November 21, 2014

By: Jared Borlagdan, PharmD’17, and Allison Elias, PharmD’17

Fourteen student pharmacists from the U-M College of Pharmacy’s American Pharmacists Association - Academy of Students (APhA-ASP) participated in the University of Michigan Health System’s World Diabetes Day Health Fair. This event took place on Saturday, November 8, 2014 at the Sheraton Ann Arbor Hotel.

Participation in this event was organized by the Operation Diabetes committee of the APhA-ASP student chapter. The event offered free health screenings for patients, presentations, and informational booths discussing all of the different types of diabetes. This opportunity allowed student pharmacists to practice and provide medication counseling services.

First and second-year students enticed patients to stop by the medication counseling table and helped provide patient counseling as well. Third and fourth-year student pharmacists performed brown bag medication reviews and patient counseling. This allowed for a collaborative environment in which first and second-year students were able to learn about diabetes and how to counsel on medications from third and fourth-year students. The underclassmen found this extremely helpful and beneficial to their professional growths, and the patients benefited as well.

Approximately 50 patients interacted with the 14 student pharmacists and picked up handouts created by Operation Diabetes. The handouts included counseling points for common anti-diabetic medications. Blank medication lists were also given to patients to fill out and take home during their counseling sessions. Many patients found the counseling and medication review sessions to be very helpful in answering their questions and generating their own questions to discuss with their primary care providers

Kurtis Lee, PharmD’18, explains his personal experience at this year’s health fair, where he was able to connect one-on-one with a patient. “A patient I met looked weary and mentioned that he was on several medications. He had gone through all of the medications with his doctor but wanted to discuss them with someone else. We talked about how overwhelming it could be to take so many medications, and I let him know that we were here to answer any questions he may have. I introduced him to Julia, and after she did a great job talking to him, he walked up to me and thanked me for taking the time to talk to him. It was the highlight of my day,” explains Lee.