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Monday evening, November 3rd, the Pharmacy Practice Experience (PPE)
Team #9 hosted a first-time meeting of the Pre Pharmacy Club (PPC) at
the Harrison School of Pharmacy in the Walker Building. Ms. Becky
Thomas, academic advisor in the College of Sciences and Mathematics
(CoSAM) is sponsor of the Pre Pharmacy club, an
organization within CoSAM that is designed to mentor students interested
in pharmacy during their pre pharmacy years. Dr. Phillip Thornton, a
professor at HSOP, is the faculty mentor of Team #9. Charlie Perry,
Director of Recruitment at HSOP worked with CoSAM and the PPE team to
facilitate the historic meeting.
PPC activities include community service projects,
opportunities for academic and career counseling, and interactions with
HSOP faculty and students. PPE is part of the pharmacy curriculum for
professional years one through three. Classes are divided into teams and
each member of the team is assigned a patient that is seen each week.
The purpose of the PPE experience is to engage student pharmacists in
patient care activities that compliment the classroom instruction. Each
team meets on a weekly basis to share the experiences of the patients in
their care and to plan for future visits. Also, each team has a required
annual community service project that provides an opportunity for the
student pharmacists to further develop their patient care skills. These
are usually held in malls, pharmacies, churches, or other venues where
patients with questions about drug therapy are accessible. These
projects provide the student pharmacists with additional patient care
experiences.
For the project this year, PPE Team #9 offered
these services to the members of the Pre Pharmacy Club. Over 50 members
of the club attended the event on Monday evening. The program was
designed and implemented by the PPE team. A presentation about PPE was
given by the 3rd year PPE team members Haley Chandler, Jana English,
Audrey Greene, David Kennamer, and Justin Woods. Afterward, stations
were set up in the HSOP Lobby, and PPC members had access to blood
pressure checks, bone density scans, body mass index calculations, blood
glucose monitoring, as well as having the opportunity to discuss drug
and nutrition issues. Not only did the PPE team gain a lot of experience
in performing the tests and providing the counseling, but the PPC
members gained insight into what PPE is all about. More importantly,
they learned just how pharmacy education has become focused on providing
quality pharmaceutical care.
Ms. Thomas sums up the evening this way: “The
pre-pharmacy students really enjoyed this opportunity of interacting in
a very real way with pharmacy students. We have been most appreciative
of the attendance of pharmacy students at our meetings and this special
event was extremely gratifying to the students as well. I believe
students can begin to assume professional attributes as they are
mentored by their future colleagues.” Mr. Perry agreed saying, “Overall,
the evening was a huge success with all participants benefiting from the
experience.”