PittPharmacy Class of 2018 won a national award in the annual Script Your Future Medication Adherence Competition for the second year in a row. The award was presented at the 2016 Annual American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Meeting in Anaheim, California on July 24, 2016. The National Consumers League’s Script Your Future campaign is dedicated to public education, research, and interprofessional collaboration to decrease barriers associated with medication adherence.
The PittPharmacy class led a community wide campaign aimed to educate patients in the Greater Pittsburgh Area about the importance of taking their medications and managing their disease states. Student pharmacists made efforts with patients discussing individual ways of medication adherence motivation. Patients completed medication adherence pledge cards and student pharmacists provided them with medication wallet cards, disease management tips, and blood pressure readings. Additionally, students visited multiple hospitals in Pittsburgh to bring awareness to the campaign and provide resources.
The campaign reached a total of 1,140 patients at 100 locations, including 79 community pharmacies. A total of 292 inter-professional students and faculty were engaged from Pitt's School of Dental Medicine, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Public Health, Medicine and Nursing. PittPharmacy students' social media campaign provided daily adherence tips and showcased a public service announcement, recorded in 10 languages, reaching 74,039 people.
Photo: Dean Patricia Kroboth, Julie Mandel, Rebecca Wytiaz, and Associate Professor Melissa A. Somma McGivney.
