Its been awhile...

Posted by Matt at Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A lot has happened since my last post. My wife and I had our second son, Austin, and I applied and interviewed for residencies. I just found out today that I matched at the University of Wisconsin pharmacy administration residency. It was my number one choice so I am really excited. The program is intense but it will prepare me to become a strong leader. Now I just need to figure out how to get licensed and where I will be living.

The last few weeks I have been on rotation with Dr. Hae Mi Choe at the East Ann Arbor Ambulatory Care Clinic. It has been a great experience in part because I have never experienced amb care before but also because I have been able to accompany Dr. Choe on many of her administrative meetings. I have gained a greater understanding of how amb care clinics fit into the health-system. They serve an integral role in patient care as patients’ transition from hospital to home. The University of Michigan has a great model where pharmacists pair with physicians to help manage medication therapy on an outpatient basis. For example, we had a patient who was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and her primary care physician sent her to the pharmacist to learn about her medications and glucometers. I spent about 30 minutes with the patient teaching her and her daughter how to measure blood sugar levels and she was very grateful for our time together. We will be following up with the patient over the next several weeks to make sure her medication regimen is optimized to control her blood glucose levels.

I think ambulatory care is a very rewarding area of practice. You have lots of face time with patients and you are able to see them progress as you work together to meet their health care goals. This area of pharmacy practice is really expanding as health-systems begin to focus more on transitions of care and how to keep the patient healthy throughout all layers of care.