CT-ASCP's SenioRx Care

Perspective

Inside: What Mr. 313 Taught a Future Doctor Page 2

Senior Symposium Page 3 Dinner CE Announcement Page 4

Notes ‘n Votes— January 2012 Page 5

Winter 2012

Volume VII No. 1

One of the most anticipated events that our ASCP members

look forward to every year is the ASCP Annual Convention.

This November, eight ASCP members were fortunate enough

to be able to attend the convention in Phoenix, AZ. With

some funding help from the University, the students were able

to leave their busy school schedules and enjoy listening to

interesting and informative presentations from the speakers at

the convention. Students were very empowered by the speech

given by Dr. Bill Thomas, who reinforced the importance of

dedicating your work to improving the lives of geriatric pa-

tients. We all felt that this was a message we would love for

the other UConn students to hear, as it spoke directly to our

mission as members of ASCP.

One part of the convention that the UConn students particu-

larly enjoyed was the student track, which was a full day of

events geared directly towards the students that attended the

convention. We were able to sit in on topics such as CV writ-

ing, applying for residencies, and how to be a stand-out appli-

cant. These programs allowed the student members to ask

questions to those who have already been through the process,

but also gave us all a chance to intermingle and meet students

from other schools. It was a big hit for all that attended.

At the conclusion of the convention, the students weren’t

ready to get back to Connecticut right away. Along with our

advisor Dr. Sean Jeffery, all eight students took a bus trip to

the Grand Canyon, where we enjoyed a guided tour and took

some breathtaking photos. It was a great way to end our trip

and spend some quality time as a group.

This semester, we are starting a few new projects that should

be both fun and exciting for all who are involved. We will be

splitting up into small groups within our organization, and

each choosing a topic that we feel would be appropriate to

present to geriatric patients. Some topics discussed were new

versus old remedies, OTC medications, and vaccinations. We

then are going to formulate trivia style games (resembling

Jeopardy) where we can use questions and answers to teach

about the different pharmacy related topics and inform the

patients of new and up to date information.

In addition to our new projects, we are still looking to involve

the UConn ASCP students more on site visits with the other

members of CT ASCP. It is extremely important to the stu-

dent members to be able to experience different areas of phar-

macy and to learn from those that also belong to ASCP. If you

are interested and available to have students shadow at your

practice site, please email ascp.uconn@gmail.com.

UConn Student Chapter Update Heather Lynne Jahn, UConn ASCP Student Chapter President

1 | Winter 2012 CT-ASCP Chapter Newsletter

2 | Winter 2012 CT-ASCP Chapter Newsletter

A few years before I started medical school, I called the vol-unteer office at a New York City hospital. I imagined myself donning scrubs and handing clamps and scalpels to surgeons or organizing jars of pickled body parts for a pathologist.

Instead, I was assigned to the least exciting job in the entire volunteer department: helping the patient advocate's office survey elderly patients about their hospital experiences.

I sulked down the hall, plotting how to get reassigned as quickly as possible. I figured I'd get a handful of surveys done that afternoon and then plead my case.

Room 313 was first. The old man lying in the bed by the win-dow gave the faintest nod when I asked if he'd answer a few questions. He was bone-thin, with stringy gray hair, big sad eyes and a smattering of brown age spots on his face and arms.

I cleared my throat. "Please rank the hospital food on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best."

A grunt.

I wasn't sure how to respond. I'd always felt awkward around old people, even my great-aunts and great-uncles. The ones I knew were frail and kind. They commented on how much I'd grown and asked me what I liked to study in school. I had no idea how to ask them or start a conversation. Here, at least, I had a script.

But Mr. 313 had closed his eyes. He wasn't taking the bait.

I longed for a different volunteering gig. Swabbing pus from a lanced boil in the emergency room, sweeping up toenail clip-pings in the podiatrist's office — anything would be better than waiting for this ancient creature to spew forth a couple of numbers.

Maybe he couldn't hear me very well. I raised my voice and asked him to rank the nursing care on the same scale.

He opened his eyes and tipped his head toward the window. A snort.

I took a step closer so I was right next to the foot of his bed. There was a faint urine smell. Loudly and slowly, I reread the question.

More snorts.

I studied the old man, wondering what had made him so thin and ill and unwilling to answer my simple questions. His hol-low cheeks were dotted with gray bristle, and there was a package of adult-sized diapers on his bedside table. With a start, I put it all together.

The old man had dementia.

This man, I remember thinking with utter certainty, was a poster child (or poster elder) for the indignities of aging: the frailty, the confusion, death waiting in the wings. The old were a different species, blanched and fragile shells of long-forgotten lives.

Something in my expression gave me away, because the next thing I knew, Mr. 313 was staring at me hard, as if we were playing a childhood game to see who would blink first. Then, as if admitting defeat, he slowly lowered his gaze.

I felt a funny sensation in my chest, like the Grinch did when his heart grew three sizes. I sat down on the end of his bed.

And the old man started to talk. He told me he was born in Vienna and came here during the war. He revealed that he was married but rarely saw his wife — and that, he chuckled, was fine with him. He talked about the pain in his back that made walking difficult and the morphine that was "a joke." He complained about the nurses, who never responded to his calls for help getting to the toilet until it was too late. He con-fided that in the last year he had lost what was most impor-tant to him: his privacy, and his testicles.

I sat there mesmerized, his stories swirling around me. Clearly he was not demented. I managed a "gee" or "golly" or shook my head when it felt right. I had no idea why he had back pain or why his testicles had been removed, but it didn't seem to matter. He wasn't looking for answers. He needed to talk.

I left his room exhilarated that a total stranger — and an old one at that — had been willing to share so much with me.

And just like that — although I wouldn't realize it for years — the old man had taught me the essence of being a doctor:

Never assume anything about a patient until you've shut up, sat down and listened.

The patients I care for now, as a general internist, are the old-est of the old, men and women in their 80s and 90s. Wrin-kles, dentures, bunions, broken hips — for me, these no longer portend inevitable loss and imminent death. Instead, I see potential. What matters, to paraphrase Adlai Stevenson, is not the years in one's life but the life in one's years.

By Dr. Anna B. Reisman, a general internist in Con-necticut and the above article written by her was first published in the Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2011.

What Mr. 313 Taught a Future Doctor Anna B. Reisman, MD

4 | Winter 2012 CT-ASCP Chapter Newsletter

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Connecticut Chapter - American Society of Consultant Pharmacists

Can’t make it to Senior Symposium? Need LIVE CEs?

SAVE THE DATE! 2 contact hour CE dinner ….coming May 9, 2012!

Thursday, March 29th

9:00am - 3:00pm Immunization Training Program **A separate fee is required, must register**

12pm Senior Symposium program registration opens

1:45pm - 3:45pm Mini-Rounds (4 sessions x 0.5 contact hours each)

4:00pm - 5:00pm CT-ASCP Board of Directors Transition (ASCP members only)

Aging, Hepatitis C Virus Infection in the HIV/AIDS and Elderly Population (1 contact hour)

6:30pm - 8:00pm New Drugs Update 2012 (1.5 contact hours)

Friday, March 30th

6:00am - 7:00am Assessing the Geriatric Patient - An Emphasis on Cognitive Testing (1 contact hour)

8:30am - 10:00am LAW CE: Independence vs. Liability: How and When to Take the Keys (1.5 contact hours)

10:15am - 11:15am General Session - Successful Aging: Strategies for a Vital Future (1 contact hour)

1:30pm - 3:00pm LAW CE - Church and State: CMS Regulations Consulting and

Long-term Care Pharmacy (1.5 contact hours)

3:15pm - 5:00pm Breakout Sessions (2 sessions x 1 contact hour each)

Senior Symposium - Schedule At-A-Glance

5 | Winter 2012 CT-ASCP Chapter Newsletter

REVIEW OF PAST MINUTES

The minutes of the 12-5-11 meeting were reviewed and approved unanimously.

NEWS FROM NATIONAL

S. Jeffery thanked the chapter for their support in becoming elected President-elect. He encouraged members to visit the ASCP website to review updates and submit suggestions on the CMS proposed rule regarding separation of pharmacy and consulting services. On January 2nd Dr. Vera Jackson became ASCP’s new Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer.

LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS

L. Sobel suggested setting up a meeting at the state level with other LTC associations to discuss the CMS proposed rule. K. Hill supports the meeting but there is not much that can be done since it is a federal issue. Sessions will start up again in a month. So far DSS proposals are not pharmacy related and DCP needs to review

their own proposals. SENIOR SYMPOSIUM (SS12) March 29th-30th, 2012

K. Chamberlin explained the educational programming and the UConn Immunization program will be offered again. All speakers and fees have been confirmed. R. Alvero emphasized marketing going forward. D. Cooper announced current sponsors and that

Yale will be again sponsoring a Thursday night program. Exhibitors will have time to meet with attendees on both days. SCHOOL OF PHARMACY NEWS

Rachel Eyler, a new member of UConn faculty, will be speaking at SS12. J. Parisi announced that the first trimester has been completed at St. Joseph’s. B. Tendler offered students shadowing experience in hospice care.

QUARTERLY CE MEETING

A. Torda announced that speaker Doug Boggs has confirmed availability for the next program and will speak on substance abuse. D. Chapron also offered to speak. A $20 fee was agreed upon for a 2 hour program.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The board had previously voted to dissolve the CT-ASCP PAC funds and although it has been delayed it will occur. M. Wrabel made a motion to reimburse K. Daley for travel costs to the 2011 ASCP Chapter Council Meeting. K. Chamberlin seconded and it was approved unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45PM. Next Meeting: 2-6-12 at Machiavelli’s @ 5:30pm

Respectfully submitted, Kim L. Daley Secretary/Treasurer

SPONSOR RECOGNITION

Steve Polleta from GSK and speaker Albert Riddle Guests: Stephanie Hattoy, Cynthia Enright, Ramon Alvero, Jill

Fitzgerald, John Parisi, Sheila Malone, Ramon Alvero, Kevin Hill, Ermir Xhimitiku

MEMBER NAME & TITLE Nov Dec Jan

Mark Wrabel, President

X X

Kevin Chamberlin, President-Elect / SS Committee

X X

Gene Memoli, Imm. Past-President / SS Chair

X X X

Kim Daley, Secretary / Treasurer

X X X

Mike Gemma Board 2009-12 / Legislative Committee

X X X

Amy Huie-Li, Board 2009-12 /Communication Chair & SS

X X

Brian Pelletier, Board 2010-13 / Communication Committee

X

Paul Belcher, Board 2010-13 / Legislative Committee

X X X

Kathy White, Board 2011-14 / Senior Symposium

X X X

Rudy Dajie, Board 2011-14

Anna Torda, Communication Committee

X X X

Larry Sobel, President Emeritus / Legislative Chair

X X

Bob Tendler, Legislative Committee

X

David Cooper, Past President / Sales Senior Symposium

X X X

Dennis Chapron, Senior Symposium Committee

X X

Sean Jeffery, Past-President / SS Committee

X

Michel Fortin, Past President

X

Editorial Board

Amy Huie-Li, PharmD, CGP Kim Daley, PharmD Anna Torda, PharmD Kevin Chamberlin, PharmD Brian Pelletier, PharmD, CGP Jennifer Kloze, PharmD, BCPS

Notes 'n Votes - January 2012 Board Meeting Kim L. Daley, Pharm.D., CT-ASCP Secretary / Treasurer