This month our education program is slightly different than most programs. Two pharmacy practice residents will present their residency projects that they have been working on during the year. This year Dana Staat from Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids and Michelle Brodin from Mercy Health System in Muskegon have been selected.

Dana completed her pre-Pharmacy education and Pharm.D. degree through Ferris State University. Dana’s project is entitled The Development and Implementation of a Pharmacy Competency Program. This was formed around the premise that health care is a rapidly changing field that requires constant education and a commitment to learn. Competencies are one way to accomplish continual education and training. To begin this continual process at Spectrum Health, a survey was administered to pharmacists to gauge the interests and needs that each individual pharmacist required for optimal education. After the results of the survey were tabulated, it was clear that a combination of CE and a shared-drive-based packet would serve best as a competency tool. Community-acquired pneumonia was chosen as the pilot focus for the competency template. After the competency was given, a follow-up survey was distributed to the same pharmacists to gain further information on the effectiveness of this education process. Documentation of pharmacist competency was also created as part of the formation of the competency program. Results of the effectiveness of the competency template will be reported at the April WMSHP meeting.

Michelle received her Pharm.D. from South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy in May of 2003. Michelle’s project involves anemia management in renal failure. She is working with area nephrologists to develop and improve a pre-dialysis monitoring service for outpatient kidney disease patients who are on either Procrit or Aranesp. She will describe their current practice and outline future plans for the service. Included in her evaluation of the project will be dosing of the medications, hemoglobin goals, hemoglobin monitoring frequency, iron lab frequency, management of missed doses, and a cost assessment. Since it is in the early stages, it is difficult to draw many conclusions on the success of the program, however preliminary data look promising.