National Award Announced

A new scholarship from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation will allow faculty and students from NEOMED’s College of Pharmacy to make medication management services available to more patients via telemedicine.

The NACDS Foundation recently awarded $230,000 in grants and scholarships in the areas of excellence in education and diversity. Accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy submitted proposals to compete for the awards. NEOMED’s proposal was one of six nationally to be granted top awards of $20,000 apiece.

In the initial phases of the 18-month project, researchers will survey and study the education, contributions and professional development opportunities available to full-time pharmacy faculty members working in community pharmacy practice. For the final phase of the grant, a new Innovation Center attached to Ritzman Pharmacy at NEOMED will be furnished and operated as a pilot project to expand pharmacy services by using cutting-edge telehealth technology.

Timothy R. Ulbrich, Pharm.D., associate professor of pharmacy practice and associate dean for workforce development and practice advancement at NEOMED, was the principal investigator on the proposal , which was submitted in collaboration with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

“Although a large number of graduates enter community pharmacy practice each year, community-based practitioners are often the sole faculty members representing that area at schools and colleges of pharmacy. They bring a unique perspective to both students and patients at their practices, so we need to support their needs for professional development,’’ said Ulbrich.

He said that the new Innovation Center will be equipped with phones, webcams, headphones and connection ports for telehealth software. Seated in newly built carrels for privacy, the faculty members and student pharmacists will provide medication management services to patients who are not able to get to a local pharmacy or would prefer to meet in the comfort of their own home.

At the same time that the pharmacists work remotely with patients, they will train members of the next generation of pharmacists to do the same, as a means of providing more patients with access to care. Dr. Ulbrich said the Center will serve as a model for how to expand pharmacy services using technology.

The project will begin with a national survey of all school/college of pharmacy faculty. Next, a focus group at the 2017 American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting will assess the survey data, results of which will be collected in a white paper. The final phase of the project will take place on NEOMED’s campus in Rootstown with the implementation of the Innovation Center. Throughout the 18-month program period, the NEOMED researchers will collect notes on the number and type of interventions made via the telehealth space, as well as patient and student feedback on the quality of the experience.

In addition to Dr. Ulbrich, the team behind the proposal included Daniel L. Krinsky, M.S., R.Ph. – an associate professor of pharmacy practice at NEOMED who is also the manager of medication therapy management (MTM) services at Giant Eagle Pharmacy in Ravenna – and Lynette R. Bradley-Baker, R.Ph., Ph.D., vice president of public affairs and engagement at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Other NEOMED proposals funded by the NACDS Foundation this year include plans to help prevent opioid-related overdose deaths in Pennsylvania; to launch a rural outreach screening campaign in West Virginia; and to promote pharmacy services for underserved patients in rural Colorado. Additional awards were made for Excellence in Diversity.

View the full press release from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation.