Midyear Attendees Hit The Jackpot In Las Vegas

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 12 Dec 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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It was a record-setting week for ASHP at the 42nd Annual Midyear Clinical Meeting in Las Vegas. More than 22,000 pharmacists, other health professionals, and pharmaceutical industry exhibitors were on hand for the educational, networking, and career advancement opportunities offered at the largest international meeting of pharmacists.

The five-day meeting featured more than 80 educational sessions covering a broad range of therapeutic and administrative pharmacy issues, including managing patients' anticoagulation therapy, placing a clinical pharmacist in the emergency department, integrating technology into practice, and opportunities for pharmacists to participate in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's initiative to save five million lives. The Society's five membership sections were instrumental in developing the meeting's content, including a full day of programming addressing the special considerations of pharmacists in small and rural hospitals, which was planned the Section of Inpatient Care Practitioners.

During the "Spotlight on Science" general session on Wednesday, Robert Cook-Deegan expounded on the societal uses of genomics. Dr. Cook-Deegan is the director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy at Duke Institute for Genomic Sciences and Policy in Durham, N.C.

The week got off to a rousing start during an opening session on Monday that featured presentations by ASHP President Janet Silvester, M.B.A., and noted poet and author Maya Angelou.

Silvester literally danced her way to the stage to the tune of her theme song, "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now." She used the song as a rallying cry for the Society's expanded advocacy efforts and challenged the audience to get involved. She also led the audience in an ovation to show appreciation for the service of active duty and veteran military pharmacists.

Keynote speaker, poet and author Maya Angelou captivated the audience with her humor, and insights about human nature. She affirmed pharmacists as caregivers and stressed the need for practitioners to take care of themselves as well as their patients.

CNN Newsroom anchor Heidi Collins served as emcee for the session in her role as spokesperson for National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Collins exhorted pharmacists to learn more about celiac disease and the presence of gluten in medications.

The meeting wraps up today with a program that includes a networking luncheon featuring comedian Ron Pearson and the sealing of Drug Topics' 2007 Pharmacy Time Capsule. The capsule will be stored for 50 years at the American Institute for the History of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and reopened at the 2057 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting.

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists