents for the pre- and post-intervention groups were significantly less in the multimodal group, decreasing from 44.9 mg pre-implementation to 23.5 mg post-implementation.  As expected, the PCA utilization dropped dramatically.  Although multimodal analgesia for women undergoing a C-section has generally been well-received at our institution, some private practice obstetricians may have continued to use their preferred analgesia, which may explain why there was still some PCA use.  























































Our data revealed 89% of post-cesarean patients were discharged home with narcotics from October to November 2016.  In the post implementation period, the percentage of women discharged with opioids was 32.5.  The opioid pill burden was reduced by 52%.  We successfully reduced the opioid prescriptions and number of tablets circulating in the community from 2,915 to 1,393 tablets quarterly.

Opioids and their related adverse events threaten patient safety, lead to prolonged hospital stays, and increase the economic burden to hospital systems.6,11-13 Targeting high-risk patients for non-opioid pain management strategies, including locally acting, non-systemic medications and surgical interventions, may reduce opioid requirements. We encouraged the use of adjuvant medications to target specific types of pain and reduce opioid use.  Post-implementation of multimodal analgesia data shows that the current length of stay is 0.5 days less (p= 0.008).  This translates to a projected annual savings of $4.8 million based on the average cost of stay per day for patients who underwent cesarean deliveries. Our standards for acceptable pain control prior to discharge have remained unchanged from 2016 to 2018.  The patients tend to be more satisfied since they are mobile and can go home sooner. Patient education was a significant source of this change.  The patients were extensively educated about post-operative pain expectations after discharge from the hospital and given careful instruction on how to continue their medications for optimal pain control.

Although the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Practice Alert states that opioids may be administered by the patient-controlled intravenous route, we have found several limitations and barriers to this practice, including time required to obtain a pump from central supplies and incomplete nurse documentation in the medical record. Based on the challenges of PCAs and the advantages of multimodal analgesia, our hospital decided to forgo PCAs and utilize scheduled NSAIDs and acetaminophen in combination with gabapentin. 

We encountered a few limitations with this retrospective analysis.  First, the amount of opioids that the patients received from PCAs was difficult to ascertain.  The nursing documentation for opioids infused was often lacking or misrepresented.  We theorized the entire 50 mg was utilized if there was no documentation of wasted opioid volume.  Therefore, we may have overestimated the use of opioids in the pre- and post-implementation phase, if the patient received a PCA.

The retrospective research highlighted areas for improvement including the documentation of post pain scores by nurses. Four patients without documented BMIs were excluded from analysis.  Removal of codeine from updated order sets was a collateral benefit.  Codeine can be ultra-metabolized in some women which produces higher plasma levels leading to more pronounced respiratory depression in breastfeeding neonates. 

Conclusion

Healthcare is a complex system and is ever-increasing with value-based purchasing. Healthcare organizations are being asked to deliver better, more efficient care with fewer resources. Healthcare providers must recognize the impact that pain can have on patients’ health as well as quality of life and advance efforts to improve pain management.14
 
For a successful implementation of a new initiative, the key stakeholders should be at the decision table.  There should be camaraderie, mutual respect and accountability for each task.  Once implemented, the program needs to be reviewed and revised as necessary.  Our initiative underwent a Plan, Do, Study, Act format.  The practice change was successful, and our future goal is to expand multimodal analgesia to other surgeries.

Multimodal analgesia comprises of two or more medications with different mechanisms of action to produce a synergistic or additive analgesic effect and fewer overall adverse effects. The United Sates is dealing with an ongoing crisis of prescription opioid abuse, therefore the practice of prescribing non-opioid analgesics is desired.7 APS, ASA and CDC guidelines encourage the use of multimodal analgesia.1,7  The use of multimodal analgesia and the initiation of oral medications as quickly as possible after surgery can decrease length of hospital stay and, therefore, decrease health care costs and lower patients’ adverse event risks.16-17



References
  1. Centers for Disease Control, 2017.
  2. About the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. HHS. 2018. Available at: https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html.
  3. Benyamin R et al:  Opioid complications and side effects.  Pain Physician 2008 11:S105-S120.
  4. Kerai S, Saxena KN, Taneja B. Post-caesarean analgesia: What is new? Indian Journal of Anaesthesia. 2017;61(3):200-214.
  5. Gadsden J, Hart S, Santos AC. Post-cesarean delivery analgesia. Anesth Analg. 2005;101:S62–S69.
  6. Apfelbaum JL, Chen C, Mehta SS et al. Postoperative pain experience: results from a national survey suggest postoperative pain continues to be undermanaged. Anesth Analg.2003; 97:534-40.
  7. Chou R, Gordon DB, Leon-Casasola OA, et al. Management of postoperative pain: A clinical practice guideline from the American Pain Society, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Committee on Regional Anesthesia, executive committee, and administrative council. J Pain. 2016;17(2):131-157.
  8. Gomes T, Tadrous M, Mamdani MM, Paterson JM, Juurlink DN. The Burden of Opioid-Related Mortality in the United States. JAMA Network Open. 2018;1(2):e180217. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0217
  9. The Joint Commission. R3 Report Issue 11: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Hospitals; 2018.
  10. The Joint Commission. Sentinel Event Alert: Safe Use of Opioids in Hospitals. 2012; issue 49.
  11. Carr DB, Goudas LC. Acute pain. Lancet. 1999; 353:2051-8.
  12. Shafi S, Collinsworth AW, Copeland LA, et al. Association of Opioid-Related Adverse Drug Events With Clinical and Cost Outcomes Among Surgical Patients in a Large
  13. Oderda GM, Said Q, Evans RS et al. Opioid-related adverse drug events in surgical hospitalizations: impact on costs and length of stay. Ann Pharmacother. 2007; 41:400-7.
  14. Bohnert et al: Association between opioid prescribing patterns and opioid overdose-related deaths. JAMA, April 6, 2011;305(13):1315-1321.
  15. Buckley B.  Data mining can improve opioid safety.  Pharmacy Practice News November 2012, volume 39.
  16. Kehlet H, Dahl JB. The value of "multimodal" or "balanced analgesia" in postoperative pain treatment. AnesthAnalg. 1993; 77:1048-56.
  17. Kehlet H, Holte K. Effect of postoperative analgesia on surgical outcome. Br J Anaesth.2001; 87:62-72.
























































The 2017 ICHP Best Practice Award is supported by PharMEDium-AmerisourceBergen.

ICHPeople
A big round of applause to our fellow ICHP Members! We celebrate you!

Congratulations to ICHP Member Bryan McCarthy and his wife Sarah Sokol on the birth of their new baby boy, Hudson Charles McCarthy.  Hudson was born September 12, 2018 weighing 8lbs 3oz and measuring in at 20" long. He loves bath time, walks to McGuane Park in Bridgeport, Chicago, and dancing to the Beach Boys. Congrats Bryan & Sarah!



























We want to hear about all the great things going on in your life!  New baby? Get married? Get Promoted? Win an award?   Tell us all about so we can share your good news each quarter in the ICHPeople section of KeePosted™.  ICHPeople Submissions can be sent to ICHP Communications Manager Melissa Dyrdahl at: melissad@ichpnet.org.  Don't forget to attach a photo!

Features

Election Results

President-elect: Carrie Vogler
Treasurer-elect: Chris Crank
Director-elect, Division of Government Affairs: Sharon Karina
Director-elect, Division of Organizational Affairs: Elise Wozniak
Director-elect, Division of Professional Affairs: Amy Boblitt
Director-elect, Northern Region: Alifya Hyderi
Director-elect, Central Region: Julie Downen
Director-elect, Southern Region: Jared Sheley
New Practitioners Network Chair-elect: Natalie Tucker
Constitution and Bylaws Change: Approved

Call for Delegates: Attention ASHP Pharmacist Members
It's Time to Elect Delegates to ASHP's House

by Scott A. Meyers, Executive Vice President

The ASHP Summer meeting for 2019 will be held in Boston and in 2020 it will be in Seattle!  ICHP needs to elect three delegates to join Ann Jankiewicz and Noelle Chapman as the Illinois delegation for 2019 and then continue on in 2020.  Delegate candidates must be ASHP pharmacist members, planning on attending the ASHP Summer Meetings for both 2019 and 2020 at their own expense, attend one of the Chicago-based Regional Delegate Conferences each May, and provide their own nomination via e-mail, fax or mail to the ICHP office by November 16, 2018.  

Nominees must provide nomination statements which include years of membership in ASHP, current employment position, pharmacy association memberships, volunteer experiences related to pharmacy associations and any other relevant information the potential candidate would like to include.  However, candidate statements must be limited to 250 words or less.  The ICHP Committee on Nominations will select up to six candidates for this year’s ballot.  The three candidates receiving the highest vote totals will be credentialed as delegates for 2019 and 2020 and the remaining three candidates will serve as alternate delegates for 2019 only.

The 2019 Summer Meeting is scheduled for June 8-12, 2019 in Boston and June 6-10, 2020 in Seattle.  Delegates and alternate delegates are reimbursed for expenses relating to attendance at the Regional Delegate Conferences only and all other expenses are the responsibility of the delegates and alternate delegates.  ASHP’s House of Delegates is the policy making body within ASHP and is responsible for and approving all ASHP position statements and practice guidelines.

This is a great opportunity for someone who has served at the state level for some time and wishes to move up within ASHP.  It is probably not a good match for someone with no pharmacy association volunteer experience.  

Elections will be held at the end of November, with all ASHP pharmacist members eligible to vote via the internet.  Election results will be announced in the February KeePosted.  Interested individuals should send their letter of intent and candidate’s statement to Scott Meyers by November 16th at the ICHP office via fax at (815) 227-9294 or e-mail to scottm@ichpnet.org. ■

Annual Meeting Recap
Elevate Good Times, Come On. Yahoo!*

Feature Article

by Trish Wegner, BS Pharm, PharmD, FASHP Vice-President, Professional Services - ICHP

More than 550 pharmacists, students and technicians came together to celebrate and elevate our profession at the 2018 ICHP Annual Meeting! We enjoyed education, networking, great conversation and a lot of laughter! It was a great time so be sure and check out this fun recap on our YouTube page.

ICHP partnered with the Pharmacy Learning Network again this year bringing several national speakers to Oakbrook Terrace for Thursday’s programming.  If you were looking for CE, you could get a maximum of 18.5 hours of credit; if you were looking for networking, we had eight networking roundtables for discussion, various networking breaks, lunches, a fabulous exhibit program, and a residency showcase to network with several pharmacy residency programs throughout the Midwest; and if you were looking for fun, we had the Pharmacy Auction with a Twist, plus opportunities to shop at a premier mall after programming was over.  Friday and Saturday educational sessions offered several interactive, application-based formats including our first ever dedicated Ambulatory Care Session.  National speakers participated in the keynote and a special influenza presentation which was recorded for home study.  For those of you who could not attend, be on the look-out for that program.

The exhibit program drew more than 60 pharmaceutical, wholesale, technology and educational entities.  

We want to thank all of our exhibit partners and especially our GOLD SPONSORS:
  • Amgen
  • Daiichi-Sankyo
And our SILVER SPONSORS:
  • Achaogen
  • Indigo Interactive
  • Ipsen
  • McKesson
  • Merck & Co, Inc.
  • OctaPharma
  • United Pharmacy Staffing and
  • Xellia
What better way to elevate than to recognize our leaders in the organization!  During the Town Hall lunch, keynote speaker, Anna Dopp, installed the ICHP and affiliate officers. 

For ICHP we have:
  • Noelle Chapman as President 
  • Travis Hunerdosse as Immediate Past-President 
  • Ed Rainville as Secretary David Martin as Director of Educational Affairs 
  • Bernice Man as Director of Marketing Affairs 
  • Bryan McCarthy as Chair of the New Practitioners Network 
  • Brian Cryder as the Chair of the Ambulatory Care Network and
  • Kristine VanKuiken as the Technician Representative.  


For NISHP we installed:
  • Erika Hellenbart as Immediate Past-President 
  • Denise Kolanczyk as President 
  • Milena McLaughlin as President-Elect 
  • Andrew Merker as Secretary and
  • Richard Puccetti as Technician Representative.  

For SSHP we had:
  • Julie Downen as Immediate Past-President 
  • Billee Samples as President and 
  • Megan Stoller as President-elect. 
Congratulations and Thank You to these volunteer officers!

More celebrations took place at the Awards Lunch on Saturday when we recognized the best and brightest in Illinois.  
  • The 2018 ICHP Pharmacist of the Year award went to Ed Rainville of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
  • The Amy Lodolce Award went to Nora Flint of Rush University Medical Center.  
  • The Outstanding Volunteer Award went to Bryan McCarthy, Jr. at the University of Chicago Medicine.
  • There was a tie for the New Practitioner Leadership Award – Bernice Man of Northwestern Medicine and Milena McLaughlin of Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy.  
  • The President’s Award given by Travis Hunerdosse went to Kathryn Schultz of Rush Medical Center.  
  • There was also a tie for Pharmacy Technician of the Year Award – Vera Kalin from Rush Medical Center and posthumously to Dylan Marx from University of Illinois Hospitals and Clinics.  His mother and ICHP member, Peggy Bickham, accepted the award for him.   
  • The ICHP Student Chapter Award went to: The Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville chapter.  
  • The ICHP Best Practice Award went to Zahra Khudeira and her team at Mount Sinai Hospital for their submission titled “Use of Multimodal Analgesia in Women Post-Caesarean Section: From Innovation to Bedside”. 

Last but not least, are the Shining Star Awards which went to  
  • Kelsey Bridgeman 
  • Brooke Griffin
  • Denise Kolanczyk
  • Dan Majerczyk 
  • Jennifer Phillips 
  • Billee Samples
  • Christie Schumacher 
  • Anthony Scott and 
  • Carrie Vogler
Please congratulate all of the above award winners and celebrate their achievement. To learn more about each ICHP award, the criteria for each may be found on the ICHP website.

So as you can see, everyone brought their good times and laughter too to the ICHP Annual Meeting to Take Pharmacy to New Heights! Now it’s time to come together and meet in Collinsville for the 2019 ICHP/MSHP Spring Meeting, March 29th and 30th, where our theme is Implement Best Practices – See the Impact!  Yahoo! ■

* Many of you may be too young to remember Kool and The Gang, but we certainly had a good time.

Check out our facebook page to see photos from the event! 

Pharmacy Action Fund - Auction With A Twist!
See who donated and who won!

Feature Article

 

College Connection

Chicago State University College of Pharmacy
Clinical Pharmacy Internship Program at The University of Chicago Medicine

College Connection

by Erin L. Hermes, PS-3, SSHP President Chicago State University College of Pharmacy

This summer began the first Clinical Pharmacy Internship Program at the University of Chicago Medicine. This voluntary 6-8 week program was designed to aid in the development of strong research, clinical, administrative, and leadership skills necessary for post-graduate foundation. The Clinical Pharmacy Interns (CPIs) experienced a variety of tasks. 

The main task of the CPI was to perform medication histories in their assigned unit of the hospital. In order for the CPIs to accomplish this task, not only did we have to collect information from EPIC, the hospital’s health information system, but we had to take it a step further and interview patients and their caregivers, and/or contact their primary care physicians and pharmacies. Additionally, CPIs attended multidisciplinary rounds on their respective units in order to follow their patient’s care. This also allowed for us to provide patient counseling, shadow with patient care team professionals, and understand what it means to be a clinical pharmacist. CPIs followed up with their assigned preceptor with questions and information such as IV to PO conversion, drug-drug interactions, potential adverse drug events, renal dosing, and unnecessary medications. 

In addition to providing patient care, the CPIs were engaged in various other tasks within the department. We participated in cost savings initiatives such as medication returns and formulary management, research with residents, performing medication use evaluations, investigating drug shortage issues, and revising the departmental Curriculum Vitae. The CPIs also were involved in a hospital-wide quality assurance and improvement project, Omnicell Optimization. 

We were given the Omnicell Optimization project which consisted of two major tasks: reassignment of medications within the cabinet and removal of unused medications from the cabinet. We reassigned medications from the top of the cabinet to make space for patient-specific medications. The students collaborated with pharmacy technicians and nurses to ensure communications reached anyone using the Omnicell cabinets. Lastly, the cabinets were organized by patient room and labeled appropriately. Additionally, the CPIs were instructed to make a list of medications in each Omnicell that have not been used in the past ninety days and collaborate with the clinical pharmacist on that unit to determine if it was in the best interest to remove that medication from the Omnicell cabinet. Once approved by both the clinical pharmacists and Pharmacy Automation, the CPIs removed the unnecessary medications. The CPIs optimized over 100 Omnicell cabinets throughout the entire hospital, making a substantial difference in the day-to-day operations. 

Finally, the CPIs had the opportunity to attend various meetings relating to hospital operations, the Department of Pharmacy, a day-in-the-life as a pharmacy resident, informatics, scheduling, and administrative pharmacy. 

As a CPI now going into my P3 year, this experience was better than what I could have ever imagined. Being on rounds was an incredible learning experience. I had the opportunity to directly discuss with the preceptor or PGY1 pharmacy resident why recommendations were made, review the pertinent literature, and then review the patient’s chart to connect the whole story. This gave me the opportunity to see what clinical pharmacists do on a daily basis and expand my learning by interacting with real patient cases. The clinical pharmacist or resident would even ask me questions to ensure that I was getting an optimal experience. 

The projects within the CPI program were extremely beneficial because I experienced avenues of pharmacy that I had not even thought of previously. For example, informatics or administrative pharmacy is not a common pathway that many students consider. However, we got to experience this first hand and discover the different careers within the profession. This was beneficial in seeing the day-in-the-life of the residents and preceptors. Seeing what a resident does on a daily basis and how he/she would approach clinical issues provided me with key insight on how a post-graduate program could be. Not many students get experiences outside of community or institutional pharmacy, so being immersed in more clinical aspects of the profession was a tremendous opportunity. I would highly recommend that all students consider expanding their horizons during the pharmacy school years. ■

Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy
Paying Homage to the Previous Historian, A Student Interview

College Connection

by Ani Bekelian, PS-3, ICHP Historian Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy

In light of starting the new school year, and looking forward to the upcoming term, I thought it would be fun to pay homage to the Historian whose shoes I have the privilege of filling this upcoming year. Ziad Dabbagh was previously our student chapter’s Historian and I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his experiences in pharmacy school so far. 

(Pictured: Ziad Dabbagh)

Ziad is currently a third-year PharmD Candidate at Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy. He first decided to pursue a career in pharmacy ten years ago when he was still in high school. In fact, he remarked that, “I actually still have one of my old recommendation letters from my high school chemistry teacher from when I was applying to the pharmacy program at the University of Texas straight out of high school.” At the time, he remembered, that he enjoyed learning, helping others, and “loved chemistry so naturally” that he felt a pharmacy program was a good fit for him. As things progressed, however, his life took a turn that led him down a different path. Eight years later, when he was ready to turn back to his education, he remembered all of his passion and all of the reasons he wanted to pursue pharmacy in the first place, and decided to reapply.

During his first year in pharmacy school, Ziad tried to immerse himself within campus life. When asked how he went about choosing which clubs to be a part of, he remarked that he would attend a lot of organizational meetings that were advertised and decided to join those that he liked or found interesting. According to Ziad, “I chose the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists (ICHP) because they seemed to be progressive and involved at the state level.” When asked what drew him specifically to the Historian position within the MWU-ICHP student chapter during his second year, he reminisced, “I was looking for a position which would allow me to exercise my writing and create memories. There is a lot of jargon in pharmacy and [the Historian position] seemed like an outlet to contribute without the pressure of memorizing medical terminology.”

Through his time as the ICHP Historian, and participating in other organizations such as the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), he mentioned that while some experiences have taught him how to better manage his time and balance his extracurricular activities with the rigorous curriculum, others have been more inspirational in nature. For example, Ziad talked about his involvement in AMCP being the catalyst that led him to enter the Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) competition during this past year.

When asked to reflect about his experiences thus far, and how these experiences may apply to his practice after graduation, Ziad was honest about not knowing what the future holds in terms of his career. However, he felt that “obtaining a better understanding of the work around you and seeking knowledge and being informed is never a bad thing. At the very least I hope I have [through his leadership roles] obtained a more open mindset and hope this helps me approach problems from different angles with a greater understanding, perspective, and empathy.”

Looking to the upcoming academic year, I asked Ziad how he hoped to be involved as a third-year pharmacy student. In response, he answered that he planned to start his year being less involved in terms of organizations and “focusing more of my energy on things that are important to me in my personal life, and spending more of the time I spent seeking where to be involved with more focus, effort and direction.” But while he does plan on focusing more on his personal interests this year, he did mention that he looks forward to being able to attend some APhA meetings as a general member, as his extracurricular engagements last year had prevented his full involvement. 

In the final minutes of our interview, I asked for his advice to the incoming Historian. In response, he said that the biggest thing that I could do was “take it easy.” At the end of the day, Ziad came to realize that being an e-board member “shouldn’t complicate your life or stress you out more than classes do; realize that there are deadlines, but don’t let them affect you negatively. This is a club and it is meant to be fun.” I hope to take his words with me as I continue to fill his shoes this year. ■

Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy
Fall Term Update

College Connection

by Sara Koehnke, PS2, SSHP President Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy

The fall term is already beginning to build momentum and the RUCOP-SSHP is as excited as ever for the year to come! Many of the e-board attended the Student Leadership Retreat in Chicago where we learned about the many opportunities ICHP provides to encourage our success. The enthusiasm was contagious and the information was extremely helpful. I loved the candid conversations and how easily we all understood our mutual goals of continually improving. We had a wonderful time and hope to reconnect with the group!

We had our first membership drive in early September and were really happy with the students' energy and eagerness. We had a great turnout and hope to continue the trend. The e-board introduced themselves and a presentation was given about our organization, upcoming events, and how to sign up to become a member.

This term is certainly a busy one. So far we had two fundraisers (lab coats and clipboards), our first e-board meeting, and the membership drive. Upcoming we have a general body meeting, clinical skills competition, and an “Introduction to Residency” guest speaker. We were also excited for the ICHP Annual Meeting and the American Heart Association Walk. ■

Rosalind Franklin University College of Pharmacy
Immunization training in the First professional year (P1): A student perspective

College Connection

by Krista Paplaczyk, P3, ICHP Vice President Rosalind Franklin University College of Pharmacy

One of the first skills we learn as P1 pharmacy students at Rosalind Franklin University (RFU) is how to administer vaccines. The placement of Immunization Training early in the curriculum has played a significant role in the decision for many students to attend RFU. Even though a little anxious, RFU students are excited to have an opportunity to have a positive impact on their patients’ lives early in their training. Students can ensure patients are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases shortly after starting school. Students consistently express that early introduction to immunization training has provided significant advantages in their professional development.

The P1 introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs) at RFU are comprised of 104 hours of experience in community pharmacy practice settings. P1 students do not begin IPPEs until after completion of the immunization training course. This timeline is deliberate, allowing students to have multiple opportunities to practice their newly acquired skill prior to graduation. Students appreciate the opportunity to become more comfortable handling sharps, practicing vaccine preparation and administration, and utilizing the CDC immunization schedules under direct supervision of an experienced preceptor. This helps us develop confidence prior to going out to practice on our own.

Students who do not have an opportunity to immunize at their IPPE site are offered the option to participate in RFU-based influenza immunization clinics. In addition, P1 students can take advantage of demonstrating their proficiency in immunizations by participating at the RFU Interprofessional Community Clinic (ICC). The ICC is a student run clinic representing health profession students from multiple programs at RFU and provides quality healthcare to residents in our local communities. The ICC can be intimidating for first-year students just beginning their education. However, P1 students can make an impact by volunteering and helping evaluate a patient's immunization requirements, even if they have not yet acquired all of the clinical knowledge that the P2 and P3 students have learned.

It is easy to see why RFU students, faculty, preceptors, and surrounding community members are in favor of immunization training early in our academic journey. It has greatly enriched our students’ educational experiences, as well as the health and well-being of the patients we encounter during our four years in the pharmacy program. ■

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy
Back to Basics: Driving Leadership for Dialysis

College Connection

by Kristen Ingold, P2, President-Elect & Paris Smith, P3, Vice President Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) School of Pharmacy

With classes in full swing and a fresh class of P1 students starting their journey, SIUE School of Pharmacy is bustling with life. Even with the intense coursework, our student organizations are ready to start volunteering and attending state and national events again. The SSHP chapter at SIUE hosted its first meeting in August with a large attendance and interest in membership. We explained our connection with ICHP and ASHP to the new students and the benefits each organization offers. To continue our great start to the year, our executive board (e-board) wants to ensure we stay present and informative to the student body. A refresher on effective leadership skills is the key to any organization’s success. Luckily, ICHP offers a student leadership retreat each fall for the board members of student chapters. Our own Vice President, Paris Smith, seized the opportunity to better her own skills and SIUE’s SSHP chapter. Her enhanced understanding of an optimal leader helped aid in the success of our first volunteer event, a Blanket Drive.

“The ICHP Student Leadership Retreat is a one-day event that ICHP hosts for every SSHP e-board chapter in the state. I was fortunate to attend last year as Fundraising Chair, and am even happier to attend this year as our Vice President. The day was quite productive, and I encourage future e-board members to attend if you can. We talked about how ICHP can help be involved in our chapters to optimize our strengths including recruiting residents and pharmacists with our residency panels, helping recruit members for our chapter, and much more. It was also an honor to meet the president of ICHP, Travis Hunerdosse, and have the experience to converse with him. He gave wonderful advice about being leaders in our corresponding chapters and becoming a better leader in pharmacy school so the student body can experience everything that our SSHP and ICHP have to offer. As always, the part that I look forward to the most is interacting with my fellow student pharmacists. I love when we can come together and share ideas about membership, fundraising, and interesting event ideas to help elevate our chapters; I look forward to seeing them again at the ICHP Annual Meeting. Overall, this leadership retreat allows us to grow as leaders in our chapters and in pharmacy, and I used the skills that we talked about to help coordinate our annual Blanket Drive. I am pleased with the event outcome!”
- Paris Smith, P3, Vice President

Annually, our chapter hosts a Blanket Drive for anyone in the student body to attend. We purchase fleece to make blankets for a local DaVita Dialysis Center in Edwardsville, Illinois. Of course, pizza and drinks are provided as a “thank you” to all the volunteers. This event is a great way to socialize with other students. For example, I attended last year as a P1 for my first time. When I walked in, I recognized only a handful of students, none of whom I knew well. By the time I left that evening, I had upwards of 10 new friends and a warm feeling in my heart because I knew that patients would benefit from these blankets.

Reflecting on this past experience, I realize how patient-oriented pharmacy is as a profession. We are taught to monitor for drug interactions and prescription errors, interpret lab values, educate patients, and so much more. Our main focus is on the patient, and that is why our profession is among the top trustworthy health care professionals in the field. Although we are not pharmacists yet, SIUE SOP students show their effect on patient care via the simplicity of local donations. 

I contacted the local DaVita Dialysis Center where we donate the blankets each year and received this comment from an employee at the center:

“Patients enjoy the blankets and make good use of them; the dialysis rooms are cold, and the blankets are a free and convenient way to keep them warm. They really appreciate the blankets during their treatments.” - Anonymous caregiver at Edwardsville DaVita Dialysis Center - 4 September 2018

When asked, the employee confirmed that no other local organizations or companies donate to this center. This drives home the importance of our local donations. Already this year, we made 15 blankets with 25 volunteers, and a handful of P1 students came out for the fun and connected with students and faculty.

Our goal is to keep this strong impact throughout the entire year in the community and state wide, specifically at state meetings. Utilizing our strong personalities and leadership qualities should lead to a great year for our SSHP chapter. ■

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
ICHP Summer Retreat Provides Great Opportunity for Personal and Professional Development

College Connection

by Henry Okoroike, Student Chapter President, Class of 2020 University of Illinois at Chicago

On Saturday, August 25, 2018 the University of Illinois at Chicago hosted an ICHP student leadership retreat. This event was organized by ICHP Executive Vice President Scott Meyers and included student representatives from all of the Colleges of Pharmacy in Illinois. This event provides student chapter leaders with opportunities for leadership training, networking, and sharing ideas for various projects and initiatives. 

The day started with breakfast and icebreakers which allowed us to interact and get to know each other. ICHP President Travis Hunerdosse led a discussion about elevating the leader in you. President Hunerdosse spoke about defining your personal brand, how to successfully set goals, effective delegation, and how to tap into the executive boards to unlock the best out of the membership. He encouraged us to think about how we can use this information to better our respective chapters and I look forward to applying what I have learned from his talk. 

Scott Meyers then went over what ICHP can offer student members and student societies on a state level. For some of the students new to my executive board, hearing about the educational, networking, and professional development opportunities was eye-opening. For others including myself, it reaffirmed just how beneficial joining ICHP has been and will continue to be for our continued growth as future pharmacists. 

From there, we went into an open discussion where chapters could talk about what they do well and what they would like to improve upon in the upcoming school year. Most if not all chapters came away with promising events that they were excited to relay to the rest of their members upon returning to school. As someone who has attended this event for 2 years now, the student leadership retreat is something I would recommend to any executive board member looking to further their professional development as a great way to start the year. I would like to thank Scott Meyers for organizing the event. ■ 

Pictured: UIC Chapter at 2018 ICHP Leadership Retreat

More

Welcome New Members!

Joined in August
  • Sanad Abduljawad
  • Ariana Abercrumbie  (recruited by: Suzette Porter)
  • Blanca Almanza
  • Nadine Alwawi
  • Joette Amundaray Miller (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Alexander Antolak
  • Marie Aquilino
  • Sabrina Bahrawer Najibi
  • Dallas Banning
  • Jessica Beamon
  • Neha Belter
  • Trisha Benjamin (recruited by: Christie Schumacher)
  • Mark Biagi  (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Justin Bladecki
  • Alec Blair (recruited by: Brentson Wolf)
  • Alexandria Brown
  • Emily Brown
  • Terrence Brown (recruited by: Noelle Chapman)
  • Ebony Buchanan (recruited by: Janice Maeweather)
  • David Bunting  (recruited by: Brit Der)
  • Chris Butler
  • Greg Byington
  • Kevin Caguitla
  • Adam Chanthaboury
  • Philip Cho (recruited by: Brit Der)
  • Katelyn Clem
  • Candice Coleman
  • Jennifer Collins (recruited by: Jennifer Austin-Szwak)
  • Taylor Conklin (recruited by: Noelle Chapman)
  • Tamika Cosby-Sanders (recruited by: Jessy Johnson)
  • Emily Cuffe
  • Christian Dayrit
  • Raymond DeMatteo
  • Nicole Epplin (recruited by: Erika Diericx)
  • Angela Fietko (recruited by: Matthew Gimbar)
  • Paul Fina
  • Justin Fisher
  • Beatrice Fonge
  • Jeanette Francis
  • Korinne Frankford
  • Stephany Galindo
  • Palak Gandhi
  • Amanda Gerberich (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Brent Greer
  • Sheana Gupta (recruited by: Kristi Stice)
  • Courtney Hill
  • Allison Hotop
  • Naveen Iqbal
  • Shenita Jackson (recruited by: Erin Hermes)
  • Ashley Jensen
  • Sidney Jones (recruited by: Brenda Philpot)
  • Mphamvu Kalengamaliro
  • Nawpreet Kaur
  • Tehreem Khaliq
  • Attiya Khan
  • Tejani Khushbu (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Philip Kwon
  • Abby Landewee
  • Michelle Lee (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Grace Lim
  • Lan-His Lin (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Kelly Loredo (recruited by: Linda Fred)
  • Amber Lucas
  • Bushra Mapara
  • Sarah Mauney (recruited by: Anna Stewart)
  • Ashley McClure-Wolfson (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Brianna McQuade (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Kristine Mendoza-Palma
  • Debra Miller (recruited by: Tiffany Kiehna)
  • William Moore (recruited by: Noelle Chapman)
  • Anthony Negri (recruited by: Brentson Wolf)
  • Patrick Nelson
  • Jannathul Newaz
  • Anna Ngo
  • Olankie Oladeji
  • Dishaben Patel
  • Juhi Patel
  • Krishna Patel (recruited by: Bernardine Patterson)
  • Mikiben Patel
  • Bernardine Patterson
  • Omar Perez
  • Wanda Peterson (recruited by: Tina Lewis)
  • Brian Phan (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Tamara Polus
  • Daria Polyarskaya
  • Erin Pozzolano (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Jamal Pratt
  • Lauren Purvis
  • Isha Rana (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Smita Rausaria
  • Betlhem Reda
  • Sara Revolinski (recruited by: George MacKinnon)
  • Samantha Rimas
  • Brandy Rodenberg (recruited by: Dawn Dankenbring)
  • Stephanie Rojas (recruited by: Ina Henderson)
  • Abbey Romine
  • Karina Rudenberg (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Anastasia Rujevcan (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Shea Ryan (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Ilya Rybakov
  • Nailah Salawu
  • Jennifer Saric (recruited by: Ann Jankiewicz)
  • Madison Schmidt
  • Anooj Shah
  • Sonya Sial
  • Kaitlin Siela (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Emily Skiles
  • Meighan Smith
  • Ambika Soni
  • Robert Stafford (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Emily Stasinopoulos (recruited by: Jean Campbell)
  • Brenisha Strickland
  • Lesley Swick
  • Felix Tam
  • Xing Tan (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Ruchi Thakkar
  • Yash Thakkar (recruited by: Brit Der)
  • Joseph Tucker
  • Declan Tuffy
  • Maximilian Vitas
  • Ashley Wensing
  • Hannah Whittemore (recruited by: Andy Donnelly)
  • Jasmine Williams
  • Tina Williams (recruited by: Robin Muhammad)
  • Carolina Woloszyn
  • Jeremy Woodyard
  • Edward Yoo
  • Cristina Zavala (recruited by: Rebecca Ohrmund)

Joined in September
  • Eman Abdellatif (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Kaitlyn Acosta
  • Sara Al Azmeh (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Fauwaz Alaswad
  • Naseem Alrafati
  • Amar Amin (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Ambreen Ansari
  • Najma Ansari (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Reham Awad
  • Nilmarie Ayala-Fontanez 
  • Brian Batchelder
  • Tammy Bertrand
  • Rachel Brunner
  • Kristine Bryson (recruited by: Heather Harper)
  • Jola Burnazi (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Sean Burton
  • Victor Camargo
  • Mateo Carrillo
  • Aasmitha Chitturi
  • Aisha Chudhry (recruited by: Sanja Zepcan)
  • Rebecca Conness
  • Magdalena Dankowska
  • Robert Dedo
  • Jacob DeSalvo
  • Kamila Dymala
  • Elizabeth Eastman
  • Lucas Ebie
  • Courtney Erickson
  • Brenna Failla
  • Michael Forst (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • John Foust
  • Samantha Galla
  • Colleen Gallagher
  • Sarah Gallop (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Scott Garvin (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Rachel Goldberg
  • Shannon Goniwiecha (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Dianne Goyco (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Kylie Harris
  • Corinne Hillertz
  • Taylor Holder
  • Brody Howard
  • Heejin Hur
  • Anuradha Jayakody
  • Kevin Johns
  • Nathaniel Johnson
  • Raniah Kareem
  • Sarah Kessler
  • Hanan Khadra (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Menahil Khawaja  
  • Rachel Knight
  • Kelli Lam (recuited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Kelsey LaMartina
  • Adeola Lawal
  • GeMiracle Lee
  • Liza Linde
  • Abbey Londa (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Michelle Masarira (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Amal Massad (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Magdalena Mastalerz 
  • Sheryl Mathew
  • Iryna Mialik
  • Jessica Molnar
  • Michael Montelongo (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Madelyn Montgomery
  • Ammarah Nadeem
  • Noura Najor
  • Ishita Navadia
  • Hunter Novosad
  • Maria Fides Ocampo
  • Maggie Oconnor (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Renae Oelrich
  • Johanna Papanikolia
  • Nicole Papp
  • Dhaval Patel
  • Meagan Pawlak
  • Laura Pawlowski (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Nicolas Pertusi (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Ngoc Pham
  • Olga Piatek
  • Joallyn Porter
  • Matthew Przybylo
  • Dayna Redini (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Olesya Ruspynska
  • Catherine Sanden (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Karina Schoenfeldt (recruited by: Alexis Tandyk)
  • Myra Sheikh
  • Heather Shelton
  • Arthur Sima
  • Riley Skube
  • Joy Tepley
  • Alexa Townsend
  • Carolyn Trout (recruited by: Sara Koehnke)
  • Ernesto Vargas (recruited by: Angelina Raimonde)
  • Janki Vyas
  • Corey Wachter
  • Kelsey Waier
  • Nicole Waring
  • Zachary Weimer
  • Michelle Wysocki

ICHP Pharmacy Action Fund (PAC)

ICHP Pharmacy Action Fund Contributors


Updated as of 9.28.18

Board of Directors


Noelle Chapman
President
312-926-5147
E-mail Noelle









Travis Hunerdosse
Immediate Past President,
Committee Chair, Nominations Committee
312-926-6124
E-mail Travis









Carrie Vogler
President-Elect
217-545-5394
E-mail Carrie









Kathryn Schultz
Treasurer
312-926-6961
E-mail Kathryn









Ed Rainville
Secretary
309-655-7331









Scott Meyers
Executive Vice President ICHP Office
815-227-9292
E-mail Scott









Amy Boblitt
Regional Director Central
217-788-3015








Elise Wozniak
Regional Director Northern
E-mail Elise








Lynn Fromm
Regional Director Southern
618-391-5539
E-mail Lynn








Mary Lee
Organizational Affairs Director
630-515-7311
E-mail Mary








Karin Terry
Professional Affairs Director
309-655-3390
E-mail Karin








David Martin
Educational Affairs Director
E-mail David








Bernice Man
Marketing Affairs Director
773-702-9641
E-mail Bernice








Christopher Crank
Government Affairs Director
630-978-4853
E-mail Chris








Kristine VanKuiKen
Technician Representative
312-355-2035
E-mail Kristine








Bryan McCarthy
Chairman, New Practitioners Network
773-702-1030
E-mail Bryan








Brian Cryder
Ambulatory Care Network Chair
630-515-7656
E-mail Brian








David Tjhio
Chairman, Committee on Technology
816-885-4649
E-mail David








Jennifer Phillips
Editor & Chairman - KeePosted
630-515-7167
E-mail Jennifer








Milena McLaughlin
Assistant Editor - KeePosted
630-515-7293
E-mail Milena









Student Chapter Presidents

Erin Hermes
Chicago State University College of Pharmacy
Shivek Kashyap
Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy
Sara Koehnke
Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy
E-mail Sara
Brit Der
Rosalind Franklin University College of Pharmacy
James Reimer
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy
Henry Okoroike
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
E-mail Henry
Hannah Dalogdog
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
Rockford Campus




Northern Illinois Society of Health-System Pharmacists (NISHP)

Denise Kolanczyk
President
Milena McLaughlin
President-elect
Erika Hellenbart
Immediate Past President
E-mail Erika
David Martin
Treasurer
Andrew Merker
Secretary
Richard Puccetti
Technician Representative


West Central Society of Health-System Pharmacists (WCSHP)

Ed Rainville
President
E-mail Ed


Metro East Society of Health-System Pharmacists (MESHP)

Jared Sheley
President
E-mail Jared


Sangamiss Society of Health-System Pharmacists

Billee Samples
President
Megan Stoller
President-elect
Julie Downen
Immediate Past President


Vacant Roles at Affiliates

President - Rock Valley Society
President - Southern IL Society
President - Sugar Creek Society 






Upcoming Events

Regularly Scheduled Conference Calls
Ambulatory Care Network
1st Thursday of each month - 12:00 pm
Educational Affairs 
3rd Tuesday of each month - 11:00 am
Executive Committee
2nd Tuesday of each month - 5:00 pm
Government Affairs
3rd Monday of each month - 5:00 pm
Marketing Affairs
3rd Tuesday of each month - 8:00 am
New Practitioners Network
3rd Tuesday of each month - 5:30 pm
Organizational Affairs
2nd Wednesday of each month - 3:00 pm
Professional Affairs
4th Thursday of each month - 2:00 pm
Technology Committee
2nd Friday of each month - 8:00 am

Regularly Scheduled Network Meetings
See ICHP calendar for details



Champions Live CPE Webinar - OPEN TO ALL ICHP MEMBERS!
Poisoning and Overdose, Interesting IPC Cases
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Accredited for pharmacists and technicians

See your institution's champion to participate or call in on your own this month! 

To begin your audio conference:
Dial: 866-740-1260
Enter your access code: 3555115

To view the video: 
Go to:
www.ReadyTalk.com
Enter your access code: 3555115 (and enter your information)

Don't have a Champion?  Consider being the champion!  Contact Trish for more details.  

West Central Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Surviving Sepsis and Severe Sepsis: Clinical Pearls
Dinner - 5:30 pm
Program - 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
OSF St. Francis Medical Center - Glen Oak Building
7th Floor Board Room
530 NE Glen Oak Ave - Peoria, IL
Pre-registration required.

Northern Illinois Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Registration and Dinner - 6:00 pm
Presentation 1 - 6:30 pm - 7:15 pm 
Realize the Potential with Ozempic: A Once-Weekly GLP-1 Receptor Agonist for your Adult T2D Patients
(This program is provided by Novo Nordisk.  This is a promotional education presentation; it will not be certified for continuing medical education credit.)
Presentation 2 - 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Vaccination of Solid Organ Transplant Candidates and Recipients
(Accredited for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians)
Francesca's on Taylor
1400 West Taylor Street - Chicago
Registration is required for each presentation.

ICHP/MshP 2019 Spring Meeting
Implement Best Practices - See an Impact!
March 29-30, 2019
Gateway Conference Center - Collinsville, IL

2019 ICHP Annual Meeting
September 12-14, 2019
Drury Lane Conference Center - Oakbrook Terrace, IL

2019 Leadership Retreat
November 15-16, 2019
iHotel and Conference Center - Champaign, IL
By invitation only

2020 ICHP Spring Meeting
March 27-28, 2020

Embassy Suites Conference Center - East Peoria, IL

For a complete and updated list of events, visit our website.

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