As the Olympics end, I noticed that there are some parallels to having a professional career:
- Integrity matters, even in the smallest of details. Enough said.
- Personal excellence is something that requires daily effort in order to grow and to show small but continuous improvement.
- Recognizing achievements of team members and being an advocate for your team can make a difference, both in the moment and in the long term.
The first two are givens for pharmacy professionals, but we could do better at the third one. I’m sure you each thank your co-workers when they provide exceptional service, do innovative problem-solving, or lend their expertise to make a situation better for someone, but have you considered nominating a co-worker for one of SPA’s annual awards? Sure, it won’t get them a gold medal or a spot on a sports commercial, but it does provide an opportunity to let them know that their hard work is noticed. Remember that anyone can nominate in any category – pharmacist, technician, student preceptor, and across all practice sectors. We’ll be asking soon for nominations for our annual awards, so please consider nominating at least one person as a thank you for their efforts.
When considering other actions that could benefit your chosen profession, becoming an advocate is a hugely important need for the pharmacy profession at this point in time (see Julie Akers’ notes). SPA could also benefit from your participation and contribution to the activities of the SPA Board. Whether you’re willing to become a SPA Board member, or just want to help with a SPA project such as smoking cessation, skills development or the annual meeting, please let us know of your interest. We welcome your contributions! Board members contribute in different ways to the organization.
Below are some highlights (in addition to lots of CE!) from the SPA spring & summer activities:
2016 Legislative session update from our WSPA liason, Julie Akers
- 5ESSB 5857: Many of you remember how excited we were to pass PBM regulation a few years ago. What we quickly learned was there were loopholes and no regulatory oversight to ensure PBMs complied. During this 2016 legislative session we were successful in passing a “fix bill” that gives the Office of Insurance Commissioner regulatory authority over this PBM legislation. There is ongoing work looking at the supply chain and medication costs with a report back to legislature in Nov, 2016.
- ESSB 6203: This legislation fills a gap in Long Term Care operations. LTC facilities and pharmacies do not operate as a hospital or a community pharmacy, however regulations regarding medication orders and prescriptions were loosely applied to this practice setting. This legislation allows for the development of regulations specific to LTC.
- There were several other pieces of proposed legislation the WSPA and LRAC worked on this year which you can find on the WSPA website (www.wsparx.org).
I encourage you to join both the WSPA and LRAC if you are not already a member. Be an active advocate of your profession and help to guide change in a positive direction! There are many ways to be involved from traveling to Olympia to testifying in front of legislators, participating in WSPA and LRAC meetings and calls, to paying dues to both the WSPA and LRAC to ensure we have representation for our profession in Olympia.
From our 2016-17 WSU student representative, Pahulpreet “Preet” Handa
I cannot believe how fast my PY1 went by! Now the other students and I look forward to this fall to welcome in the class of 2020. We’re currently working on improving the opportunities between students-pharmacists. Also, we just got our Facebook group page for student members up and running! Our goal is to bring in more student engagement within SPA by staying in touch through social media. By the time you read this, we will have had welcome orientations, started classes and will be planning a networking event with SPA members and the WSU students.
A few words from SPA Past-President Chris Greer about the Community Pharmacy Forum
The community pharmacy forum is open to everybody, including chain pharmacists. Here are the topics discussed at the last meeting:
- Update on Julie Akers’ research project on the implementation of the care of patients with 21 minor acute conditions. Going very well. Data collection will cover 3 years.
- Update on Community Pharmacist in Charge checklist and Pharmacy Business Compliance checklist student projects. Students have begun work on the checklists which will continue into the next school year.
- SHRD Tobacco Task Force update. The Task Force has adopted an emphasis on asking about Tobacco cessation with every health care provider interaction and will be developing scorecards for clinics, pharmacy and businesses.
- Issues with contractual reimbursement continue. WSPA is working on this.
A community pharmacy based afib screening study (protocol) and an editorial discussing widespread afib screening was distributed. Other ideas of this nature will be brought forward.
Looking forward to fall…
Very soon, you will be receiving several emails, faxes and notices about upcoming events!
The first C.E. event is scheduled for mid-September, and more are planned. We will post dates, topics and locations on the website as well as sending out notices.
The Annual Meeting to announce award winners, new Board members, have a wonderful dinner and a look into the future with our keynote speaker will be December 1, 2016 – please save the date!</strong?
(and remember to nominate someone)
Technician Day is scheduled for October 1, 2016 (first day of National Pharmacy Month), registration information will be sent soon.
Looking forward to seeing you at some of these events that we have planned for you,
Landa Vierra
President, Spokane Pharmacy Association
Spokane Pharmacy Association 