In order to prepare pharmacy leaders for a constantly changing workforce environment, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy hosted the inaugural Pharmacy Enterprise Agile Leadership Summit (PEALS).
PEALS took place August 19-22 at the Franklin Hotel in Chapel Hill and was geared toward pharmacy enterprise leaders such as chief pharmacy officers and clinical directors. During the four-day summit, participants attended interactive workshops that tackled complex topics including team building and how to effectively lead an organization in a time of change.
The convention brought together about 35 people from within the UNC system as well as others from across the country. Sheetal Patel-House, a controlled substance program pharmacist at the UNC Medical Center, said PEALS “was a new opportunity to see what was available.”
Mary Regan from the Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, Mass., said her chief pharmacy officer recommended the summit to her. She also viewed PEALS as a networking opportunity and a place to learn more about global pharmacy.
Interim chair for the School’s Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education Stephen Eckel, Pharm.D., M.H.A., said the idea from PEALS came from an observation that there were limited opportunities for pharmacy leaders to learn about adapting to industry changes.
“Because we know that the health care system is rapidly changing, a pharmacy leader is trying to survive. This leads to exhaustion, stress and a pharmacy department that is always trying to keep up,” Eckel said. “Our intent is to provide a strategy and framework in agile leadership so that an individual can take those steps and incorporate them into their own practice setting.”