Alumni presenting at APhA conference

A project involving Dr. Jelena Lewis, Dr. Albert Bach, alumnus and current CUSP fellow Dr. Tiffany Nguyen (’18), alumni Dr. Hieu Nguyen (’20) and Dr. Michael Tran (’20) was one of the seven winners of the 2020 American Pharmacists Association (APhA) – Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management Presentation Merit (APPM ) Award. The award, established in 1998, is intended to give members an incentive to submit practice-focused papers to be presented during the APhA Annual Meeting. Award recipients are selected at the APhA Annual Meeting by a panel of judges to recognize presenters of practice-related subjects made at the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition poster sessions. The project was titled Physician Satisfaction with Clinical Pharmacy Services Using Collaborative Practice Agreement in Team-Based Care. The objectives of this study were to investigate primary care physician satisfaction with clinical pharmacy services that involve chronic disease management. In addition, the investigators evaluated the interest of primary care providers in having clinical pharmacy services in primary care offices without a clinical pharmacist.

The results concluded that physicians who have practiced with a clinical pharmacist, who are older and have been in practice for a more extended period reported more satisfaction with clinical pharmacist services. Furthermore, most physicians without a clinical pharmacist at their site expressed interest in having one as a part of their healthcare team. The results from this study confirm a positive physician satisfaction with clinical pharmacists, and that there is a desire to have more clinical pharmacy services. This study may help increase the opportunity for clinical pharmacists to practice in team-based care setting under a collaborative practice agreement and can help alleviate the burden of the physician being the sole healthcare professional in managing patients’ chronic disease states.