School of Pharmacy Students Rank 2nd in State Competition

by Jerika Lam, PharmD, and Steve Vodhanel

Cham Nguyen and Stacy Pak competed at the state-level Clinical Skills Competition (CSC), which was held at the annual California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) Seminar meeting on October 1, 2009. Held in San Diego, the CSC is a team-based competition among all pharmacy schools in California, with seven of the eight eligible pharmacy schools entering student representatives this year.

The purpose of the CSC is to encourage and recognize excellence in clinical skill development for pharmacy students, and to facilitate an interactive, team-based analysis of clinical scenarios for health-system pharmacists to help patients make the best use of their medications. The CSC consists of two phases – a written pharmacy care plan and, if passed, an oral case presentation. The goals of the CSC are to:
•  Foster the development of clinical practice skills
•  Reinforce the pharmacist’s responsibility for optimal drug therapy outcomes
•  Facilitate the effective use of a systematic approach to clinical problem-solving
•  Enhance written and oral communications skills

Nguyen and Pak will advance to the 2009 National Clinical Skills Competition, which will be held at the 44th Annual American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas, December 6-10, 2009. At this competition, LLU’s School of Pharmacy will compete against hundreds of pharmacy schools from all states in the country.

According to Dean Billy Hughes, the amount of time and effort from the students volunteering to represent LLU in the CSC competition is worthy of praise, but also of note is the mentoring efforts of three faculty, Drs. Mary Gutierrez, Jerika Lam and Javad Tafreshi. “Academic competitions are an important learning experience and special praise is extended to Drs. Gutierrez, Lam and Tafreshi for this fine effort,” states Dr. Hughes. Congratulations Cham Nguyen, Stacey Pak, and Drs. Gutierrez, Lam and Tafreshi!