Duncan Polytechnical High Medical Career Day at CHSU
November 18, 2016
Duncan Polytechnical Medical Careers Class Visits CHSU for Learning Experience
On Friday, November 18, 2016, PharmD students and faculty at CHSU College of Pharmacy hosted an on-campus learning experience for Medical Careers class students from Duncan Polytechnical High School. The event was designed to provide greater exposure to the role of pharmacists on the health care team, engage the high school students in hands-on activities related to health care, pharmacy, and critical thinking, and spark a desire to serve our community.
The eighty-seven juniors and seniors in high school that participated are taking a Medical Careers class at the Duncan Polytechnical High School facilitated by Lisa Madrigal. The high school students – who arrived to campus wearing their scrubs – were focused, enthusiastic and excited to participate in presentations, hands-on activities and a team-based learning exercise.
The students were welcomed and given an enlightening presentation about the role and importance of health providers in our region by Dr. Wendy Duncan, PhD, SVP for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Interim Dean of Pharmacy at CHSU. Dr. Duncan also highlighted the responsibilities and career benefits of pharmacists along with the unique training pharmacy students receive at CHSU.
The students were delighted to hear that pharmacists can practice in over 25 different specialty fields, including more direct patient care roles such as Clinical pharmacists, where they conduct physical assessments similar to those conducted by nurses and physician assistants.
The students were then divided into three teams to rotate through hands-on learning activities in physical assessment, compounding and medication therapy management (MTM). Pharmacy students: Mher Attarian (P3), Lauren Park (P3), Rose Mulugeta (P3), Seema Rai (P3), Roberto Garcia (P3), Kenya Covarrubias (P1), Edwin Thao (P3), Kang Yang (P3), Fouad Boulbol (P3), Beth Rapiz (P3), Raju Bashar (P3), Janik Oganesyan (P3), Armen Nalbandyan (P1), Fadhl Ali (P3), Hemjot Kaur (P2), Henna Mahal (P3), Hiwan Brhena (P3), Jasmin Thind (P3), Jessica Chan (P3), Mina Al-Shahed (P3), Olutosin Falade (P1), Shadi Asayesh (P3) and Parvinderjeet Boyal (P1), assisted the faculty in facilitating each activity.
First, the students were given an overview of the important role that flu vaccinations play in contributing to a health community. Then the pharmacy students demonstrated the technique for preparing the patient and administering the flu shots, while the high school students practiced giving each other flu vaccinations (with no needles, of course).
Next, in the physical assessment activity, the high school students learned the importance of monitoring heart rate and blood pressure in patients, guided by CHSU faculty Dr. Chris Foley, Dr. Quintin Broussard, and Dr. Alireza FakhriRavari. First, they had an information session from Dr. Foley to understand how heart rate is measured, what blood pressure is and how to monitor both to ensure the patients fall within acceptable ranges. Then the high school students were guided by CHSU College of Pharmacy students in hands-on activities to learn how to use automatic and manual sphygmomanometers, stethoscopes, and practiced their technique on each other.
The next activity was to experience a medication therapy management session (MTM) to understand how pharmacists are medication specialists with Dr. Yuchen Wang and Dr. Luma Munjy.
For a proper MTM review session, the patient is asked to bring ALL of their subscribed medications, over the counter medications, herbal remedies and vitamins into the office in a “brown bag.” The high school students learned that medication non-adherence is one of the most expensive challenges for the health care system. While reviewing medications, pharmacists help patients understand how patients should be taking their medication and if there are specific medications they have been prescribed (maybe by different providers) that shouldn’t be taken with each other or with over the counter or herbal remedies.
The high school students also learned about the dangers of misusing over the counter medications and herbal remedies. Overall, this activity helped these students to learn the importance of medication adherence, only taking medication subscribed to you, not to take anything without checking with their provider or pharmacist and how to properly store and dispose of unused or out of date medications, etc.
Most importantly, the students learned that medication can be a powerful method of keeping people well, but can have dangerous and perhaps deadly consequences if not taken properly or at all.
While the high school students really enjoyed taking each other’s heart rate, blood pressure, giving flu shots, and MTM, they also got to experience a specialty that only pharmacists can do – compounding, or the making of medicine.
The 11th and 12th graders learned from Dr. Sree Pattipati and Dr. Chandra Kolli that compounding can be used to provide medication to patients in different forms – liquid suspensions or creams instead of a tablets – or doses and flavors that aren’t made by medication manufacturers. The compounding activity that students made on this day was a suspension.
A suspension is a mixture with solid particles that do not dissolve in the liquid. The suspension that the students made was an antacid – a medicine that neutralizes stomach acidity to relieve heartburn.
The students took pride in making their compounds and even added flavoring and coloring, which is commonly done in practice to help the medicine smell and taste better. After making their medication, the students bottled it and learned how to read the medication labels as well as the protocols and importance for ensuring the information is correct before the pharmacist signs off.
To reinforce and help them retain the information learned throughout the day, the high school students were then engaged by Dr. Stanley Snowden in a team-based learning exercise, which also served to introduce CHSU’s learning style to the students. The students were presented with a diabetes case about a patient and provided with some previous health history, dietary information, and prescribed medication and dosages. They worked in their teams and were guided by Dr. Snowden to critically think about the information presented to identify areas in which the patient might improve his diet, lifestyle, and whether he is adhering to his prescribed medication. The students even learned the types of questions they might need to ask the patient to obtain a good picture of his situation. They did a great job solving the case and made excellent recommendations on how the patient can improve his health.
While the primary goal of the learning experience was to introduce the 11th and 12th graders to the role of health care providers and pharmacists, the most enriching part of the activity, was that the students learned that with some hard work, becoming a health professional is an attainable goal. The students also learned about some of the coursework, pathways, and helpful resources available to them as they work towards their college goals.
The pharmacy students benefitted with a valuable leadership and educational experience that will help them perform better in their program now and in the future when they are applying for internships, residencies and jobs.
Visit the CHSU facebook page to see the full photo album from the learning experience:
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