Student and Alumni Engagement
MSG Students Ernest High and Corie Dean
Alumnae, faculty, and students gathered together on July 22nd at Nacho Mamma's for
this summer's GeroStat Happy Hour. While enjoying over-sized margaritas, along with
chips and salsa, we were able to mix and mingle and engage in gero-talk. This was
a great way to meet incoming students, and visit with alumnae and current students
in a casual environment. It was very helpful for those of us, who will soon be starting
our practicum, to dialogue and brainstorm with fellow students and swap stories 
as this is currently occupying most of our brain space!
Not only was it fun to see these individuals out of the classroom, and be able to
buzz around the room asking what folks are up to and inquire about the latest and
greatest in the Gero world, but we were also introduced to the new Gero Book Club.
Charlotte Arbrogast will be spearheading the Gero Book Club. The book club will 
be kicking off with Paul Irving's "The Upside of Aging." If you are interested in
joining, please connect directly with Charlotte at [email protected].
Don't miss the next GeroStat Happy Hour! We will be meeting at Chambrel in Williamsburg
on September 4th from 5-7pm. Come enjoy complementary drinks and refreshments poolside
while networking and spreading the gero-fabulousness. Hope to see you there!

Sarah M. Barden, PharmD Candidate Class of 2015, [email protected]

Emily P. Peron, PharmD,  MS, [email protected]

Thesis

Although student pharmacists are taught about Parkinson’s disease (PD) as part of their required curriculum, many will graduate without encountering a person affected by the disease. Patients with PD have distinct needs for disease management, often including complex pharmacotherapy. PD is a neurodegenerative disease that progressively gets worse, and it can affect people of varying ages. Motor and cognitive symptoms of the disease, along with medication side effects, can negatively influence biological aging processes, such as increasing the risk of falling in older adults. A person-centered approach necessitates a deeper understanding of how PD affects patients beyond the biological processes, considering other facets such as the person’s quality of life and ability to perform activities of daily living.

Service learning programs are utilized by universities to provide students with experiences in which they fulfill a community need while simultaneously learning from the members of the community being served. By developing a service learning program for student pharmacists focused on patients with PD, two needs were addressed: first, patients with PD and their caregivers were provided with additional information and guidance about their medications, and second, students had the opportunity for personal interaction with patients and caregivers to better understand their challenges and needs, thus guiding students in becoming better pharmacists focused on person-centered care.

Research Methods

Key community partnerships were developed with the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center, Southeast Parkinson's Disease Research Education and Clinical Center, and other local PD support groups. Student learning opportunities, including shadowing a physician, analyzing patient cases, and presenting educational materials to support groups, were established. Student learning objectives included being able to (1) describe the value of pharmacists’ knowledge and skills in helping patients with PD manage their medications and disease effectively, (2) collaborate with members of the PD community including, but not limited to, program directors and support group volunteers to facilitate presentations to patients and caregivers, (3) demonstrate culturally competent, professional communication appropriate for interacting with patients with PD and their caregivers, and (4) demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of medication therapy for patients with PD, including specific knowledge about the medications, pharmacokinetics, side effects, adverse drug events, and monitoring parameters. Students and patients were surveyed to evaluate the quality of the program.

Findings

The program was successfully created and launched in the fall of 2013 as a service learning opportunity through Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Pharmacy.  Student successes during the first semester included creating a constipation management handout for patients, delivering a presentation to a local support group, and providing information to participants at a PD education conference. One hundred percent of students (4/4) indicated that they either “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” that they had accomplished all four learning objectives. Students found taking material taught briefly in class, studying it in-depth, and putting the information into practice through conversations with patients particularly valuable. Additionally, students felt the feedback from patients about how pharmacists can better impact their care was useful. They appreciated the unique opportunity to work directly with patients with PD.

Seven patients and two caregivers responded to the survey from the first community outreach session. All nine respondents either “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” that they were glad they attended that day’s presentation, that they would be interested in hearing from student pharmacists again in the future, and that they would recommend this presentation to a friend. Five of eight of respondents indicated that they had no trouble managing their medications. Respondents had rarely worked with pharmacists (1 out of 9) in the past but 8 out of 9 had an interest in doing so after the presentation.

Limitations

Challenges to program development included working within the confines of the School’s service learning requirements and recruiting students to participate in a pilot program. Restrictions regarding what precisely constitutes service learning for students to receive course credit resulted in some modifications to the scope and vision of the program. While interested students would likely have participated without credit, the intent behind the service learning component of the project was to provide the service and learning aspects in equal measure. Studying for, training for, and practicing the presentation were ineligible for credit; only direct patient contact hours counted. Nonetheless, four students found the opportunity valuable enough to invest the extra non-credit time. Being able to offer more credit-earning hours might have enabled additional student recruitment to the program.

Implications

The objectives underlying this program’s development were successfully met. The necessary community connections were established thereby enabling student pharmacists to reach out to and directly interact with people affected by PD. Moreover, the students were able to demonstrate how pharmacists’ medication expertise can improve care. Several insights were discovered during the development and pilot implementation process, some expected and others not. First, as anticipated, since students self-selected for this program, they were highly motivated to actively participate and engage with both the faculty mentor and patients in an effort to meet the learning objectives and become more person-centered practitioners.

The second insight was startling not in its occurrence but in its criticality to the success of the project: meeting a key person influential in the PD community opened doors more efficiently and effectively than cold calls. The power of networking became readily apparent. Third, once the connections were established, the PD community welcomed involvement from student pharmacists. There is a strong desire within the PD community for more information about medications, especially regarding potential new treatments and ways to manage the side effects of the medications. One of the most troubling aspects of PD is that the drugs used to treat the disease come with an array of side effects that can be as problematic as the disease itself at times. This is clearly an area where pharmacists can make an impact.

The fourth lesson was unexpected but speaks to the importance of considering a broader variety of needs: pharmacists have opportunities beyond direct patient care to assist patients with PD. The most common complaints from patients and caregivers involved restrictions placed on medication access by insurance companies. Medications for PD, despite their problems, are critical in helping patients control their symptoms. Pharmacists can help advocate for insurance companies to adopt medication-related policies that protect patient care. In adopting a person-centered approach and looking beyond just the medications’ biological effects, student pharmacists learned how their efforts positively impact the lives of people affected by PD.

By:  Ernest J. Highs, Gerontology Student

My initial interest in Gerontology began while in high school, before I even knew this study of aging existed. I began my career as a gerontological specialist working as a Certified Nursing Assistant at the tender age of sixteen. After several years of working as a professional caregiver in various facilities pertaining to acute care, memory care, and Long Term Care, I felt a sense of need in the profession of Geriatrics. I desired to help support the voices of older persons.

During my time in the program so far, I have learned a lot about the different Micro/Macro Theories of Aging. Optimal Aging represents several domains of successful aging including: physical, functional, cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual pertaining to one’s own satisfaction. I have been exposed to a plethora of ageist stereotypes and ambivalent stereotype models, which aid in the perception that older people are cognitively impaired with the absence of proper Executive Functioning.

Therefore, I too have been made aware that aging is an undoubtedly inevitable process. However, aging plays a major role with perception. For example, Perceived Age is defined as the age you think of yourself as being. Any older person identifies their own threshold, which is the point an age-related change is perceived important by that particular individual. Chronological Age is therefore not as important and a poor description of the aging population. Simply stated, “You really are as young as you feel!”

The Department of Gerontology at Virginia Commonwealth University has definitely given me a sense of ownership and responsibility. I had no idea how poorly our society viewed older adults. There was never a thought in my mind that individuals actually believed that dementia or some form of it was part of normal aging. In this program, I learned that when it comes to aging.... It depends!

Interviewing Triple Digits

As I set out on the marvelous opportunity to interview a centenarian, I found myself growing excited.  At age 23, I have not even lived a quarter of Mary Skipper Daniel’s life.  She is 102 years old and told me with a grin that she feels the same today as she did at age 50!  I told her that when I turned 10 years someone told me I was a double-digit-midget and asked her what it was like to be in the triples.  She shared with me how grateful she is to be able to remember things from her life and look back on it.  Mary went on to talk about her family growing up spoke of how her parents were hard-working and instilled those same strong values in her.  She relayed some of her fondest memories as a child; more specifically, she expressed how much she loved being involved with her church.  These memories bring Mrs. Daniel great joy and she gave credit to her church for teaching her how to be a woman and how to take care of herself so that she would not have to depend on anyone else.

Naturally, I asked her what she thought her secret to her longevity was.  She communicated that she has stayed happy because she stayed busy her whole life, working and staying engaged with church.  Mary thanks God for her long life, knowing with strong faith it is nobody but him that has kept her here.

I was disappointed when the interview was over because I felt like there were so many more questions I wanted to ask!  The disappointment was nothing, though, compared to the feeling of inspiration I experienced.  Mary Daniel was as spry as can be after living over a century, which is what I hope for myself.  She highlighted the importance of staying active and engaged, which I know from my classes in VCU’s Gerontology Department is in accordance with the activity theory.  I also learned that spirituality and faith seem to be extremely important among centenarians.  This was a wonderful experience that I would like to be a part of again in the future, just as I would recommend anyone who gets the opportunity to seize it!