Pharmacy residents from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy received two of three national grants awarded by the ASHP Foundation.
Stephanie Jean, Pharm.D., and Charlotte Wells, Pharm.D., two UNC Medical Center pharmacy administration residents in the School’s master’s degree program, both won the ASHP Foundation Master’s Resident Practice-Based Research Grant for separate research projects.
The ASHP grant is awarded to support pharmacy researchers in programs that combine the completion of a residency and a master’s degree. The two-year UNC program combines a Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Science and a health-system pharmacy administration residency program at the UNC Medical Center.
Jean is working with Lindsey Amerine, Pharm.D., M.S., in evaluating the use of software for remotely verifying compounded sterile products in telepharmacy.
“As health systems continue to acquire an increasing number of sites away from their main campuses, telepharmacy has become a significant area of interest,” Jean said. “Remote verification of compounded sterile products would allow for increased efficiency and improved patient care.”
Wells, along with John Valgus, Pharm.D., M.H.A, is investigating the impact of UNC’s Oncology Pharmacy Home Infusion Program on patient, institutional and financial outcomes.
“UNC’s OPHI Program transitioned hospital-administered chemotherapy regimens to home infusion chemotherapy, which provides flexibility to oncology patients, as well as hospital bed availability for higher acuity patients,” Wells said. “However, a complete evaluation of the programs impact and success has yet to be completed, and that’s what we hope to achieve with this study.”
The ASHP Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, awards up to six $5,000 Pharmacy Resident Practice-Based Research Grants each year. Grants are awarded to applicants conducting practice-based research or research that evaluate pharmacy practice models.