Moving the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative forward within a state affiliate

PURPOSE: Efforts to advance the ASHP Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI) in the Michigan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (MSHP) are described. SUMMARY: After the Pharmacy Practice Model Summit in November 2010, the board of directors of MSHP began to strategize ways to help health-system pharmacists in Michigan achieve the vision and concepts envisioned by the PPMI. The ultimate goal was to develop a process for acting on recommendations developed by the PPMI to advance the practice of health-system pharmacy in Michigan. A task force was formed and reviewed the 147 national recommendations from the ASHP Pharmacy Practice Model Summit and grouped them into related areas of focus. Six focus areas were identified: acute care, ambulatory care, education and training, organizational affairs and leadership, pharmacy technicians, and technology and information systems. A PPMI Michigan conference was arranged in which focus groups would assess these six areas. Each focus group was limited to six or seven participants, with a member of the task force serving as the facilitator for the group. Individual focus groups then formulated recommendations MSHP could develop into actionable strategies to address the key issues identified during the morning session. A total of 56 recommendations were submitted by the focus groups for consideration by all conference participants. Over 80% of the recommendations were deemed to be high impact/high feasibility. CONCLUSION: A process for acting on recommendations of the ASHP PPMI to advance the practice of health-system pharmacy within the state of Michigan was developed.