The formation of a task force led to the successful passage of a bill granting the Kansas Board of Pharmacy the authority to issue regulations regarding mandatory pharmacy technician certification.
Purpose
The development and implementation of a team-based pharmacy practice model is described.
Methods
In January 2016 a transition from a staff-specialist to a team-based pharmacy practice model was implemented. The overall goal of the model change was to enhance the pharmacist’s clinical roles and further integrate pharmacists into the healthcare team. Before implementation of the new staffing model, a formalized metric evaluation process was created. The aim of this metric evaluation was to gauge model success, determine areas of model revision, and objectively communicate pharmacist impact. Objective metrics were evaluated before implementation and 1 year after implementation. In addition, surveys were distributed to pharmacists, physicians, nursing and hospital administration before and after model implementation.
Results
At 1-year postimplementation, the pharmacist:patient bed ratio decreased from 1:87 to 1:47, the number of rounds/huddles with pharmacist attendance increased by 63% to 80 per week, and the number of clinical interventions and new clinical consultations increased from 57 to 62 and from 12 to 16 per day, respectively. Nonformulary medication use also decreased from 1.77 to 0.623 per 1000 patient days, and compliance with therapeutic initiatives increased from 77%to 91%. Overall, 72% of pharmacist survey responses indicated satisfaction with the model change.
Conclusion
A team-based pharmacy practice model was designed and successfully implemented over a 3-year period. Data analysis revealed improvements in clinical and operational endpoints and enhanced pharmacist, physician, and nursing satisfaction.
This paper tells the personal story of a cancer survivor and her experience dealing with death. It analyzes Ernest Becker’s thesis, The Denial of Death, by examining the solutions, which he suggests humans use to cope with the fear of death by establishing a sense of purpose and control. The author identifies examples of Becker’s solutions by looking at the mechanisms she used to cope with the possibility of dying through out her journey with cancer. With a tendency toward secularization and a focus on psychology in present day, the solutions people use to deal with death are changing. The author looks at how self-help, in the form of mind-body medicine, is a new solution that is used to deal with the fear of death in the present day socio-cultural landscape. While providing control, this way of dealing with the fear of death can be isolating and lead to self-blame.
Keywords: Ernest Becker, Denial of Death, mind-body medicine, psychologize death, self-help.
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