Belmont University College of Pharmacy students Josh Burton, Katie Hubbard and Sarah Ratzloff recently became certified by examination in the area of health care informatics. The Certified Associate in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CAHIMS) is the health IT certification distributed by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and is designed to be a career pathway to further credentials for emerging professionals within the industry.

Belmont Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Informatics and Analytics Anthony Blash is the sponsor of the CAHIMS certification initiative at Belmont and has created a four-course sequence of classes to prepare pharmacy students for healthcare informatics. The department saw its first student certify at the CAHIMS level in 2015 and expects 20-30 students to certify each year moving forward.

“Nashville is considered by many to be home to the U.S. healthcare industry, with nearly 300 companies providing healthcare synergies found in few other places,” said Blash. “If your interests lie in pharmacy and informatics, our program stands apart. With experiential rotation sites at the headquarters of the largest healthcare organizations in the world, faculty with experiences in the corporate boardrooms of many American healthcare companies and a Pharmacy / Healthcare Informatics experience facilitated by the current national chairman of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Educational Steering Committee on Informatics and Technology, our faculty represents the pinnacle of teaching experience. As an HIMSS Approved Education Partner, Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy becomes the only pharmacy school in the world with a healthcare informatics concentration leading to an internationally recognized certification in healthcare informatics which may be obtained before experiential rotations, residency inquiries and job searches begin.”

Burton, Hubbard and Ratzloff will each receive a 2016 HIMSS Conference backpack donated by Vice President of Professional Development for HIMSS North America JoAnn W. Klinedinst. The donated bags are awarded to the top grade-earners in healthcare information courses and to students like Burton, Hubbard and Ratzloff who obtain their CAHIMS certification before graduating from the Doctor of Pharmacy Program.

“We would like to congratulate our students for earning this HIT certification and thank Vice President Klinedinst for her generous donation,” said Blash. “The students now enter their fourth-year experiential classes with the CAHIMS certification under their belts.”

Fourth year pharmacy students Destin Lenz and Kelsie Graham were appointed to American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Pharmacy Student Advisory Groups for the 2016 – 2017 year. The Forum has six advisory groups that provide advice and guidance to the forum pertaining to the needs of student members and how to address these needs using ASHP programs and resources.

Lenz is serving on the Community and eCommunication Advisory Group and Graham is serving on the Policy and Legislative Advisory Group.

Kelsie Graham

Destin Lenz

Belmont University College of Pharmacy raised thousands of dollars for Nashville AIDS Walk for the fifth consecutive year, sponsored by Nashville Cares on October 1. The team raised $2,450 for the local non-profit organization, which currently partners with the College of Pharmacy to certify students in HIV prevention testing and counseling. The 40-person team included deans, faculty and pharmacy students who joined hundreds of community participants to benefit thousands of individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Middle Tennessee. Team captain Dr. Edgar S. Diaz-Cruz pointed out that, “Belmont students and faculty continue to unite with the community to reach out and support a cause that touches our society. It is great to see how we continue to change the future of HIV/AIDS and break down the stigma one ‘WALK’ at a time.” He added, “I’m so proud of our newly certified students for volunteering their time to conduct HIV tests and educate the community about HIV prevention at the event.”

Belmont Student Pharmacists Alliance (BSPA) President Bekki Burch and American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) President Becca Moore recently attended the APhA-ASP Student Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. While at the Institute, they participated in Capitol Hill visits where they spoke with Senator Bob Corker, Representative Stephen Fincher and Representative Steve Cohen about provider status which allows pharmacists to be reimbursed under Medicare Part B.

While in D.C., Burch and Moore were invited to tour the APhA headquarters before exploring the National Mall with student pharmacists from across their region and raising money for the upcoming Region 3 Midyear Regional Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Belmont University College of Pharmacy third year student pharmacists Morgan Medley, Becca Moore and Kera Sumner recently attended the 2^nd annual American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Institute on Alcoholism & Drug Dependencies in Salt Lake City, Utah. Student pharmacists from all over the nation attend this institute to learn more about addiction, and students can receive 2 hours of college credit.

The students spent four days with their fellow student pharmacists learning more about addiction as a disease and how pharmacists can make an impact. Attendees heard from experts in the field of addiction, attended Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and received hands on naloxone administration training. After their trainings were complete, the students were able to take a trip up Salt Lake’s infamous Living Room Trail.

Ten faculty members from the Belmont University College of Pharmacy attended the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) held in Anaheim, California in July. This meeting is the largest gathering of academic pharmacy administrators, faculty and staff.

Dr. Hope Campbell, immediate past chair of the Minority Faculty Special Interest Group, delivered a presentation with colleagues titled “Addressing Hot Topics About Minority Faculty and Students in Pharmacy Programs.” Dr. Angela Hagan attended the meeting as the Secretary of this Small Interest Group.

Dr. Leigh Ann Bynum delivered a presentation with colleagues titled “Faculty Citizenship in the Academy: What Is It and What Do We Do With It?”

Dr. Scott Weston facilitated a round table session focusing on “Interprofessional Education: Leveraging Team STEPPS Faculty Training Across Multiple Disciplines to Enhance Interprofessional Faculty and Student Interaction.”

Drs. Ashton Beggs, Kelley Kiningham, Phil Johnston, Montgomery Williams, and Kristy Wahaib presented a poster titled “Being Belmont: Preparing the Next Generation of Pharmacists” and Dr. Adam Pace and colleagues presented a poster titled “Prevalence and characteristics of pharmacies owned and operated by schools of pharmacy in the U.S.”

Dr. Angela Clauson served as the administrative delegate and Dr. Marilyn Thompson Odom served as the faculty delegate.

Pictured left to right are Becca Moore (P3), Phil Johnston, Elisa Greene, Brittany Hayes (P4), Jessica Porreca (P2) and Shelby Blalock (P4).)

The Tennessee Pharmacists Association (TPA) 2016 summer meeting attracted hundreds of participants including pharmacists, student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, who met from July 18 through July 20. Belmont University College of Pharmacy representatives included Assistant Professor Dr. Elisa Greene, Director of Experiential Education Dr. Angela Clauson, Assistant Professor Dr. Traci Poole, Assistant Professor Dr. Leela Kodali and Dean Dr. Phil Johnston and student pharmacists Brittany Hayes, Becca Moore, Shelby Blalock and Jessica Porreca.

The summer meeting provides an opportunity to attend continuing education sessions, greet and renew acquaintances with Tennessee pharmacists, learn about new products and services and receive updates on new legislative issues.

During the meeting, Clauson presented “The Multigenerational Workplace,” Blaylock served as President of the Tennessee Society of Student Pharmacists, Hayes presented “Transitions of Care and the Use of Technology: Telehealth Models with iPad/Skype to Reach Underserved Areas,” Johnston and Porreca served in the House of Delegates and Greene was introduced as the winner of the TPA Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award.

Dr. Ashton Beggs, assistant professor of pharmacy, recently published a paper in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, a journal “devoted to high quality, peer-reviewed scholarship relevant to all areas of pharmacy education, including innovative teaching and learning strategies.”

Beggs paper is titled, “Evaluating student pharmacists’ perceptions of adherence before and after a pillbox simulation” and was co-authored with Jessica Wilhoite and Alison Walton from Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Montgomery Williams, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, is providing leadership to an effort at Williamson Medical Center (WMC) in Franklin, Tennessee to curb unnecessary antibiotic use, an initiative recently recognized in a report published by The Pew Charitable Trusts.  Dr. Williams was quoted earlier this week by The Tennessean in a story about the success of the antibiotic program.

Dr. Williams serves at Williamson Medical Center as part of her teaching responsibilities at Belmont University College of Pharmacy, educating PharmD students in their advanced practice experiences at the medical center during their final year of study.   As an internal medicine and antibiotic stewardship pharmacist at WMC, she provides extensive training in general medicine to students throughout the year as they complete month-long rotations at the medical center.  Like all Pharmacy Practice faculty in the College of Pharmacy, Dr. Williams divides her time between the classroom at Belmont and her community site where she mentors student pharmacists who are near completion of their doctoral degree.  Those students participate in the antibiotic program during their rotation with Dr. Williams.

At Williamson Medical Center, where Dr. Williams has practiced for the past six years, she is the co-chair of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program along with Dr. Shaefer Spires, an antibiotic stewardship physician and hospital epidemiologist.  Other health professionals involved in the program at WMC include Dr. Courtney (Curtis) Sutton, pediatric pharmacist (2013 PharmD graduate from Belmont); Dr. Michael Wright, critical care pharmacist; and Dr. Tracey Bastian, clinical pharmacy manager.  In her role as chair, Dr. Williams coordinates ongoing efforts to evaluate how the hospital prescribes antibiotics and work with physicians in developing appropriate treatment plans for patients.   “Presenting recommendations to physicians can be challenging — you really have to work together as a team,”  Williams said in the Tennessean. “We always want what’s best for the patient.”

Also quoted in the Tennessean was Dr. David Hyun, senior officer of Pew Charitable Trusts’ antibiotic resistance project, which published the report. “Williamson Medical Center is a great example of how a program can be tailored to the needs of a community hospital,” said Hyun, who developed and co-chaired a stewardship program at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.  “Efforts to use antibiotics appropriately are not only about reducing resistance but ensuring patients get the right care.”

The full report can be found at http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2016/04/a-path-to-better-antibiotic-stewardship-in-inpatient-settings.