A little more than a week ago the most recent ASHP Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers Chair’s Message(1) landed in my inbox. I don’t typically read these messages carefully as they’re mostly full of the same old rhetoric. However, this particular message caught my attention because it included information on the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers new strategic plan for 2015-2016.
According to the email:
“…the Executive Committee recently completed an extensive update to the Section’s strategic plan, which is now available on the Section webpage. Our intent was to set a structure that would help us continually remain focused on the most important needs of practice managers. We have worked to carefully align the Sections plan with the overall ASHP Strategic Plan. This alignment eliminated the need for separate Section goals, which greatly streamlined the plan. We also identified critical areas for practice managers. The critical areas identified for 2015-16 are:
- Leadership Development
- Innovation Management
- Management of the Pharmacy Enterprise
- Patient Care Quality
- Multi-Hospital Health System Pharmacy Executives”
These are all great areas of focus.
Much more detail can be found the actual strategic plan document, which can be found here. I read through the document, much of which is what you’d expect, but there are some interesting items in the strategic priorities and goals section. Three bullet points caught my attention: 1) Expand pharmacy practice in ambulatory clinics and other primary pharmacy care settings, 2) Produce an Innovative and Timely Professional Journal, Website, Drug Information Compendium, and Other Publications that Meet the Needs of Members and Other Customers, 3) Improve the Discoverability of ASHP Digital Content Assets.
Expand pharmacy practice in ambulatory clinics – There was a time when I thought all pharmacists should practice in a hospital setting, but my views on that have slowly changed over the years. The most appropriate time for pharmacists to have a meaningful impact on patient care is before they’re hospitalized, i.e. in the ambulatory care environment. We are the medication experts, and nowhere is there more inappropriate medication use than in the outpatient setting. I think it is wise for pharmacy managers to spend more time focused on this practice area.
Produce innovative and timely information – Times have changed. The amount of readily available information is growing at an exponential pace. Unfortunately not all information is reliable. ASHP has made only small strides in the past several years in improving speed and access to information. Information affecting practice areas like operations, management, and technology should be made available at breakneck speed as it does not require the same rigorous vetting that clinical information does. It is no longer acceptable to wait a year for someone to present their findings at ASHP Midyear, or for AJHP to take months to publish something that is relevant now.
Improve discoverability of ASHP digital content – This would be a welcome change. ASHP has created a mountain of valuable information, but it’s scattered and difficult to find, cross reference, etc. I could go on and on about this, but suffice it to say I would love to see an improved content management style.
Let’s hope that Dr. Hoffman is able to make good on his promises. I’m going to hold him to his word.
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- The ASHP Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers new chair is James M. Hoffman, Pharm.D., M.S., BCPS, FASHP. With all those initials after his name he must be good.