Weekend at APhA

It was a busy weekend--professionally and socially. This year the programming did not have a lot of topics of interest to me for teaching. I attended the sessions relating to personalized medicine and phamacogenomics, the pharmacy workforce, and a few miscellaneous things. I also like to stroll the exhibits and see what is new. I no longer collect a lot of stuff at the various exhibitors because most of it ends up in the trash later. One of the things I enjoy most about these meetings is talking to colleagues about things going on at their schools and catching up with friends.

My friend Gayle Brazeau from Buffalo stayed with me during the meeting and we Metroed in to DC for the day every day. It was a very cost effective way to attend the meeting (Think about $239/night plus tax times 5 days = at least $1300). The downside is that we have nowhere to go during the day to get off our feet and take a break. Since we have been going in to the meeting between 7-8AM and returning about 1o PM, they are long days.

This morning Gayle asked me what I learned about pharmacy at this meeting. I have been pleased to see that the chains were highlighting their patient care services and community residencies. They are either embracing patient care services or realize that today's new practitioners are trained for more than dispensing and are not looking for that kind of practice setting. I am not as pessimistic as many others that we are training too many pharmacists (at least not yet). Now that there are enough pharmacists to fill traditional roles, and students are seeking dual degree and residencies, I think we will see the development of innovative pharmacy services and graduates who are attracted to pharmacy careers that have been underserved--like academia!

I enjoyed having all my Kentucky colleagues in town because it gave me a chance to spend a lot of socializing time with them. I got to try some new restaurants in DC and expand my culinary horizons with some new entrees. We went to Old Ebbitt's Grill, Zenga, and Georgia Brown's. Of course, all the Kentuckians were at a sports bar for the SEC tournament. It was a little more exciting than we really wanted it to be--but the Cats prevailed and got their #1 seed for the tournament. I also experienced the beer tower. Since there were anywhere between 12-30 people at each game, there were a lot of beer towers purchased.

Today, there is only one session I want to attend. I am going to try to be time efficient and take some work with me on the Metro to get something accomplished as I travel. Hopefully, the rain will stop. It has rained for the whole meeting! More tomorrow.