Polls are now open for this year's WMSHP Board Elections!  The voting deadline is just prior to our November 9th General Meeting.

President-Elect 2018

• Stacy Brousseau is a 2013 graduate of Ferris State University's College of Pharmacy.  Following pharmacy school, she completed a PGY-1 pharmacy residency at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo.  Stacy currently practices at Bronson as a clinical pharmacist in the Emergency Department, where she precepts pharmacy residents and facilitates an Emergency Medicine rotation for fourth year pharmacy students.  Stacy is currently the chairperson of the MSHP Educational Affairs Committee and is actively involved in the MPA Education Task Force.  She has enjoyed serving as a WMSHP board member for the past three years and is excited to further increase her involvement within the organization.

Treasurer 2018-19

• Jordan Posey is a clinical pharmacist at Spectrum Health. These days, he teaches pharmacists how to use computers so that they can be prepared for Spectrum’s implementation of Epic in November. He used to work in emergency medicine and critical care at Spectrum and still misses being elbow deep in codes, intubations, and various bodily fluids (less so that last one). Jordan recently had the opportunity to take over as Treasurer for WMSHP and would be ecstatic to continue serving in that role.

Technician 2018-19

There were no nominees for this position.  If you are a technician or know a technician who would be interested in serving on our board, please contact any of our current board members.

Board 2018-19

• Tara Longman graduated from Ferris State University's College of Pharmacy in 2016 and recently completed her PGY-1 pharmacy practice residency at Bronson Methodist Hospital. Tara remained at Bronson after residency, where she is now working as a clinical pharmacist on the general surgery and cardiac surgery units. She continues to be active in the pharmacy profession, has special interests in infectious diseases and academia, and is excited to begin precepting students and residents on a new surgical rotation she is developing at Bronson.  Tara has been a member of WMSHP since 2015 and looks forward to continued involvement in the organization.
• Julie Schmidt graduated from Ferris State University's College of Pharmacy in 2015.   Following pharmacy school, she completed a PGY-1 pharmacy residency at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo.  Julie remained with Bronson after her residency where she currently practices as a clinical pharmacist on the neurovascular unit.  She enjoys precepting fourth year pharmacy students and also being involved in the MSHP/MPA Public Affairs Committee, currently serving as co-chair.  Julie has been a member of WMSHP since 2015 and is excited to further increase her involvement in the organization.
• Kyle Schmidt (Incumbent) attended Ferris State University where he completed both his Undergraduate Studies and Doctorate in Pharmacy. Following graduation, he accepted and successfully completed a PGY-1 and PGY-2 Pharmacy Residency. His PGY-1 Residency in Pharmacy Practices was at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, West Virginia, followed by a PGY-2 in Critical Care at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. Kyle is the Neurocritical Care Clinical Pharmacist at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital. He has been an active WMSHP Board Member for the past 2 years and has thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be involved. Kyle would be honored to be re-elected and continue to serve the West Michigan Health Systems Pharmacists.
• Mitchell Stein (Incumbent) is currently a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care at Borgess Medical Center. He has stayed in Michigan throughout his education and career, and is dedicated to serving the West Michigan region. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Western Michigan University, went to the University of Michigan for pharmacy school, and then came back to West Michigan to complete the PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at Borgess. He has worked at Borgess since completing residency in 2015. Mitchell is currently serving as a board member, a position he has held since 2016.
• Natalie Washburn is a 2015 graduate of Ferris State University's College of Pharmacy.  Following pharmacy school, she completed both a PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency and a PGY-2 Critical Care Residency at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, IN.  Natalie currently practices at Bronson Methodist Hospital as a clinical pharmacist in the Medical and Neuro Intensive Care Units, where she precepts pharmacy residents and facilitates a Critical Care rotation for fourth year pharmacy students.  Natalie is an active member of SCCM's Membership and Patient Safety Committees, has been a member of MPA since 2011, and is excited about this opportunity to join the WMSHP board since recently returning to West Michigan.

October was a busy month, as usual!  Our annual Residency Showcase at Ferris State University College of Pharmacy in Grand Rapids was a fun and successful event, with 23 residency programs represented and over 75 students in attendance.  Thanks to Dean Van Loo for coordinating the panel discussion that evening, then turning around the next week to present “Guidelines and Landmark Studies: Script or Suggestion?” at our monthly CE program.  His review and commentary on how we should cautiously interpret guideline recommendations was thoughtful and much appreciated by those in attendance.

Our last meeting for the 2017 year will feature Lauren Ice, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP sharing her insight into “Treatment of Oncologic Emergencies” on November 9th in the Lacks Grand Room at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids.  As a reminder, the general board meetings conducted at 5:30pm prior to the CE presentation are open to members and guests; if you’re curious about what the WMSHP executive board is up to, please consider joining us!

Elections for our 2018-2019 Board will be held in the coming weeks.  The ballot this year will include candidates for President-Elect, Treasurer, Technician, and four 2-year Director positions.  A link to the electronic ballot will be emailed to WMSHP voting members soon, and the polls will close immediately prior to the meeting on November 9th.

Please note that beginning January 1st, 2018, annual membership dues will be adjusted to $50 for pharmacist members, $40 for resident members, and $30 for technician members.  Per the bylaws, student members are exempt from payment of annual dues.  Members who would like to take advantage of the current dues structure ($40 for pharmacists and residents, $30 for technicians) should renew prior to January 1st.

Posted on behalf of Dana Staat, WMSHP member and current MSHP President:

Michigan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (MSHP) relies on volunteer participants to help the organization meet its professional goals. Volunteers can serve as Committee members, officers or members of the MSHP Board of Directors, or serve as delegates to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) House of Delegates. Please note that you must be a MPA/MSHP member to volunteer for Committees or groups. Volunteers are appointed in November and December for the following calendar year. In addition, please note that the size of each Committee is limited to the number of volunteers deemed appropriate for each participant to be effective.

The MSHP Volunteer Interest Form is available at http://www.michiganpharmacists.org/Portals/0/mpa/sections/mshp/committees/2018volunteerinterestform.pdf

If you are an MPA/MSHP member and haven't served on a committee before, please consider this opportunity to get more involved!

Many thanks to those of you who joined us at Uccello’s in Grand Rapids for our first WMSHP meeting of the 2017-2018 year.  It was great to see participants engage with each other in thoughtful discussion, goal-setting, and learning plan development as we practiced "The ABCs of CPD: Building Blocks for Lifelong Learning."

We are looking forward to our annual Pharmacy Residency Showcase on October 5th at FSU College of Pharmacy in Grand Rapids.  Our next monthly CE meeting will be held on October 12th at the Bronson Methodist Hospital Gilmore Center Auditorium, with Dean Van Loo, PharmD digging in to "Guidelines and Landmark Studies: Script or Suggestion?"  Hope you can join us in Kalamazoo!

It’s almost time again for annual Board elections.  If you are interested in becoming more involved in WMSHP by running for a board position, please contact me or another board member for more information. Positions on the ballot this year include President-Elect, Treasurer, Technician, and four 2-year Board Member terms.  The deadline for nominations, including a brief bio, is Friday, October 20th.

Join us at the Second Annual MPF Oktoberfest event being held this year at Kitzingen Brewery in Wyoming from 5-8 p.m! (click here to register) Inspired by the small town Kitzingen in Germany where the Brewery's owner served on a U.S. military base, the interior of the brewery is designed to tell his story and "pay homage to the relationship between the American soldiers and the German people at the base."

In addition to beverages of your choice (non-alcoholic beverages will be available), registration will include delicious pretzel bites & cheese and deep fried mushrooms for appetizers with your choice of one of the following dinner options:

• Jaegerschnitzel – Tender pork cutlet prepared old world Bavarian style, pan-fried and smothered with a mushroom cream gravy, served with our specialty spatzle, red cabbage and a side of cucumber salad.
• Wienerschnitzel – Tender pork loin freshly breaded with our own signature breading and fried to a golden brown, served with spatzle, red cabbage and a side of cucumber salad.
• Our Wurst Plate – Our sausage platter including Bockwurst, Currywurst and Weisswurst on a bed of sauerkraut, served with a pretzel and cucumber salad.

The meal will be topped off with delicious, homemade Black Forest Cake! So get your German on! Come and experience the brewery’s unique charm, as well as a variety of authentic German food and craft beer on tap. Everyone is welcome to attend – be sure to invite your family and friends for an evening of fun and fellowship, all while supporting a worthy cause!

Please note that $75 of your contribution to attend this event is tax-deductible within the limits of IRS rules (Tax ID #38-3122918). Proceeds from the event will go toward supporting the Foundation’s investments in the future of pharmacy.

For many of us, preparing for back-to-school signals the end of summer…but it also means it is time to start another year of great programming for WMSHP!  The Board met in June to plan activities for the year ahead, and we are excited to start broadening services and opportunities for our membership.  Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the ballgame with us on July 13th for the annual summer outing at Fifth Third Ballpark. The weather was beautiful, the Whitecaps won, and the all-you-can-eat BBQ was a home run!

We look forward to seeing many of you Thursday, September 14th for our first CE event of the 2017-2018 year at Uccello's in Grand Rapids.  We’ll be talking about “The ABCs of CPD” and how embracing a continuous professional development process can help maximize lifelong learning.  One hour of live CE credit will be offered for pharmacists and technicians.

Please consider encouraging any pharmacists and technicians you know who are not WMSHP members to consider joining. The annual membership fee ($40 for pharmacists, $30 for technicians) gives members access to up to 7 hours of live CE credits from our regular monthly meetings September through November and January through April. With an additional registration fee, our annual Spring Seminar in May provides another 5 hours.

If you would like more information about WMSHP, please visit our website at www.wmshp.net.  If you’re looking to get more involved in our organization, please contact any Board member to discuss opportunities.

At our March meeting, Zachary Smith, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP, shared valuable insights during his presentation entitled “Review of the 2016 HAP/VAP Guidelines: Focus on Application at the Patient and Health-System Level” at Bronson.  Zach is a critical care pharmacist with Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, and we appreciate him driving all the way across the state to help us dig into these guidelines in a practical way.

Join us on April 13th at Gravity Taphouse Grille in Grand Rapids as Ben Kulwicki (Mercy Health Saint Mary’s) and Katie Guido (Borgess Medical Center) present results of the research projects they have been working on during this residency year.  Both projects explore the impact pharmacists can have on optimizing patient care…a topic important to all of us!

WMSHP is still accepting scholarship applications from eligible P3 students.  For the second year, the Board voted to offer one $1000 scholarship and one $500 scholarship to deserving students who are native or current residents of West Michigan.  The application deadline is April 7th, and winners will be announced at the annual WMSHP Spring Seminar.  More information is available at www.wmshp.net/scholarship.

The 2017 WMSHP Spring Seminar will be held on Tuesday, May 9th at the Prince Conference Center in Grand Rapids.  We will be offing 5 hours of live continuing education accredited for pharmacists and technicians, including 1 hour of pain and 1 hour of law.  Visit www.wmshp.net/seminar for more information and to register for the event.  We hope to see you there!

As always, if you would like more information about WMSHP, please visit our website at www.wmshp.net.

I hope you were able to get out this weekend and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures…perhaps a sign that spring is just around the corner?!

Members who joined us at Saint Mary’s last week were treated to an engaging presentation entitled “Mechanical Circulatory Support: Sounds Highly Non-Pharmacologic to Me” from CJ Michaud, PharmD, BCPS, cardiothoracic critical care pharmacist at Spectrum Health – Butterworth.  Many thanks to CJ for sharing his knowledge and passion for a topic that is unfamiliar (and a little bit uncomfortable) to many of us!

Congratulations to Katie Guido (Borgess Medical Center) and Ben Kulwicki (Mercy Health Saint Mary’s) for being selected to present at our April meeting.  We look forward to hearing about the research projects they have been working on this year.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 9th at Bronson in Kalamazoo and will feature a presentation from Zach Smith, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP on the 2016 IDSA guidelines for hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia.

MPF Adopt-a-Student:  If you are headed to the MPA Annual Convention this weekend (February 24-26), please consider sponsoring a student to attend the awards banquet through the Michigan Pharmacy Foundation’s Adopt-a-Student program.  If you are not going to the meeting, you can still sponsor a student and MPF will see to it that the student is paired with another pharmacy professional during the event.  The cost for the program is $100 for one student or $185 for two students.  Please email Eric Roath (eric@michiganpharmacists.org) if you are interested in supporting the next generation of pharmacists in this way!

Happy New Year!  Thanks to all who came out to Martell’s in Kalamazoo as we started off 2017 learning about “What’s New on TAP? The ADRs of PPIs” from Tracey Mersfelder, PharmD, a Ferris faculty member and clinical pharmacist at Borgess Medical Center.  Tracey presented an extensive review of the available literature linking proton pump inhibitor use with B12 and magnesium deficiency, osteoporosis, infections, kidney disease and more; and we truly appreciate the time and energy she put into providing this education for us.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 16th, and will feature CJ Michaud, PharmD, BCPS presenting on mechanical circulatory support.  There’s room for a crowd in the Lacks Grand Room at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids… please consider joining us!

Reminder to Pharmacy Residents: Submit your research abstract for an opportunity to share your residency project with our members at the April WMSHP meeting!  Abstracts are due to Kyle Schmidt (kyle.schmidt@spectrumhealth.org) by January 27th.  Don’t miss out on this chance to practice your presentation before the Great Lakes conference!

Stay warm, all…it will be spring before we know it (at least that’s what I’m telling myself)…

As another year comes to a close, I would like to thank all who participated in and contributed to our 2016 WMSHP programming.  We wrapped up the year with an information-packed presentation on “Adult Immunization Updates” from Shalyn Quigly, PharmD, an ambulatory care pharmacist at Mercy Health Muskegon.

While December offers the chance to take a break and enjoy the holidays with family and friends, we also look forward to what is ahead in 2017!  As has become a tradition, we will kick off the new year with our restaurant meeting in Kalamazoo…Tracey Mersfelder, PharmD, will present “What is New on TAP? The ADRs of PPIs” at Martell’s on January 12th.  We hope many of you will be able to join us for what is sure to be an engaging presentation about this commonly used class of medications.

We are also happy to welcome our new and returning board members this year, who were announced at the November meeting.  For those of you who were unable to join us, the newly elected board members are:

President-Elect 2017: Katie Adrian, PharmD, BCPS

Secretary 2017-2018: Brad Miller, PharmD (incumbent)

Board Members 2017-2018:

• Stacy Brousseau, PharmD, BCPS (incumbent)
• Christin Campbell, PharmD (incumbent)
• Carrie Morrison, PharmD (incumbent)
• Jordan Posey, PharmD

Resident-at-Large 2017: Courtney Carroll, PharmD (Spectrum Health Peds PGY2)

Best wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season, and I hope to see many of you in the new year!