Bethany Baker

Biographical Information:

Bethany Baker received her doctorate from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Pharmacy before completing a PGY1/PGY2 HSPAL residency and MSHA degree at Virginia Commonwealth University Health. She returned to Kansas City, Missouri, following graduation to serve as a Critical Care Pharmacy Manager at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Today, she is entering her second year as the Director of Inpatient Pharmacy Clinical Services. Her interest areas within leadership and academia have resulted in involvement with department’s student and resident rotations as well as preceptor and professional development. She is an active alumnus of the UMKC SOP as well as the local ASHP affiliate, GKCSHP, where she is currently serving as President-Elect.

Current employment, practice, and academic responsibilities:

Children’s Mercy Hospital is a 390-bed, pediatric, academic medical center that serves as the primary location for a comprehensive pediatric health system known as Children’s Mercy Kansas City. As the Director of Inpatient Pharmacy Clinical Services, Bethany oversees the patient care provided by over 60 inpatient pharmacists. Major roles of oversight also include the implementation of new clinical softwares, optimization of professional development opportunities, oversight of clinical budgeting and pharmacist performance metrics, and leading the hospital’s developing Transitions of Care program. In Bethany’s spare time, she enjoys giving back to the profession through precepting and local professional organization involvement, and serving as a board member of CM’s Community Garden.

Significant projects and accomplishments:

“Projects and accomplishments I’m most proud of include developing a CE-approved BCPPS exam prep course for clinical pharmacists, standardizing residency candidate interview questions, and assisting with our preceptor wellness efforts by coordinating treats and activities this year. I also love giving back to my alma mater and currently serve as a member of UMKC’s Curriculum Committee and as an interviewer for the school’s pharmacy candidates. Current projects I’m excited about are developing a Career Advancement Program for our pharmacists, creating more standardization to when we take students and residents to help with preceptor burnout, and helping to optimize our intern program to assist pharmacists with patient care responsibilities.”

Promotion of Health System Pharmacy Practice:

“When the pandemic hit, I was tasked with transitioning our APPE experiences to a virtual setting. Now that students are allowed on-site, we have maintained some of our virtual activities as we’ve learned we’ve actually improved the equity of these experiences by making them available to students at multiple sites and shifts. Children’s Mercy provides care to diverse populations throughout the state as well as neighboring states. To expose early learners to diverse patient populations, I have worked with new preceptors in diverse locations to create rotations, expanding our ability to take students and increasing the environments they’re exposed to.”

Professional Engagement: 

“By the time I graduated from residency, I was actively involved in various sections and advisory groups but hadn’t quite figured out where I belonged yet. It took me some time to learn my passion was primarily in leadership and education, whether it be students or pharmacists, didactic or experiential training. I also learned how much I valued the local connections of pharmacists around me and how powerful that network can be. Once I learned where to focus, I looked for leadership opportunities through our local and state ASHP affiliates to meet and work with Missouri pharmacists. When I learned the Section of Pharmacy Educators was being created, I immediately knew that was the section for me. I was chosen to chair the DEW SAG and loved both the people and the work that we accomplished that year. Because of my broad interest in education I wanted to learn about the work in other AGs, so this year I was very pleased to have the opportunity to serve as the CHSA SAG chair.”

Professional Advice:

“Stay open-minded and ask good questions. I have had some of my biggest successes by being open to ideas and opportunities rather than immediately assuming they’re bad ideas or just simply not for me. I have developed some of my strongest relationships with colleagues and direct reports by having a questioning attitude. ‘A smart person will give you smart answers, but a wise person will ask you smart questions’. I will be the first to admit that this was not something that inherently came easily to me but was one of the best skills I ever learned and continue to practice.”