September, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
September and the return of the school year is a reminder of something fresh, a new start for some, and a reminder of the upcoming change of season for others (or the start of football season – Go Chiefs!). Personally, I appreciate school starting as it gives a routine and more structure to the day. I also am a huge football fan and appreciate the cooler temperatures but not the coinciding fall allergies.
Before we start afresh, I’d like to recognize Delia Carias (Immediate Past Chair) for her commitment to the Section’s Executive Committee over the past three years, while at the same time welcoming Sandeep Devabhakthuni, Director-at Large-elect, to the group. In addition, Lucas Schulz is transitioning from his role as Director-at-Large to Chair-elect, and I am beyond honored to serve you all in this upcoming year as Section Chair.
Last year, in her inaugural Chair message, Sarah mentioned the phrase, Enjoy the Journey. Today, I ask you - How is your journey going? Who is part of your journey? Moreover, where are you going on your journey? I have recently started my Masters in Healthcare Administration degree, and last semester, I took a course on Management and Leadership in Healthcare. I mention this course as it is part of my journey, and the material likely applies to most of us. The key concepts discussed included planning, organizing, decision-making, motivation, and communication as principles of management and leadership theory.
In the course, we took the Jung Typology Test (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and the Rokeach Values Survey. I reaffirmed my ETSJ status on the Jung Typology Test (first confirmed at pharmacy school orientation) and found the Rokeach Values Survey difficult. Ironically, according to the test, I am only 12% extrovert while some of you may disagree. I see myself on the intro/extrovert line. I prefer my alone time and space. I find that I need to be a homebody after a lot of social activities. I also found self-respect and honesty to be some of my highest values. Logical was also very high which easily ties to ETSJ. I thrive on predictability and am not a feeler, which also correlates to both my terminal and instrumental values.
What are your strengths? What types of people do you engage with best? During residency, I was exposed to the book Now, Discover Your Strengths. I enjoy how the book helps you to compare your five strengths with others to see how you can work to leverage everyone's strengths. We read this book annually with our three pharmacy residents and then maintain a master spreadsheet with years of results. It is captivating to see commonalities among pharmacists but also the outliers.
I encourage all of you to look at these tools and see if there is anything that you can learn and/or incorporate into your journey.
What is OUR journey though? Where are we going this year as the Section of Inpatient Care Practitioners? We are coming off a great Summer Meetings where the Section made a proposal for ASHP to support the incorporation of the Preceptor and Academic Record into PharmAcademic™. And, we’re heading into the Midyear Clinical Meeting in Anaheim, CA. The tagline is Imagine the Possibilities. Imagine the Possibilities about your journey and then the profession’s journey. My journey is to serve all of you this year and help advance our profession. One of my goals is to improve the useability of our resources, whether it be our Connect community or the ASHP webpage.
Allison King, PharmD, FASHP
Chair, Section of Inpatient Care Practitioners
[email protected]