APPE Blog: Posts http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx RSS feed for the Posts list. Sun, 26 May 2013 00:34:57 GMT Windows SharePoint Services V3 RSS Generator 60 APPE Blog: Posts /resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/_layouts/images/homepage.gif http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx Technology for the Old Fashioned Student http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=27 Body:
April 11, 2013
As I knocked lightly on the open office door to my primary preceptor’s office last week, I knew I would be greeted with a welcoming smile and an immediate, “How is everything going?” Karna Mapes, Director of Education, had papers with scrawled writing spread across her desk in neat piles. She had been searching for speakers to attend one of AACP’s Institutes, directed at helping new educators teach more effectively. During our conversation about how she finds speakers for meetings, she mentioned that she also searches outside of the pharmacy field. I remembered thinking how great of an idea it was for her to look toward kindergarten through 12th grade education; Karna had a very good point about how education has evolved even from when I was in K-12 just a few years ago, and incoming pharmacy students will have equally evolved expectations of their instructors.
I did not consider this further directly after our small chat, but her comment became more meaningful to me this week. Karna, Ruth, and I attended the Medbiquitous Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The Conference focused on the advance of health professions through technology. I saw that advancement can be accomplished in a variety of ways; for example, by improving the flow of data between health professions, assessment and outcomes management tools, or use of technology in the classroom with simulations and gaming.
Being from the Seattle area, surrounded by technology gurus and small startup companies, I know that technology has the potential to advance the health professions. I also look back on my own childhood and know that I am the last generation that will remember elementary school without the use of computers, cell phones, or even CD players. However, even with being an avid adopter of these advances, I had never truly noticed how fast technology had been growing the last two decades. I felt so old fashioned with my memories of chalkboards and overhead projector lectures!
The conference made me realize that educators not only need to keep continually abreast of new developments in technology, but also remind themselves that the students coming into your classroom every passing decade are going to have different expectations of learning because of that new technology and today’s continually fast-paced and stimulating environment. Terms like “flipping the classroom” and having the students lead the learning through engagement are going to become more commonplace and even expected. Karna’s point about looking down toward your future pupils is just as important to me now as the more well-accepted value of looking up to your mentors.

 


Dayl Eccles, PharmD Student 2013
University of Washington
Category: 2012-2013
Published: 4/12/2013 4:57 PM
]]> Dayl Eccles 2012-2013 Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:55:51 GMT http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=27 Strategy for the Soon-To-Be Graduate http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=30 Body:
April 25, 2013
 
I always liked making food. There was something magical that happened when you took base ingredients, with different properties and scents and flavors, and combined them together to create something satisfying to your palate. It’s an experiment where if my food turns out burnt, I gladly accept it anyway. I understand cooking; I don’t need books or papers telling me how I should accomplish my end goal of “meal”. Baking, however, has always turned out miserably. You have to follow the recipe exactly, and even then you can’t predict how altitude or making your flour packed will affect the end product. All of the recipes have to be tested and perfected by someone else before the recipe is distributed for replication by others. Most of all, baking doesn’t provide room for me play with the pieces to see how the individual components work.
 
This way of approaching the world translates to my experiences here at AACP, an organization with a carefully defined Mission and Vision. I am simultaneously drawn to finding out exactly how the individual workers contribute to the big picture, and yet want to accomplish this goal without ever having to physically look at the structured plan. I have been able to accomplish many things in my life without a structured set of goals or plans, after all. When I was charged with the big picture task of suggesting ways for global pharmacy to be integrated into the Strategic Plan, I gladly began combing through the Operational Plan’s details.
 
Without background on how the Strategic Plan was developed, however, it was difficult to understand the rationale of how current tasks in the Operational Plan were prioritized and chosen. I was curious how it worked so arranged a meeting with Jen Adams, the Senior Director of Strategic Academic Partnerships, who was familiar with AACP Governance; I did not have any intention of gaining a desire to incorporate the skill of Strategic Planning into other organizations I am involved with, though.
 
As Jen described the history of AACP’s Strategic Plan, I was able to begin connecting the dots from the smaller tasks to the actual Mission and Vision. Knowing how Strategic Planning has a whole field of consultants and a dedicated staff member in many organizations, I began to realize that this method of planning was a way to keep associations from drifting away from their purpose. Planning in a strategic way reminds you of the big picture while you accomplish the small tasks, and is something I see can being utilized even on a personal level. When it comes to my involvement with pharmacy organizations or to making myself cookies, this week will remind me to take a moment to remind myself that the recipe is written that way for a reason. Taking a moment to define the small parts will accomplish the goal at the end.
 
Dayl Eccles, PharmD Student
University of Washington
Category: 2012-2013
Published: 4/26/2013 11:49 AM
]]> Dayl Eccles 2012-2013 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:50:12 GMT http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=30 Feast for the Dreamer http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=29 Body:
April 22, 2013
 
The APPE student work cubicle sits in a thoroughfare between the kitchen and back staff offices in the AACP Headquarters. Three other cubicles sit in this hallway space, but the last occupants have all finally relocated to the many windowed outer offices within the Headquarters over the last two weeks. Aside from the lunch and evening shuffles and an occasional laugh or cough, this hallway is quiet. This is in stark contrast to the stimulation from the last two weeks with a dozen meetings with staff members, traveling to conferences, and project planning with my preceptor. But the calm has the advantage of providing a space for synthesis and reflection. My table was filled with a feast of information, and now I have time to start turning this information into something even more valuable.
 
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure what to write this week. I didn’t feel like there were big revelations or major enhancements to my skill set. I was simply making connections with my past experiences and considering how they fit into the Mission and Vision of AACP. But as the days went on and I began to formulate my ideas into action plans with quick conversations with pertinent staff members, I did come to a realization. We get so caught up in the go, go, go of pharmacy school and exams and extracurricular obligations, we forget how important it really is to stop and synthesize the information we cram into our heads. Typically I fill my schedule so much that I have only provided myself with the ability to do instead of the ability to think. I have been slow to learn the lesson of stopping, but this week reinforced the value of providing myself with the setting of quiet time to make ideas turn into reality.
 
So if anyone asks what I did this week, I will tell them I practiced the valuable art of listening, dreaming, and drafting the ideas that come from the former two. And I will go home today and practice the art of actually scheduling regular time in my ever-busy schedule to continue to give myself the room to dream.
 
Dayl Eccles, PharmD Student
University of Washington
Category: 2012-2013
Published: 4/22/2013 11:47 AM
]]> Dayl Eccles 2012-2013 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:49:06 GMT http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=29 Reflection Week 4 and 5: March 11-22, 2013 http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=28 Body:

I can’t believe how time has flown by. I am on my last day of my rotation at AACP. My experiences here have taught me multitudes about professionalism and being detail oriented. These lessons learned will continue to be practiced in my everyday career in order to ingrain these concepts into my daily routine.

My week four consisted of completing my evaluation of the Academic Fellows Leadership Program. In particular, I wanted to incorporate what the fellows thought about the program, thus, I reached out to previous fellows to provide feedback. I was under the impression that this was ok, however, I was overzealous and reached out to participants without Brad Miller’s approval of the email I would use to send out. While I generally received positive feedback from participants, some of the participants didn’t receive the email well because they were unfamiliar with me in relationship to the program. Some of the fellows even questioned the email for its authenticity because of their unfamiliarity with me.

Once responses like this had been received, I received advice on the proper protocol for sending emails and actually working on a team with other people. As far as emails are concerned, when working within an association or any organization, not only the format, but also the content and phrasing are crucial, since every email sent out represents the organization. I have been here only for three weeks, thus I do not have the length of experience to represent the organization. In addition, I should have informed Brad not only of my intentions to send out an email, but actually showed Brad the email so he could proof it and give me advice on the email. This was my biggest lesson that I learned from this rotation, my role on a team.
I have been on various rotations where I had to work on a team, and these assignments have usually been presentations where we collaborated with each other on our content, format, and then presented. However, this is not the correct approach, especially when working in a team. The correct approach is to inform team members of your progress on your specific part and seek out feedback from your other team members. This approach will be one that I implement from now on, as it allows for constructive feedback, as well as to keep team members informed on the progress of your work.

My week five is very bittersweet. I am so glad to have met everyone at AACP and I am so sad to leave. My fifth week consisted of me putting the final touches on my project presentation and completing my evaluation with Jen. I used ‘Prezi’ as a tool to present my findings to Brad and Danielle. The feedback I received was great, and Prezi was kind of stressful to use, simply because it is very different from using PowerPoint. However, it is a very innovative tool. Prezi is very fluid and with Prezi, you’re able to visualize the idea that is being presented, unlike PowerPoint, which is very static. I am glad I got introduced to it and look forward to having a chance to implement something like this for educational purposes. As I close out my final moments rotating at AACP, I can feel the professional growth I have experienced. For example, my interactions with team members to even simple tasks such as sending emails have experienced growth. I hope to continue this growth in my PGY1 residency at James A. Haley Veterans Affairs Hospital in Tampa, Fl.

Bernard Murray

Category: 2012-2013
Published: 3/22/2013 11:50 AM
]]> Dayl Eccles 2012-2013 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:46:22 GMT http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=28 Reflection Essay Week #2 February 25th - March 1st http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=25 Body:
During my second week at AACP, I continued my mission of meeting the various staff members of AACP, and delving into the career choices that they made to get them to AACP today. I had some wonderful discussions with the senior staff members of AACP, including the CEO, Lucinda Maine, Pharm.D. I was truly amazed at Dr. Maine and her personable nature. As you all can imagine, CEO’s are very busy, so when I initially scheduled the meeting, I was under the impression that the meeting would be quick and to the point because she had more pressing matters to attend to. However, when I walked into the room, she stopped everything, took a seat right next to me and we conversed like we were old friends. It made the conversation so much lighter and I enjoyed it very much.
One comment that really stuck out to me was her response to my question “what skills do you most value as a leader?”  Her response: “emotional intelligence.”  Emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups.” The ability to control her emotions while being able to assess and identify the emotions of others is something I haven’t heard referenced in relation to leadership. I left out of the conversation with Dr. Maine having a new outlook on the type of leader I want to become. She instilled in me knowledge that you can be “smart as a whip” but not be a very effective leader. It takes understanding the people and groups around you to truly be effective. This very important lesson is something that I will incorporate in my career as a Pharmacist.  I appreciate her for the advice she gave me about becoming a leader.
In addition, I had a lovely conversation with Dr. Mapes, Director of Education, about the responsibilities of becoming a faculty and the emphasis that should be placed on innovative teaching. Throughout my educational career, I have seen faculty that are passionate in academia. I shared my experiences with Dr. Mapes and she shared with me some of her experiences about her transition from experiential coordinator to professor.  From the conversation, I gathered that she is in support of the “flipped classroom model” in which there is more active learning in the classroom. As I was leaving her office, I realized that I should not forget my experiences as a student and the frustrations of professors that failed to meet my expectations. Instead, I should use these experiences to shape how I want to teach and become a professor that stimulates critical thinking skills, especially in infectious disease.
I was fortunate enough to sit in on a technology discussion with a representative for the Mondo-Pad. The Mondo-Pad is a huge tablet (about 60 inches) with actual computer capabilities. As a proponent of technology in the classroom, I was thrilled to see this and witness how schools can integrate this technology into the classroom. I was sold on the technology being used for AACP as soon as the technology demo was complete. However, it was fascinating watching the members at AACP debate on whether this technology could really benefit them. There was discussion from Jen Adams, Senior Director of Strategic Academic Partnerships, about how this technology would not be beneficial to her in regards to PCAT discussion. After that, the Association unanimously voted against brining the Mondo-Pad to AACP. By watching the members’ debate about the Mondo-Pad, I learned that I have to be more deliberate in my actions. Haste could possibly lead to useless spending and misappropriation of funds.
Lastly, I have finally decided on a project to complete. I have decided to develop a teaching & leadership seminar for “Pharmacy Education 2013: AACP Annual Meeting.” I will be working closely with Brad Miller, Associate Director of Academic Programs, to develop programming geared towards residents who desire to go into the field of academia. I have a base outline currently, but with everyone’s help, I am sure that it will come together to be a success.
Published: 3/20/2013 1:18 PM
]]> Bernard Murray Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:29:49 GMT http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=25 The Meaning of Collaboration for the Sweet Tooth http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=26 Body:

April 5, 2013

The staff at American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) may not have realized this, but I am a sucker for sweets. Any food is the way to my heart, actually. So, naturally, I immediately noticed the open bag of chocolates offered to the staff working with Academic Affairs when I entered the Associate Executive Vice President’s, Ruth E. Nemire’s, office for an orientation meeting for two new staff members and myself. The bag served as just one small example in the big picture of how welcoming the roughly thirty people working for the Association have been. Ruth E.’s corner office was bordered by windows with the sun peeking in, and the eight other attendees were bringing in large, comfortable chairs from other offices and placing them in a circle. Each person then described their role and the work they do. It wasn’t until Cecilia Plaza, Senior Director of Academic Affairs, pointed out the diverse background of the talented staff that I realized I was not actually in a room full of pharmacists. I felt silly not realizing this myself, but how can you blame a PharmD student on her eighth of nine rotations? I had been surrounded by almost exclusively pharmacists for the past year, and now I was surrounded by a group with a greater diversity of occupational backgrounds.

AACP’s office houses meeting planners, pharmacology researchers funded by the National Institute of Health, Master of Public Health and Public Policy graduates, pharmacists and educators, economics and art history majors. All of these backgrounds play an integral role in the functioning of AACP and the progress toward the unified vision of academic pharmacy creating a healthier society, and they defy the standard workplace hierarchy by branching out and contributing to the work of more than just their own or their group’s portfolio.

The success created by seeking mentors and colleagues outside of my own pharmacy professional specialty is something I will strive to seek out more of in my future. As for my first week experience, it’s difficult to believe I have spent such a short time here off the quaint streets of Old Town Alexandria. Each person working for the Association has been genuine and proactive in creating a comfortable and driven environment. I have already gained a picture of how AACP is organized, and the great amount of purposeful work that is done. –And I was handed three chocolate candies by the Academic Affairs team, when I only asked for one.

APPE Student Desk

Dayl Eccles, PharmD Student 2013
University of Washington

Category: 2012-2013
Published: 4/5/2013 4:56 PM
]]> Dayl Eccles 2012-2013 Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:33:44 GMT http://www.aacp.org/resources/student/currentstudentphamacists/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=26