From the Desk of the ACCP President

February 27, 2023
Elizabeth Farrington, Pharm.D., FCCP, FCCM, FPPA, BCPS, BCNSP, BCPPS

Publish Your Work!

As we entered the month of February, I thought of Groundhog Day. Not of Punxsutawney Phil and whether he had seen his shadow (destining us for 6 more weeks of winter, as folklore would have it), but of poor Phil Connors as played by Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day (1993), who was forced to relive Groundhog Day over and over. Have you ever opened a journal (or more recently, accessed a journal online) and thought to yourself, “This is not new – we implemented this 7 years ago!” This is the pharmacy equivalent of Phil Connors’ Groundhog Day experience – seeing articles in print sharing “new” information that we have been applying for years. However, ask yourself, “Did I publish my earlier applications/experiences?”

My theme for the year, Partnering to Improve Patient Outcomes, includes sharing our work as one form of partnering. I challenge each member of ACCP to think about process improvement projects they have completed to enhance patient safety or decrease medication errors. Did you collect before-and-after data, or is it possible to collect these data? If so, it is important to share the results with your professional colleagues so they may consider implementing the same processes.

Over the next month or so, I encourage each of you to get out your legal pad, tablet, or laptop and make a list of the work you have completed, but not published. (I am embarrassed by my own list!) Most of us are detail oriented. Therefore, we should find it relatively easy to prioritize our lists and set deadlines for completing this work, perhaps with the help of a resident or student. This will teach the next generation the importance of publishing their work – not just randomized controlled trials but also projects such as process improvement and medication safety plans, implementation of a new clinical service or establishment of a new ambulatory clinic, and case reports. For example, in pediatrics, case reports are sometimes the only data available to assess the safety and efficacy of specific medications in children. Let us all work together to diminish our number of “Groundhog Day moments.” Please publish your work and apply this form of partnering to allow colleagues the opportunity to improve their processes and patient outcomes.