President's Message
by Carrie Sincak, ICHP President
December 22, 2010
The 2010 ICHP Leadership Retreat was an eventful weekend where much planning, strategizing, and socializing took place. A dedicated group of approximately 45 ICHP members, joined by 8 members of the ICHP staff headed north to Techny Towers Conference & Retreat Center to revise and update the strategic plan. (As an aside, Techny is a neighborhood of Northbrook, Illinois that used to be a separate community but was later annexed by Northbrook.)Friday evening started with an orientation for the Board of Directors followed by dinner. After dinner, Scott Meyers, Executive Vice President, gave an overview of ICHP. Scott reviewed our current organizational structure, our mission and vision, our budget and membership. The evening ended with social networking centered on a friendly game of “Minute to Win It”.
Saturday had a full agenda. The morning session started with a humorous educator, Joel Weintraub, who merged comedy and health education. He talked about behavior modification techniques to reduce stress and taught the group that laughter can increase one’s creativity, productivity and memory. He also focused on organizational skills to help maximize success in one’s job.
On Saturday afternoon, we focused on the three major goals of our strategic plan: 1) Association Growth, 2) Exceptional Practice, and 3) High-Performing Organization. Specific strategies, tasks and measures are associated with each goal. We broke out into three groups to determine if the goals and tasks were still relevant and to determine if new goals needed to be added. There was great discussion among the groups with many new thoughts and ideas. A subcommittee will be formed to update the current strategic plan with these innovative ideas.
Saturday evening was filled with fun and games followed by a Board of Directors meeting on Sunday morning. I always enjoy attending the leadership retreats. I get a renewed sense of energy for the organization with the ideas that are generated, friendships that have developed and laughter that has been shared.
From there, I headed to Dallas, Texas for the ASHP state affiliate presidential officers retreat. It was a great program that included a presentation by Peggy Hoffman, CAE of Mariner Management & Marketing, who talked about business plan development. She endorsed the idea that members will put forth the time if they find value in the organization. She highlighted on the change in volunteer models. Everyone now lives with a very hectic schedule so organizations should think about building an adhocracy which builds on episodic or micro-volunteering. My plan will be to create various smaller, quicker accomplishable tasks that allow members to engage in our organization without having to consistently devote a lot of time.
There was also discussion about the Pharmacy Practice Model Summit, which was held November 7 – 9, 2010. The invitational consensus meeting was convened to create a framework for a pharmacy practice model initiative, better known as PPMI, which involves hospital and health-system pharmacists and is responsive to healthcare reform and the health system of the future. There were overarching themes from the Summit that included the following:
- Involving pharmacists in direct patient care
- Expanding the role of a qualified technician workforce and the use of technology
- Ensuring that pharmacy departments are responsible for the provision of safe effective, and efficient medication use policy
- Working to assure that pharmacists are accountable for patient outcomes
It was definitely a very busy week with the ICHP and ASHP leadership retreats, but the energy and enthusiasm shared at both events were inspiring. It was apparent that what we need most is for members to stay connected in order to help advance our profession. There are numerous ways to become involved with ICHP. Feel free to contact me at csinca@midwestern.edu if you are interested. I look forward to hearing from you.