Experiential Express May 2023

Welcome to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Newsletter for Experiential Partners and Preceptors! Newsletters will share updates about the School and Experiential Programs, recognize our preceptors and students, and provide teaching pearls for preceptors.

Student Spotlight

Students at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy have a profound impact on the School and community through their co-curricular service and leadership activities. Two class of 2023 students, Viraj Barot and Tatiana Hines, are shining examples of such contributions. The School is grateful to them and to all our students who give so much of their time to promote optimal patient care and advance the profession, School, and their communities.

 

Vraj Barot, Class of 2023
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Viraj Barot is a fourth year Doctor of Pharmacy student at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in Chapel Hill region. She was born in Gujarat, India and moved to Schaumburg, IL as a Sophomore in high school. She earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago before moving to Chapel Hill. She found a passion for the pharmaceutical industry as a PY1 and went on to become Vice President and Director of National Engagement for Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO). Viraj made a significant impact on IPhO during her time at UNC, and she shared that IPhO was the most meaningful co-curricular experience while at the School. She shared, “In my role as Vice President, I led IPhO through approval process with the student senate. In partnership with the then president, IPhO more than tripled in student membership in a single year. We also ranked as a top 5 chapter nationally that year out of 85 chapters.” This passion also led her to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at UNC in parallel. Since that time, she has worked at the intersection of business and healthcare by interning at Genentech and L.E.K consulting as well as pre-clinical start-ups in the Research Triangle Park (RTP).

When asked about what influenced her career choice, Viraj shared the following: “I always wanted to pursue a career in healthcare but specifically chose pharmacy because pharmaceuticals are a significant part of patient wellbeing outside of a hospital. I grew up watching people take medication without knowing what it was for or what their side-effects can be. I saw pharmacy as a way to educate patients while improving their quality of life.” Viraj pursued training at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy due to its reputable dual degree programs. She was interested in roles outside of traditional direct patient care roles early on and decided to combine her PharmD degree with an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School (KFBS). Viraj noted that this opened doors for her at an early stage in her career. For example, she served as a corporate liaison for Healthcare Club at KFBS and helped organize career treks with healthcare companies. Viraj has also excelled academically and was inducted in Rho Chi in 2020.

Upon graduation, Viraj will be moving to Cambridge, MA to join Sanofi in their Specialty Commercial Leadership Development Program. She hopes to be an advocate for patients globally by working in market access and pricing at a large pharmaceutical company. Outside of pharmacy, Viraj enjoys traveling, reading fiction, cooking for loved ones, binging on movies and shows, and exploring new music.

 

Preceptor Spotlight

Two preceptors, Leigh Foushee, PharmD, FNACP and Jordan Rush, PharmD, MS are highlighted this month as they were recognized by students as having outstanding practices for teaching leadership principles during pharmacy practice experiences.

Leigh Foushee, PharmD, FNCAP

Leigh Foushee, PharmD, FNCAP, is a native of Garner, NC. She completed her undergraduate studies at Barton College in Wilson, NC and received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Campbell University. She completed a PGY1 Community Pharmacy Residency at Central Pharmacy and Compounding Center in Durham and Campbell University. She will graduate in May 2023 with a Master of Applied Science- Population Health Management from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was awarded fellow status by the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists (NCAP) in 2022.

Leigh has a wealth of pharmacy practice experience in community pharmacy, ambulatory care pharmacy as a Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner, academia, and now population health leadership (UNC Health- Managed Pharmacy Solutions). Activities with the Carolina Assessment of Medications Program (CAMP) team include focus on include building relationships across interdisciplinary groups to support and elevate quality patient care, leading a team with a proven track record of improving chronic disease outcomes, optimizing medication regimens and adherence, generating cost savings for patient care by reducing admissions, and leveraging  opportunities to evolve pharmacy practice across UNC Health and the state. Leigh is an active member of NCAP and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and she enjoys pushing the profession of pharmacy beyond its current limits to better support patient care and health delivery models through innovation.

Leigh precepts students and residents and shared the following highlights and tips from her leadership rotation:

“Calendar: I let learners know in the welcome email and day 1 orientation that we will set their calendar week by week, explaining that leadership is about balancing strategic planning, proactively and reactively responding to team needs, and putting out fires. My day to day can change dramatically with short notice. I do not provide a paper calendar – they are too rigid and create extra work.

• During orientation, we set week 1 schedule, after that we set the next week during the Friday Weekly Wrap-up.
• We review the meetings on my calendar together, determine which are appropriate, and align to the student’s needs. Then I send/forward the calendar invite, alerting other attendees that a learner will be with me.
• This allows us to make real time pivots if new projects/meetings come up or the learner is exposed to something they would like to further explore
• It takes work off of me because I’m not creating a separate paper calendar and trying to keep track of it or keep it current. We are remote and most meetings have a video link – so a paper calendar would truly be redundant
• Helps prepare the learner for “real world” schedule/calendar management skills

• Podcast: When I led a clinical rotation, I would have learners engage in therapeutic topic discussions or journal club activities. To replace that in the leadership rotation, we do weekly leadership topic discussions that center on thought provoking podcasts. I will select the one for the first week (usually a specific one from Adam Grant, Brene Brown, Harvard Business Review IdeaCast, or similar) and the learner selects the future ones. Having the learner choose introduces them to self-directed learning, encourages them to bring forward topics of interest or curiosity to them, and helps me see what they find interesting. They don’t have to be tied in any way to pharmacy; in fact, I prefer that they aren’t as part of the exploration is finding connections and relevance to leading within pharmacy. The podcast link is “due” each Friday with the discussion scheduled for the following Thursday or Friday. The expectation is that we both independently listen to the podcast during the week and meet at the end of the week to have an unstructured conversation about what resonated, angered, challenged, and/or inspired us. The conversation typically leads down interesting pathways that we likely wouldn’t have explored otherwise. It encourages the learner to think in new ways, be curious and ask hard questions to themselves and leaders, and pushback on conflicting ideas in a safe, low-stakes and curious space. I get a lot out of them too!
• Weekly wrap-up: I’ve done some version of this for 20 years. Each Friday I meet with the learner for them to answer the questions below. I use this to help them practice self-reflection/assessment, encourage them to view challenges and successes equally, and ensure I am exposing them to things that they need for growth. The questions are in the calendar invite. During the meeting, I ask each question, the learner replies, and I verbally summarize/paraphrase their thoughts back to them, and probe when needed. I also provide and document any coaching/feedback that I have to share (that we haven’t already discussed). I save my notes on the calendar invite and share it back to them. This ensures our feedback sessions are documented and holds them accountable to owning their growth. I also use this (along with the school’s evaluation) when it is time to provide recommendations (residency/fellowship/job applications). Again – a time saver.”

 

Jordan Rush, PharmD, MS

Jordan Rush, PharmD, MS, is Director of Pharmacy for System Retail and Outpatient Pharmacy Services for UNC Health, overseeing outpatient pharmacies across the system, meds to beds programs, a medication history team, and a PGY1 Community Pharmacy Residency practice site in collaboration with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She earned her Pharm.D. from MCPHS and received her M.S. from the University of Wisconsin. Jordan completed a combined PGY1/PGY2 Health System Pharmacy Administration Residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.

Jordan has been an active member of ASHP throughout her career as a member of various Section Advisory Groups (SAGs), presenting on various ASHP webinars, co-authoring the recent ASHP revised Guidelines on Preventing Diversion of Controlled Substances, and currently serving as Director-At-Large Elect for the Section of Community Pharmacy Practitioners. Additionally, Jordan serves as Vice Chair of Vizient’s Ambulatory Pharmacy Development Committee.

Jordan shared the following when asked about her teaching philosophy: “While I realize not all students and residents will want to pursue a formal leadership role during their career, I do think it’s important to teach learners what it’s like to be on the administrative side of things and learn how to effectively communicate to their future manager. The projects I assign are all projects on my to do list and I take the approach of ‘tight, loose, tight’ when outlining the project. Tight on the goal of the project, loose on how to get there or achieve/complete the project, and tight on daily check-ins with the learner to provide feedback on the projects and ensure the deliverable achieves the goal of the project. I think this helps learners navigate ambiguous situations that I often face as a leader. Additionally, we discuss leadership topics such as ‘Who’s Got the Monkey’ and ‘Managing Your Boss’ I believe it’s important to learn how to manage up so you can be successful in whatever career path the student chooses.”

For the leadership topic discussions, Jordan provides the learner with articles on the assigned topic, the learner reviews them, and then they will discuss the articles and how to apply them to their career, etc. If a previous student has made slides on an article, they walk through those as well. Otherwise, Jordan has the student create slides on the article to guide future topic discussions.

Preceptor Pearl

Precepting with a Purpose

What an honor it is to provide a preceptor pearl for you this month. I hope you find these four “Ps” helpful as you create a purposeful and meaningful experience for both preceptor and student at a practice site as we embark on a new experiential year.

1. PLAN

• It is most helpful to both preceptors and students if the preceptor has a plan to follow before and during the time a student is on site. 
  • Plan to engage with your student prior to their arrival via email, phone, or invite them to visit you on site if possible.
  • Plan yearly updates for the sites and preceptor biographies prior to student assignments.
  • Prior to the school’s request for site availability, plan the site and preceptor calendar for acceptable months for students.

2. PREPARE

• Prepare helpful resources for students prior to their site arrival. These may include the following:
  • Calendar of events and responsibilities
  • Orientation Day
  • Expectations for the site and preceptor
  • Binder or folder with projects, topic discussions, and other ideas for student to work on during down times at the site
  • Email communication asking about student goals for the rotation
  • List of staff that will engage with student while at the site
• Each preceptor should prepare to speak “PHARMACY TRUTH” to each student while they are at the site. This also applies to each staff member that will engage with the student.
  • Never assume a student understands what is happening at any one station where they are working. Many students, especially early immersions, do not have a strong pharmacy background.  They may not understand what is happening at the various operational stations in the pharmacy that produces the final product and service for the patient.  The more a precepting team can prepare to speak the various stations/services out loud to students, the more they will understand why each are so important.

3. PURSUE

• Pursue continuity of relationship and feedback while student is at the site.
• Pursue student goals consistently throughout the time at the site.
• Pursue regular feedback, both informal and formal. Formal feedback should never include comments that the student has not already heard.

4. POSITIVITY
   • Make sure both preceptor and team maintain positive and encouraging attitudes with the student while they are with the site.
   • Refrain from inappropriate conversation regarding difficult patients and encounters.
   • When encountering difficult student situations, work to employ diplomacy and realistic conversations.

I hope you have found at least one of these suggestions helpful.  If you have comments, questions or would like to explore purposeful precepting in more depth, feel free to email me at ouita@email.unc.edu.  I look forward to future dialogue.

Until next time…thank you for who you are and what you do.  Our students are better because of you.

 

Well-Being Minute

Get Nurtured by Nature

Carolyn Coulter, Class of 2023
Suzanne Harris, PharmD, BCPP, Director of Well-Being and Resilience 
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy 

Many of us spend a large portion of our day indoors, looking at screens and very little time outdoors in nature. Numerous studies show the cognitive and mental health benefits of spending time outdoors. Spending just 40 seconds observing nature has been shown to improve cognition and reduce mistakes.¹ Similarly, listening to the sounds of nature may improve performance.² Another study showed that both spending time in nature and looking at photos and videos of nature makes us more cooperative, improve attention, and promote positive emotions.³

So how can we increase our exposure to nature while at work? Try any of the following:

• Take your lunch outdoors with minimal screentime
• Open your blinds and let some sunlight in
• Change your computer background to a serene photo of nature
• Listen to natural sounds while you work
• Add a plant to your office décor

References

1. Lee, K. E., Williams, K. J. H., Sargent, L. D., Williams, N. S. G., & Johnson, K. A. (2015). 40-second green roof views sustain attention: The role of micro-breaks in attention restoration. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 182–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.04.003
2. Van Hedger SC, Nusbaum HC, Clohisy L, Jaeggi SM, Buschkuehl M, Berman MG. Of cricket chirps and car horns: The effect of nature sounds on cognitive performance. Psychon Bull Rev. 2019;26(2):522-530. doi:10.3758/s13423-018-1539-1
3. Mayer, F. S., Frantz, C. M., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., & Dolliver, K. (2009). Why Is Nature Beneficial?: The Role of Connectedness to Nature. Environment and Behavior, 41(5), 607–643. https://doi-org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/10.1177/0013916508319745

 

Newsletter Suggestion Box

We would love to hear from you! Please submit your feedback and suggestions for newsletter improvement along with ideas for future content (preceptor spotlight, student spotlight, preceptor pearl, etc.) here.

 

Office of Experiential Programs Contact Information