1. Describe your involvement with ACCP and how it shaped your professional development.
I did not join ACCP until I was faculty at UIC. I don’t remember hearing about ACCP as a student or resident but wish I would have. I’ve been involved with larger pharmacy organizations and attended their meetings, but I love the clinical focus and content of ACCP’s meetings. I was hooked from my first day at the 2016 ACCP Annual Meeting in Florida. ACCP is large enough to provide presentations in all therapeutic areas by world-renowned experts, but small enough to see familiar faces at educational sessions and meetings. ACCP offered immediate opportunities for leadership and volunteerism through its vast Practice and Research Networks (PRNs). I’ve had the opportunity to serve on Ambulatory Care PRN committees since my first year, which has yielded meaningful professional service and unmatched networking. The past 2 years, I have served on ACCP’s 2019 Annual Meeting Planning Committee, tasked with identifying and planning educational sessions for the 2019 Annual Meeting in New York.
2. How did you become interested in working as a rural clinical pharmacist?
I idolized the professors I learned from in pharmacy school and during my residency and knew I wanted to pursue a clinical faculty position. I have always liked living in small towns. “Small” is a relative term. I mean small compared to major metropolitan areas, not “no-stoplights-in-town” small. I usually describe my ideal size of town as big enough to have stoplights, but small enough that you never have to wait more than one light cycle to get through the intersection. I was fortunate to interview for a rural-focused clinical pharmacist position as the University of Illinois Chicago expanded to Rockford. The clinical site is in a small, private health care system in a 16,000-person town in rural North Central Illinois that had never previously had an outpatient clinical pharmacist. Providing clinical pharmacy support for the hospital, clinics, and patients has been a rewarding opportunity.
3. What type of patients do you normally see at your clinic?
Over the past 7 years, I’ve started three clinical services with different patient populations. First, I see patients at our family medicine residency clinic, where we (pharmacy students and I) review the patients coming to see their physician that day. We provide recommendations for the physicians to consider during their visit with the patient. Second, I started the collaborative care clinic, a shared-visit collaborative practice agreement clinic where medically complex patients get twice as much time, see a pharmacist and a physician, and hopefully leave with all of their questions answered. These patients typically have many medical conditions and take many medications, placing them at high risk of polypharmacy complications. Through our collaborative practice agreement, I have prescriptive authority for medications and labs. Third, I started an anticoagulation clinic to educate and treat patients taking anticoagulants. This is a clinic model that has been described in the clinical pharmacy literature for over 30 years and is standard care in most large health care systems; however, it had not been implemented in our health care system (or in many other rural health care systems across the country). The lack of an anticoagulation clinic is an example of the health disparities faced by rural, underserved patients and how translational clinical research can take existing knowledge and translate it to a new population.
4. How would you describe a typical week at work?
Like most clinical pharmacists, I consider myself busy. There are too many amazing opportunities not to be busy. I am typically in clinic 20–28 hours per week (spread across all three clinics) and spend 4–8 hours weekly teaching or preparing to teach. I spend another 2–4 hours weekly on research and scholarly activity. The rest of the time (8–20 hours, depending on the deadlines) I spend on administrative activities, including ACCP national committees, several local committees including opioid stewardship and P&T, residency faculty, and clinic coordinator quality tracking for the anticoagulation clinic, and serving on the board of health for my county’s health department. Some weeks are longer than others, depending on meeting schedules and what needs to be done by the set deadlines.
5. What advice would you give to students pursuing careers in clinical pharmacy, particularly in the rural area?
The field of clinical pharmacy is exceptionally rewarding, and the opportunities are more numerous than the time you have to pursue them. So often, we think of “clinical pharmacist” as a job title or a position you get hired for, but I believe it is a mindset that can be applied in any setting. Reviewing a patient’s medications, offering meaningful patient education, and developing best-practice protocols and processes are all examples of clinical pharmacy work. No matter what setting you practice in, focus on serving your patients as completely and compassionately as possible. Get involved with local, state, and national organizations like ACCP, and volunteer for positions. The opportunities are plentiful, and the benefits to you personally and your profession are immeasurable.