Think of your childhood for a moment. Remember all of those family vacations, club soccer games, and endless trips to the playground? Think of how much those happy memories shaped you into the person you are today. These memories probably had a huge influence on your life and could have easily had an impact on your decisions regarding pharmacy school. Now imagine that all being stripped away from you because of cancer. 

In March 2016, as I was preparing to graduate from The University of Tennessee (UT) College of Pharmacy, I thought that the biggest challenges in my life were behind me. I had survived a tough curriculum at UT and rigorous rotations, and I was excited to finally step into my new role as a clinician and discover what the future held. While I had cast myself as a pharmacist, it turned out life had prepared a different script, and I would simultaneously be playing the patient. I had Stage II breast cancer. 

Taylor Naberhaus on her first day at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

In late summer, I had the opportunity to spend 4 weeks learning from the pharmacists at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) in Beijing, China. During this time, I learned how the following qualities of Beijing are integrated into pharmacy practice and allow the pharmacists to effectively serve the population. 

Patient care

The outpatient pharmacy at PUMCH fills prescriptions for 7,000 patients each day who travel from all over China, a country roughly the size of the United States, to receive expert medical care. Each patient could be on one to five or more prescription medications. A high-tech system for identification, payment, and dispensing allows the hospital to serve all its patients with only about a 10- to 20-minute wait time, comparable with the wait times at pharmacies here. 

On the inpatient side, the hospital contains 2,000 beds that are served by various care teams. At discharge, all patients receive their new medication from the inpatient pharmacy.

Growing up, my parents always listened to NPR in the car, whether I liked it or not. Frequently, the evening news was on in the background during dinner. These habits wore off on me over time and followed me to college. While there, I tried to stay informed about what was happening in the world and I started to think, “Hey, I have opinions about some of this. Maybe I should do something about it.” I also realized that if I wanted to take action, then others probably did as well, and that our voices together would be stronger than mine alone. 

This was the beginning of my involvement in advocacy work. Today, I still believe in the importance of political participation. I am proud to be a part of the team at APhA, where we work daily to educate legislators about the important services pharmacists can provide to their patients.