Keeping my patients’ and the profession’s best interests in mind

Julia Sexton is a first-year PharmD candidate at the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Significant legal changes are occurring in the field of pharmacy, including the elimination of the Part III examination requirement to become a licensed pharmacist in the state of New York and pushes toward pharmacists gaining provider status. However, as a transfer student pharmacist at the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS), I have felt as though I am lacking the knowledge that I need to be able to advocate for myself in the field of pharmacy. This is because throughout most of my education, I have not been around pharmacists and other student pharmacists, which would have allowed me to learn more about the impacts of legislation on the pharmacy profession.

Despite my lack of knowledge regarding advocacy in pharmacy, I believe that if pharmacists do not advocate for themselves, no one will. Therefore, it is important that pharmacists have an impact on the legal changes that are affecting the profession. Also, I am excited about the prospect of advocating for my future profession and what we can do to ensure that the pharmacy profession continues to evolve alongside new technological and medicinal advancements. I want to learn more about how I can help this advancement, even if the idea of advocating for myself and others is nerve-racking.

The valuable skill of advocacy

Legislative advocacy in pharmacy practice can be defined as “[a]n ongoing commitment to advancing the awareness of the value that a pharmacist provides to the health and well[-]being of society by actively supporting and communicating that vision concisely to opinion leaders, elected officials, decision makers, potential partners[,] and any other audience in order to influence their perspective and ultimately have them speak and/or act on your behalf.’”¹ Also, advocacy was listed as a core skill that should be required of student pharmacists by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy for their Curricular Change Summit in 2009.¹ In addition, as the profession of pharmacy continues to evolve, advocacy is one of the most valuable skills required for the future of pharmacy.²

Due to this, it is important that pharmacists take an active role in advocating for their profession, because legislative action that affects the profession will be taken regardless of their involvement in the legislative process.

Learning how advocacy can make an impact
In service of this, I have taken an elective course titled Health Insurance Impact on Pharmacists, which is taught by Professor Theodore Kennedy, a lawyer based out of Montpelier, VT. In addition to teaching ACPHS students, Professor Kennedy introduced a bill to the Vermont legislature relating to PBMs. His discussion of this bill in class has increased my interest in the topic of pharmacy advocacy.

I am trying to learn more because I want to know that I am advocating for my patients to the best of my ability and ensuring that they receive the best possible care. By being active in pharmacy advocacy, I can help make changes with my patients’ best interests in mind. Because of my multifaceted interest in legislative advocacy in pharmacy practice, I want to focus my research on how pharmacists and student pharmacists can advocate for the pharmacy profession.

Few legislators in state and federal governments have medical backgrounds, with even fewer having backgrounds in pharmacy.¹ Legislators who have little understanding of how the profession of pharmacy works also have the power to impact the way that pharmacy is practiced. This heightens the importance of pharmacists advocating for their profession to legislators because when pharmacists do, legislative decisions that result in promoting safe, effective, and cost-saving health care can be made.¹

Although student pharmacists are required to learn about pharmacy law, these courses frequently do not cover what pharmacists can do to assist in changing laws that are in place or supporting and opposing potential new laws impacting the profession of pharmacy.¹ By incorporating advocacy into pharmacy coursework, student pharmacists could learn more about how to make an impact on legislative decisions regarding pharmacy practice. This can be especially useful for students who do not have an initial interest in advocacy or believe they do not know enough about the advocacy process to make an impact.²

My pledge to remain involved

In order to learn more about pharmacy advocacy, I plan to become active in the Student Pharmacist Society of the State of New York (SPSSNY) here at ACPHS. This organization aims to unite pharmacists in advocating for pharmacy practice in New York. This helps create a strong, unified voice when lobbying with legislators, and it helps teach student pharmacists how to promote their future profession.¹

In addition to being active in SPSSNY, I will remain engaged in pharmacy advocacy after graduation. When I’m planning to advocate for pharmacy practice, I will research legislators’ political background and interests and will make sure to learn about what exact changes I am interested in supporting. I will investigate how a legislator’s constituents would benefit from these changes, find evidence that shows how legislative action is required for these changes, and discover how to articulate a specific request that can result in direct action toward my goals for pharmacy practice. All of this can be articulated into a short “elevator pitch” that would allow me to quickly describe what I am seeking, why it is important, and how it can be accomplished.

Lastly, I plan to build and maintain a professional network among pharmacists and legislators so that I can try to increase pharmacist support for the causes I advocate for and become well acquainted with legislators so I can have frequent conversations with them regarding the interests of pharmacy practices. Through this, I hope to help pharmacists make lasting and positive legislative change.

References

1. Mospan CM, Calhoun M. Developing students as advocates through a pilot advocacy curricular thread within a PharmD curriculum. Innov Pharm. 2016;7(3).
2. Mospan CM, Mospan GA. Assessing the impact of a didactic lecture for student pharmacists on legislative advocacy. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2018;10(10):1363–74.