A team from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s American Society of Health-System Pharmacists student chapter placed second out of 132 chapters in the ASHP Clinical Skills Competition, an interactive, team-based analysis of clinical scenarios for hospital and health-system pharmacists, held in Las Vegas on Dec. 3 and 4.
Prutha Lavani and Jill Zaccardelli, both fourth-year Pharm.D. students, advanced to the national level by winning the local competition held by the School in September. The duo were one of 15 teams to compete, with the case involving atrial fibrillation, heart failure, renal failure, diabetes and some other disease states.
“When Prutha and Jill won the local competition to represent our School in the national competition, I knew they would be a formidable team,” said Phil Rodgers, Pharm.D., a clinical associate professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education and a faculty adviser for the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students, which includes the School’s ASHP chapter. “Both of them possess an excellent knowledge base and strong clinical decision-making skills.”
On the first day of the national competition, Lavani and Zaccardelli had to work up a patient case with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, ascites, a history of seizure with phenytoin toxicity, heart failure, asthma and erectile dysfunction.
They only had two hours to complete the written portion, but the following morning, the pair was announced as one of the top 10 teams that would move on to the verbal competition. For this part of the competition, Lavani and Zaccardelli first had to present the patient’s key problem and recommendations in two minutes, followed by taking part in eight minutes of critical Q&A on any case topics from the judges.
Later that night at the ASHP students’ reception, the pair was announced as the second-place finishers in the competition.
“We are extremely proud of them in their effort and victory,” Rodgers said. “I know they will go on to be amazing clinical pharmacists and will represent UNC very well in the future.”