Shaye Fowler is a second-year PharmD candidate at the Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
My Region 7 Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM) 2022 experience began on November 4, when 2 other student pharmacists and myself began the trek from Spokane to Seattle, WA. We made it there safely—after some introductions to the experience of hydroplaning through Snoqualmie Pass.
We woke up on Saturday and prepared for the day, making sure to have our APhA pins on our jackets and bringing writing supplies and bags for any and all potential note-taking. When we arrived at the MRM venue, we were first met with a gorgeous abundance of delicious breakfast foods and, of course, some amazing Starbucks coffee. We heard from other classmates about the previous nights’ MRM events and how exciting it was to meet the students from other chapters, how great the speaker had been, and how interesting the poster session was to attend.
A full Saturday agenda
The first session speaker was Jennifer Miller, PharmD, an assistant professor from our school, the Washington State University (WSU) College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Miller discussed vaccinations and how to combat vaccine myths and hesitancy with confidence and grace. Following that presentation, attendees had the opportunity to listen to a pharmacist who works with Poison Control Centers, and received new and interesting information on the current state of patient calls and common exposure cases that are routinely seen within Washington State, such as the prevalence of calls related to Glow-Stick ingestions and the importance of following up with patients who have had an overdose of melatonin.
With breaks involving even more delicious snacks and lunch (as you can tell, this is important to me!), we headed off to an introduction into the APhA–ASP policy process as presented by WSU’s Carissa Teeters, a member of the 2022–2023 APhA–ASP Policy Standing Committee. This session perfectly laid out the path of how a proposed policy moves through the various committees and voting processes before it can be presented at the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in March each year. From there, we had the opportunity to hear from the candidate running for Region 7’s regional offices and had a chance to hear and discuss the policy proposals submitted by the chapters. As a chapter delegate, I then met with the other delegates to discuss what we thought of the candidates before getting an opportunity to interview them.
After all of this, the day’s activities were officially done, but my chapter kept the exciting weekend MRM experience going. We all went out to a delicious Thai restaurant, where we alternated between discussing the proposed policies and sharing tons of hearty laughter and joy. After dinner, some other students and I went back to our hotel room to study for our upcoming pharmacy tests and finished the night there.
Ready to put plans into action
The next day was full of policy voting, a great talk regarding the HPV vaccine by Parth Shah, PharmD, and lots of pictures and contact sharing as we said our goodbyes to the students from the other chapters.
Leaving the conference, I had a renewed vigor and passion for pharmacy policy. I am working alongside my classmates to brainstorm the integration of activities and strategies we learned from other chapters, and I have so much optimism and excitement for my involvement in APhA in the year to come.