Pharmacy school and experiential learning prepare students for their future careers, but every spring semester, Student Societies of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHPs) across the country reflect on the future of the profession itself for Practice Advancement Initiative (PAI) Week.
“PAI Week is a way to see where our profession is going as a whole and our role in shaping that,” explained Megan Huang Frazier, a P3 student and president of the University of Houston (UH) College of Pharmacy SSHP.
From community service events to speaker series to social media campaigns, SSHPs are finding creative ways to level up their knowledge and drive practice change to meet the demands of the rapidly changing world of healthcare.
Positioned for Professional Growth
Founded by ASHP in 2010, PAI aspires to help pharmacists and pharmacy technicians practice at the top of their education and training to advance patient care. The current iteration, PAI 2030, offers a roadmap to promote optimal, safe, and effective medication use, expand pharmacist and technician roles, and implement the latest technologies.
ASHP members and state affiliates lead the implementation of PAI recommendations at the local level, which naturally extends to their state SSHPs. While pharmacy schools advance the profession year-round, PAI Week is a specific time, typically in February or March, for SSHPs to support the initiative. By learning about professional priorities and trends, student pharmacists can become practice-ready and strong advocates for the field well before graduation day.
Ways to Engage
When planning PAI Week, many SSHPs start with PAI 2030’s five domains: patient-centered care; pharmacist’s role, education, and training; technology and data science; pharmacy technician’s role, education, and training; and leadership in medication use and safety. That framework serves as a springboard as each chapter adapts PAI to meet their interests and complement their school curriculum.
Speaker series featuring practicing pharmacists are popular PAI Week events. For example, West Virginia University (WVU) School of Pharmacy invited the president of its state ASHP affiliate, Hannah Trickett, to share how she applies PAI principles in her medication use pharmacy specialist role at WVU Medicine. “It was very eye-opening to see how what we learn in the classroom has applicable relevance in the real world,” said WVU SSHP president Maegan Casimir, a P3 student. “That’s PAI Week, in its essence.”
UH SSHP produced a video with three faculty members discussing their career paths from residency onward. “It emphasized the different roles pharmacy has … which can help students figure out what they want to do post-graduation,” Frazier explained.
And for many students, PAI Week is a chance to give back. This year, members of the UH SSHP created heartfelt Valentine’s Day cards for young patients at the nearby Texas Children’s Hospital — a new idea generated by the chapter’s P1 liaisons. Meanwhile, the WVU SSHP made a meal for residents of Rosenbaum Family House in Morgantown, which offers a home away from home for adult patients receiving inpatient care at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital and their families.
Community service events “reinforce that we are in this profession for patients and the families,” said WVU’s Casimir.
Making It Their Own
Sometimes, PAI Week spans an entire month. The University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy went this route with a full slate of activities in March. SSHP leaders took turns planning events around practice areas that interest them, including pediatric, psychiatric, and nuclear pharmacy.
For her contribution, WSSHP president Braeden Stewart chose to highlight mental well-being and combat burnout because “if we burn out, we’re not able to advance our practice and be the best pharmacists we can be.” She lined up a bingo night, a yoga class taught by a faculty member, and a “crafternoon” making paper shamrock garlands to give students relaxing breaks from their coursework and rotations.
“If you’re passionate about a certain area of pharmacy, dig into that. You’ll have even more fun coming up with [PAI Week] activities,” Stewart advised.
Another successful PAI Week strategy is to combine in-person events with virtual and asynchronous activities, which can increase engagement during busy spring semesters. Infographics and handouts are easy to share via social media, ultimately helping SSHPs reach a wider audience. Students like being able to digest the information on their own time and bookmark it for later.
Both WVU and UH created infographics highlighting the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on medication management, workflow efficiency, and patient care. UH also produced a post on the role of pharmacy technicians, while WVU developed a handout on pharmacist roles and responsibilities based on a survey they conducted with local practitioners.
Welcoming Technicians, Others
For many SSHPs, PAI Week is not complete without involving pharmacy technicians and other members of the healthcare team. At WVU, more than 40 students gathered to fill goodie bags with lip balm, pens, snacks, and notes of appreciation, which they then delivered to technicians working at the connected hospital and in the community. The event is a highlight of PAI Week every year, said Casimir.
Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) College of Pharmacy SSHP hosted a pharmacy technician panel in February featuring people they had worked with during internships or rotations. The invited pharmacy technicians gathered with students and faculty in a comfortable classroom setting to discuss teamwork, effective communication, and ways to strengthen the pharmacist-technician dynamic.
“We wanted to explore how much we can help each other and work together for the best patient care. It can’t hurt to start that relationship-building early,” said NEOMED SSHP secretary and P3 Kaylee Ray of their flagship event.
The panel underscored NEOMED’s strong emphasis on interprofessional education. “Since we have so much interaction with [pharmacy technicians], we thought this was something definitely worth exploring,” added fellow P3 and SSHP president Lauren Ashton.
PAI Week Planning Tips for Pharmacy Students
Want to develop or scale your school’s activities for PAI Week? These SSHP student leaders offer the following advice.
- Take a pulse check: Survey students to learn which PAI domains they are most interested in. Design your programming accordingly.
- Delegate: PAI Week (or Month!) is a chance for every SSHP member to get involved. A chapter officer or a class cohort can lead each activity.
- Right size, then expand: Planning a week’s worth of events can be daunting. Start small if you are new to PAI Week or have limited capacity. “It’s okay to pour your resources into one event and make it really thoughtful and successful,” said Ashton of NEOMED.
- Make it interactive: Fun activities add levity to serious subject matter. To promote medication safety, UH tested pharmacy students’ knowledge of proper dosing, storage protocols, and more with an interactive game.
- Explain the why: Students may be more likely to engage if they understand the bigger picture. Casimir at WVU considers this “a generational thing. … Younger students want to know, why is something important? Why am I doing this?”
- Spread the word: Successful SSHPs leverage a mix of email, social media, and word-of-mouth communications to promote PAI Week.
- Serve food: Some things never change: Pizza will always be a reliable draw for busy, hungry students.
- Open it up: NEOMED invited students from other healthcare disciplines to attend and expand their pharmacy knowledge.
- Celebrate SSHP leadership: Cheer on the SSHP leaders who make PAI Week possible. Casimir reminded her fellow students: “Not only is this important for you personally, but you should also come to support your president-elect and all the hard work he’s done.”
Learn more about ASHP’s PAI 2030 and plan your next PAI Week.
