January 2023
Greetings everyone,
I hope you had the most wonderful holidays and are excited for what’s in store for 2023!
Your Section for Clinical Specialists and Scientists (SCSS) had been busy the last few months, particularly at our ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas. At the Midyear Meeting, your Section’s Executive Committee attended the 2022 ASHP Distinguished Service Award reception and celebrated our Section’s recipient, Curtis Collins, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCIDP, FASHP, for his volunteer activities contributing to the mission of the Section. Our Section also hosted several networking and poster sessions at Midyear that were attended by over 1,000 practitioners, residents, and students. In addition, we also held our Section Executive Committee Meeting where we discussed various topics including:
- Section membership trends
- Section Advisory Group activities
- Section opportunities with AJHP
- Government Affairs update
- Section Strategic Planning
I would be remiss if I did not recognize the efforts of one of our ASHP Emergency Medicine Pharmacists, Dr. Sylvia Narciso and colleagues at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut for responding to an in-flight medical emergency on the way back from the Midyear Clinical Meeting. Dr. Narciso and her colleagues’ efforts shed light on the advanced roles that pharmacists have and their contribution to the care of the patient overall.
On behalf of the SCSS Executive Committee, I am excited to report that our Section remains strong and engaged! However, the growth and success of our Section depends upon your involvement! Consider joining an ASHP Advisory Group or Committee. Applications for Section Advisory Groups and Committees are accepted between February and May annually. You may also consider serving on the Section Executive Committee as Chair or Director-at-Large. Applications are now being accepted for the Section Executive Committee and close January 18th. Other opportunities to maintain engagement from our members include serving as:
- Associate Editor, Contributing Editor, or Reviewer for AJHP
- Speaker for various Section Advisory Group podcasts or micro continuing education (CE)
- Roundtable moderator on various topics of interest
- Many more…
Our Section will continue to focus on our Mission and Vision. Thus, look out for various activities that will help support our mission below:
- Practice Advancement: Elevate and/or expand the pharmacy workforce roles in healthcare with accountability.
- Standards of Practice: Helping pharmacists to perform at the top of their license.
- Pharmacist Value: Create and utilize resources to show the value of the pharmacist and pharmacy services across the continuum of care and in all communities.
- Clinical Expertise: Create and curate the essential resources for pharmacists. Strive to be a resource that pharmacists seek out for their clinical and practice needs.
- Professional Needs: Ensure that all pharmacists have a professional home and have access to tools to make them successful.
- Innovation: Foster and promote new and emerging pharmacy practice.
Upcoming SAG activities include:
- Podcasts from our Advisory Groups and Committees, including those offering continuing education.
- Twitter Chats from our Emerging Sciences, Emergency Medicine and Educational Steering Committees
- Webinars throughout 2023
You may have seen in the news that Congress eliminated the “DATA-Waiver Program,” which was required to treat patients with buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD). In addition, the FDA recently announced that “certain naloxone products have the potential to be safe and effective for over-the-counter use.” These two developments will help support our roles as the most easily accessible clinicians in the management of the opioid crisis. As pharmacists, we have a significant role to play in ensuring that our patients have access to naloxone as well as buprenorphine for OUD therapy.
As we continue to battle with the COVID-19 pandemic, now with a new variant XBB.1.5, coupled with the recent influenza and RSV season that plagued our pediatric population and emergency departments, I commend you and your efforts in continuing to be strong, agile, and resilient. I thank ASHP and our members for continuing to develop and maintain our resource centers and to advocate for our profession.
In April, I will return to the ASHP Headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland to participate in this year’s Strategic Planning. I hope to represent you all and your best interests as SCSS members.
Best regards,
Christi
Christi Jen, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP, FAzPA
Chair, Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists
[email protected]