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Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

Spring Meeting Recap

by Melissa Dyrdahl, BA; Communications Manager, ICHP

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” – Leo Tolstoy¹

What a joy it was to see the hours of planning and preparation blossom into the 2021 ICHP/MSHP Spring Meeting. Pharmacy professionals from across the Land of Lincoln and the Show Me State gathered together, virtually, on March 19 & 20, 2021 to “Build a Bridge – Create a Legacy”. This year’s meeting platform provided attendees with a fun, interactive lobby, complete with avatars bustling about – hopefully by our next meeting we’ll be able to mingle in person!

Speaking of mingling, we kicked off our meeting on Thursday with our Reverse Exhibit and Networking Mingle. The Reverse Exhibit featured 24 decision makers from Illinois and Missouri – 18 of those from Illinois alone, and 64 industry representatives. A reverse exhibit is when industry representatives have the opportunity to meet with the hospital/health-system directors whom they are interested in speaking with. This event brings in funds that help us keep meeting registration prices low – so THANK YOU to the directors who graciously gave of their time and to our industry partners who participated. We rounded off Thursday with the networking mingle. The relaxed forum allowed members from ICHP and MSHP to gather ‘face-to-face’ and catch up with one another – fun filters included.

Our continuing education started bright and early Friday morning with two opening sessions – one on managing burnout, another on advancing pharmacy technicians. This year’s keynote presentation was brought to us by ICHP members Abby Kahaleh and Rachael Prusi and focused on Public Health. During this time our exhibit hall was open – featuring nine digital booths for attendees to visit. The afternoon brought sessions on advocacy and law before breaking out into two more sessions – Best Practice presentations and a clinical session dealing with pediatric medication use. Poster presentations were available all meeting long though the ICHP website (see who won and read their abstracts in the KeePosted).

Saturday morning started with updates on Pharmacy Technician vaccine administration rules and our student session. Whether you’re a student or a well-seasoned pharmacy professional, Brooke Griffin’s presentation on cultivating your personal brand in pharmacy is definitely worth the watch. The morning also included presentations on ambulatory care and of course the COVID-19 pandemic. Past-president, Charlene Hope, presented an eye-opening talk on psychological safety, a topic that can be applied to every work setting. During the ICHP Town Hall Lunch, President Jen Arnoldi led a discussion on ASHP’s PAI 2030 Focused Initiatives, the pending requisite that pharmacy technicians be trained through a nationally accredited program, as well as ICHP’s COVID-19 resources.

The afternoon continued with presentations on COVID-19 vaccinations and treatment, antimicrobial stewardship, and our platform presentations (ICHP’s finalists were Caleb McLeod and Jaini Patel). In addition to all of our live and semi-live programs we were able to offer registrants six on-demand programs – plus all live programming was recorded for home study that attendees could watch at a later time.

“Legacy. What’s a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” – Hamilton: An American Musical²

The theme of this meeting was “Build a Bridge – Create a Legacy”. One by one, credit by credit, pharmacy professionals spent the weekend learning and adding a few more beams to their bridge. We at ICHP feel honored to have been able to support you on this journey and look forward to seeing your legacies unfold!

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