Testimonial
Being a Pediatric Pulmonary Center Pharmacy Pharmacy Resident Trainee has significantly enhanced my skills to be a successful pediatric clinician in the future. Through this traineeship, I was awarded various unique learning opportunities to gain further understanding of patient-centered, multidisciplinary care. Through my time in the clinical setting, I was granted the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of healthcare professionals to optimize patient health outcomes, while respecting the patient and caregiver’s wishes. The multi-disciplinary approach to patient care helped me understand each discipline’s role on the healthcare team. By gaining a better understanding of each discipline, I was able to enhance my communication with other health care team members and optimize collaboration to improve patient outcomes. After this traineeship, I recognize the importance of co-production of care with patients and caregivers. This opportunity helped me gain an understanding how to successfully incorporate co-production of care into various facets of clinical practice. In addition, through this traineeship I gained a more well-rounded clinical experience in pediatric pulmonary care. With my strong desire to pursue a clinical career in pediatric pulmonary care, I found this experience extremely rewarding. I had various opportunities to learn about patient engagement in sustaining care. For example, I learned more about the process of pulmonary function testing, which patients complete each and every visit. I recognize the dedication and engagement required to complete this test. Additionally, I experienced wearing a vest many patients utilize to complete airway clearance therapies for Cystic Fibrosis. Feeling the weight of the vest and the intensity of the vibrations helped me gain a better appreciation of the experiences patients have several times every single day. One of the most rewarding parts of this experience was interacting directly with patients and caregivers. Through these interactions, patients shared their experiences, emotions, and challenges of managing chronic disease states. Patients shared their thoughts on engaging in sustaining daily care and the barriers they had to overcome to improve outcomes, such as managing multiple medication therapies. Through these interactions, I watched patients grow, develop, and obtain significantly better control of their disease. Two patients specifically come to mind when reflecting on the impact of collaborative care. These patients initially presented with extremely poorly controlled disease. However, as the year progressed and the multi-disciplinary team collaborated with the family to optimize care, these patients obtained control of their disease and are now thriving in daily activities they could not have dreamed of doing one year prior. The growth and development of these patients will stick with me forever. Being a trainee also gave me the opportunity to collaborate with other healthcare professionals and family representatives from other Pediatric Pulmonary Centers across the country. The ability to collaborate with other centers in the U.S. was a unique, eye-opening experience, as many centers did not have pharmacy representatives. Being one of the few pharmacy trainees allowed for a significant amount of discussion and opportunity to enhance other centers’ understanding of the pharmacist’s role in caring for children with complex medical needs. All in all, I was honored to participate in this valuable learning experience and will continue to be a proud alumnus sharing the valuable experience I had as a trainee with future students and healthcare professionals.