APhA Academy of Student Pharmacists
2013 Midyear Regional Meetings
REGION 3 – REPORT OF THE CLOSING BUSINESS SESSION
RIII.1 - Addressing Alcohol and Drug Dependency in Pharmacists and Student Pharmacists
1.APhA-ASP reaffirms APhA-ASP resolution 1991.2 concerning addressing chemical dependency in student pharmacists and encourages pharmacies, hospitals, and other employers of pharmacists to develop protocols for handling situations where a pharmacist or student pharmacist is impaired by alcohol or drug dependency.
2.APhA-ASP recommends that these protocols include as their first step the option for the impaired pharmacist or student pharmacist to voluntarily seek inpatient treatment with long-term aftercare programs.
3.APhA-ASP recommends that these protocols include notification of the state Board of Pharmacy as a second step if voluntary treatment is denied and that notification of state law enforcement authorities be retained as a last resort due to the lower likelihood of being able to reenter professional practice once in recovery through this path.
RIII.2 - Prescription Monitoring Program Standardization and Nationwide Access
1.APhA-ASP supports the development and adoption of a nationally-accepted standardized format for the submission and maintenance of patient identification information for all state-administered Prescription Monitoring Programs (PMP).
2.APhA-ASP reaffirms that state-administered PMP registries should be accessible to all healthcare professionals involved in the care of patients.
3.APhA-ASP supports the interconnectivity of all states with PMP’s through the establishment of agreements between states and through participation in nationally-recognized PMP interconnectivity programs, such as National Association of Boards of Pharmacy PMP InterConnect program, to support a more complete and comprehensive framework of access to state-administered PMP’s.
RIII.3 - Empowering Pharmacists with the Legal Capacity to Provide Pharmacy Services through Mobile Healthcare Clinics for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations
APhA-ASP supports advocacy efforts and legislation that will empower pharmacists with the legal capacity to provide pharmacy services, including, but not limited to, the dispensing of medication, education of patients, and management of chronic diseases, to those vulnerable and underserved populations found in “pharmacy deserts” through mobile clinics.
RIII.4 - Resolution Process Transparency and Accessibility
APhA-ASP strongly encourages an increase in the transparency and accessibility of the policy process.
1.APhA-ASP supports creating official methods for constructive comments and feedback to be made available for chapters following the decisions and actions of the Resolutions Committee, which could aid chapters in the development of future resolutions.
2.APhA-ASP affirms that all chapters across the country should have access to all proposed resolutions and aforementioned feedback to further encourage communication and transparency between regions and their policy ideas.
RIII.5 - Pharmacists role in the transition of care of patients
APhA-ASP supports hospitals developing a process where pharmacists and student pharmacists are utilized in the transition of care of patients including discharge counseling and post-discharge follow ups to reduce readmission rates of chronic disease states.
RIII.6 - Proper Medication Disposal and Take Back Programs
(Additions to Resolution 2012.3- Proper Medication Disposal and Drug Take‐Back Programs)
1.APhA-ASP encourages all schools and colleges of pharmacy to incorporate approved and effective methods of medication disposal, as well as the possible negative impact that improper disposal could have on our society and environment into the curriculum.
2.APhA-ASP encourages pharmacy schools and pharmacies to work with the proper authorities to implement a medication drop-off where patients can drop off unused/expired medications for proper disposal.
RIII.7 - Specialty Pharmacy Awareness and NASP Growth
APhA-ASP supports increasing public and physician awareness of the unique patient care services offered by specialty pharmacies. APhA-ASP simultaneously supports the growth of the NASP (National Association of Specialty Pharmacy) in order to further this effort.
RIII.8 - National Pseudoephedrine Database
APhA-ASP encourages all states to actively participate in the National Precursor Log Exchange, a real-time pseudoephedrine database to monitor and regulate the sales of pseudoephedrine products.
RIII.9 - Pharmacogenomic Testing Promotes Individualized Treatment Plans through an Interdisciplinary Approach or Collaborative Practice Agreement
APhA-ASP supports pharmacogenomics testing as a clinical service provided by pharmacists and the interpretation of the result to the providers and the patients by pharmacists, in order to provide individualized treatment plans to patients.
RIII.10 - Creation of Additional Ambulatory Care Residencies
APhA-ASP encourages the creation of additional residency sites and positions especially those with an emphasis in ambulatory care.
RIII.11 - Standardized Electronic Process to Capture Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategies (REMS)
APhA-ASP supports a standardized electronic process to capture approved Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program information to efficiently evaluate patient safety outcomes.
RIII.12 - Increasing Patient Adherence
APhA-ASP supports pharmacists use of strategies to improve patient adherence including but not limited to considering the health literacy of each individual, by providing user-friendly medication schedules using medication synchronizations, and providing a support system.
RIII.13 - Staffing Requirements and Prescription Volume in Community Pharmacies
APhA-ASP encourages Boards of Pharmacy to enact rules that would limit a single pharmacist’s workload, and require additional pharmacists staffing during times of high volume to allow for an increased focus on patient-centered care in order to encourage that pharmacists are staffed in such a way that maximizes patient safety and maintains pharmacists as the most accessible healthcare practitioner in the country.
RIII.14 - Experiential and Didactic Curriculum to Develop Interprofessional Relations
APhA-ASP encourages Pharmacy Schools/College of Pharmacy to incorporate inter-professional collaborative electives/experiences with other student healthcare disciplines within the pharmacy school curriculum. The act of facilitating professional integration, communication, and quality of healthcare can be done by:
1.Developing an experiential and didactic curriculum that prepares students for professional interactions with healthcare professionals.
2.Enhance the didactic experience by integrating a M.D, D.O and other health related disciplines into the program.
3.Provide students with opportunities to experience various health care perspectives.
RIII.15 - Patients Choice between Mail Order And Retail Pharmacy With No Penalty
APhA-ASP encourages a patients’ right to choose whether the patients’ medication(s) are filled through either retail or mail-order pharmacy. APhA-ASP shall thus support third party payers to eliminate differences in insurance benefit between in-network retail and mail order, nor will there be a penalty associated with choosing a retail pharmacy over a mail-order pharmacy.