December 16, 2014
The morning of Saturday, December 6, a team of two fourth-year UNC pharmacy students were given a sheet of paper with a list of symptoms and a medical history for an imaginary patient.
The two students, Rebecca Call and Erin Christensen were in Anaheim, California representing the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy for the 2014 ASHP Clinical Skills Competition.
The patient had bacterial meningitis, and it was the team’s job to identify and decide how to best treat the problem in two hours.
The following morning, the pair learned that their treatment plan had placed in the top ten of the 127 teams competing, and that they would move on to the final round of the competition.
For the final round, Call and Christensen stood before a panel of three judges and more than 100 audience members to defend their treatment plan.
That night, the UNC pair learned that they had won third in the nation in the final round of the competition.
“Everyone has been so gracious in congratulating us,” Call says. “I have never felt so lucky to be a Tar Heel.”
Making the Cut
To qualify for the national ASHP completion, Call and Christensen wona local clinical skills competition held by the School in September.
For the competition, each team is given an hypothetical patient case. Competitors have two hours to form a written treatment plan where they identify the biggest problems and the most effective treatment.
The cases are usually complicated, and the patients tend to have multiple conditions, Call says.
Winners of the local competition move on to the national competition and the top ten competitors of that round move on to the final round where they defend their treatment plan against a panel of judges.
“It was hard to think about winning against 127 other schools,” Christensen says. “Once we learned that we were in the top ten, it was extremely nerve-racking, and I had butterflies in my stomach for the whole day.”
Top-tenteams won iPad Minis loaded with a drug information reference called Lexi-COMPLETE, as well as ASHP’s NAPLEX Review. The top three teams also received a copy of Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach.
By Aren Besson
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