PQS Quality Corner Show
Join Pharmacy Quality Solutions Associate Director of Pharmacy Accounts Nick Dorich, PharmD, for a podcast series "Quality Corner Show" that covers everything quality in the world of pharmacy and patient care. Look for future episodes to interview guests and experts in the healthcare profession.
PQS Quality Corner Show
What's New at the PQA Annual Meeting 2024?
Amanda Ryan, PharmD, BCGP, CPHQ, Director of Education, Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) joins the Quality Corner Show to talk about what to expect at the upcoming PQA Annual Meeting 2024 in Baltimore on May 14 - 16.
Quality Corner Show Host and PQS Associate Director of Pharmacy Accounts, Nick Dorich asks Ryan about the main reasons to attend this year's meeting, who is attending, and how to register. Ryan breaks down the agenda for the event and promotes additional opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy students.
2024 PQA Annual Meeting Website
00:00:01:19 - 00:00:21:22
Amanda Ryan
I would say the best way to describe a theme of the meeting is to talk about those main general sessions that we're going to be having. And we do have four major topics that we're going to cover in those general sessions. The first is the one that's going to kick off the main programing on day one, and that is a session on behavior change and value based care.
00:00:21:24 - 00:00:45:12
Amanda Ryan
The second session is going to be on the Inflation Reduction Act, but specifically through the lens of how it can increase medication access for patients. There's a lot of provisions to that law, of course. So we're going to focus specifically on that. The third general session is going to focus on Medicare quality programs and then the final one is going to take a look at medication therapy management and what the future of that looks like.
00:00:45:14 - 00:01:10:14
Intro
Welcome to the Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show where quality measurement leads to better patient outcomes. This show will be your go to source for all things related to quality improvement and medication use and health care. We will hit on trending health topics as they relate to performance measurements and find common ground for payers and practitioners. We will discuss how the equipped platform can help you with your performance goals.
00:01:10:16 - 00:01:32:02
Intro
We will also make sure to keep you up to date on pharmacy quality news. Please note that the topics discussed are based on the information available at the date and time of reporting. Information or guidelines are updated periodically and we will always recommend that our listeners research and review any guidelines that are newly published. Buckle up and put your thinking cap on.
00:01:32:04 - 00:01:43:03
Intro
The Quality Corner show starts now.
00:01:43:05 - 00:02:07:06
Nick Dorich
Hello Quality Corner Show listeners. Welcome to the PQS podcast, where we focus on medication, use, quality improvement and how we could utilize pharmacists to improve patient health outcomes. I'm your host, Nick Dortch. I am very excited for today's episode to cover the upcoming 2024 PQA meeting. And today we've got a special guest to cover the meeting, what it's going to entail and why you should be attending.
00:02:07:08 - 00:02:18:09
Nick Dorich
So without further ado, I'm going to introduce today's guest, Dr. Amanda Ryan, who is Director of Education at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance. Amanda, welcome to the show. And how are you today?
00:02:18:11 - 00:02:22:24
Amanda Ryan
I'm doing really well, Nick. Thanks so much for having me on the show. I appreciate the opportunity.
00:02:23:01 - 00:02:39:00
Nick Dorich
Yeah, my my pleasure. I'm really excited for the annual meeting this year as I am every year. It's back, I guess to some degree, you might say at it's home of Baltimore, where it's been four years previously. But we're going to talk about the meeting in just a minute. Let's get to know who you are and let's introduce you to our audience.
00:02:39:00 - 00:02:45:16
Nick Dorich
So do you mind giving me a quick rundown on your background in pharmacy, in health care, and then what it is you do today? Actually.
00:02:45:18 - 00:03:11:01
Amanda Ryan
Absolutely. So I am a pharmacist by training. I started out like a lot of us do in a retail pharmacy, and then spent quite a few years working in long term care. So I really developed a passion for the geriatric patient population during that time, got my board certification in geriatrics, and then transitioned to a quality role with the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization or QIO program.
00:03:11:03 - 00:03:35:23
Amanda Ryan
After that, I came over here to PQA. It really was a culmination of all the work I'd done previously in improving quality, working with Medicare, the Medicare population, and doing a lot of mentoring for students as well. So I've been at PQA now for about three and a half years. Do all the work related to education and so are student and professional programs as well as are webinars and online education.
00:03:36:00 - 00:03:45:07
Amanda Ryan
And then I work on a lot of the content for our leadership Summit, which happens every November, plus the peak annual meeting, which happens every May, which is what we're here to talk about today.
00:03:45:09 - 00:04:08:01
Nick Dorich
It absolutely is. And it's it's always a full schedule for the event, the PQA meeting for me, the annual meeting that is in May, typically one of my favorite meetings to attend each year because the content, it is really highly focused. It also brings together a pretty diverse set of practitioners and those that are involved in the medication use process, perhaps more than in a lot of other conferences which are more specialized.
00:04:08:07 - 00:04:24:06
Nick Dorich
So I think you get a really unique audience. I mean, we're going to go ahead and jump into our conversation for today and what's going to be covering for that for the meeting just so everyone gets an idea. We've got three or four questions that we want to focus on. So it's going to be a really quick interview.
00:04:24:06 - 00:04:42:22
Nick Dorich
I've got a question for Amanda. She'll provide some of her great information and I may have some follow up questions for her. When we get to the end of this recording. We'll have some other questions that help us to understand, Amanda, some of the things that she likes to do or some of the things that she recommends so that we can be great people ourselves.
00:04:42:24 - 00:05:03:13
Nick Dorich
So with that, Amanda, let's jump in for today's conversation. And the first question is the one that is the most obvious, I think, the PQA annual conference this year. Where is it? When is it? What can you tell us at a high level so that everyone knows what website can they go to? If they still want to register, let us know what we need to check out.
00:05:03:15 - 00:05:28:16
Amanda Ryan
Sure. So I'll start with some basic information here. Nick, This might be familiar to some people that have attended the PQA annual meeting in the past, but I will start with that and then get into some more details. So PQA for those who are not familiar with us, is a national organization and we focus on quality medication use so that things like medication safety, adherence and appropriate use.
00:05:28:18 - 00:05:49:15
Amanda Ryan
And so for this year's meeting, we're expecting about 500 executives are health care executives, as well as quality improvement professionals. And as you said, a second ago here, Nick, our audience at this meeting and the attendees at this meeting are really diverse as far as the type of professional backgrounds they have. The organizations that they actually come from.
00:05:49:17 - 00:06:13:20
Amanda Ryan
So just like PQA member organizations, they reflect a wide variety of individuals. So people from pharmacies that could be like your chain pharmacies, your mom and pop pharmacies and everything in between. They come from health plans, academia, biopharmaceutical organizations, technology vendors, and many others too. So the meeting itself is three days long and we're going to have a wide variety of topics.
00:06:13:22 - 00:06:41:23
Amanda Ryan
But like you said, Nick, it is focused on medication use, quality or quality medication use. So we do have a focused topic, but it also has a variety of topics within that. So we are back home, as you said, in Baltimore. We did venture out to Nashville last year, but this year we're back in Baltimore. So we're at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, and we are a Tuesday through Thursday meeting this year, so May 14th through 16th.
00:06:42:00 - 00:07:06:10
Amanda Ryan
So we're gearing up here in the last couple of months and getting everything set for the meeting. Everybody can still register for the meeting and I can read you the website here if people are interested in that. It is PQA annual meeting 2020 for that event scribe dot net. And if they go to that website they can see the agenda register and all of those good things.
00:07:06:12 - 00:07:24:00
Nick Dorich
Fantastic. Amanda, so with that and we've got the information, we've got the dates, we've got the location, we've got the time, I live not far from there, not far from there in Washington, D.C. so I can confirm it's a great time in the spring. I do think the meeting does overlap with the Baltimore Orioles schedule just a little bit and it's right down the road.
00:07:24:00 - 00:07:43:09
Nick Dorich
So you don't want to miss any sessions, you can catch a baseball game while you're there, too, folks. But for the meeting, Amanda, you talked about already the breadth and depth of folks that are attending this meeting from students and those working on research to those that may be C-suite with different, you know, either health plans or pharmacies and everybody and everything in between.
00:07:43:11 - 00:07:49:12
Nick Dorich
What would you identify or what would you call out as the main reasons to attend the meeting this year in 2024?
00:07:49:12 - 00:08:13:07
Amanda Ryan
Sure. I got a few reasons here to share with you. First one is something that we're very intentional about when we look at developing the agenda, and that is to provide actionable insights for attendees. So we designed our education sessions as well as the meeting as a whole, really, to have a place where we can share best practices and actionable insights for those that are participating in.
00:08:13:07 - 00:08:32:00
Amanda Ryan
This really is one of my very favorite things about the meeting is that we get to hear about how participants learn these actionable insights, not only from the speakers but also from each other. So they get to interface with people from all different types of organizations and have those takeaways that they can apply once they leave the conference.
00:08:32:02 - 00:08:57:03
Amanda Ryan
A second thing is that they can learn about new developments and best practices. So this is really closely related to that actionable insights idea. But our meeting is a place to learn about what's happening now related to quality medication use, and we also have an eye towards the future. A third reason to attend is networking. And this is one thing we consistently hear from our attendees is how much they really appreciate being able to network with one another.
00:08:57:09 - 00:09:20:06
Amanda Ryan
And we are also very intentional about this when we develop the agenda. As far as making sure there are times throughout whether that's a formal reception or, you know, Baltimore, the Baltimore Oriole’s Stadium is right across the way. Like you said, Nick, so attending a baseball game with folks from the meeting, things like that people really do appreciate. Another reason to attend is to collaborate with industry partners.
00:09:20:08 - 00:09:41:11
Amanda Ryan
So whether that's building a new relationship or even expanding old relationships that very closely related to networking and something folks appreciate as well. And then finally, one that I really like is that pharmacies can even see our continuing education credit. So I'm a little biased there. I'm from the education side of things, but we do have see available all three days of the meeting.
00:09:41:11 - 00:09:45:03
Amanda Ryan
So we do invite pharmacists to take advantage of that if they would like to.
00:09:45:05 - 00:10:09:10
Nick Dorich
And we know that pharmacists always love to get their seed done early in the year, so they're not rushing to get it done last minute, which is usually the trap that I fall into that I would really highlight as well. The networking aspects of it are great and are provided are presented throughout the meeting because we have General sessions, we have keynotes, we have breakout sessions, but even breakout sessions provide the opportunity to, you know, be involved with folks.
00:10:09:12 - 00:10:27:23
Nick Dorich
But let's take a step back. Will we have time to talk about everything that's about the meeting? Can you explain to us the, you know, the general sessions and perhaps is there a theme to the meeting this year? Are there high points that folks, if they're particularly interested in a certain area of medication use quality, that would really resonate with them?
00:10:28:00 - 00:10:51:01
Amanda Ryan
Sure. I'm happy to talk about all those things. I would say the best way to describe a theme of the meeting is to talk about those main general sessions that we're going to be having. And we do have four major topics that we're going to cover in those general sessions. The first is the one that's going to kick off the main programing on day one, and that is a session on behavior change and value-based care.
00:10:51:03 - 00:11:13:15
Amanda Ryan
The second session is going to be on the Inflation Reduction Act, but specifically through the lens of how it can increase medication access for patients. There's a lot of provisions to that law, of course. So we're going to focus specifically on that. The third general session is going to focus on Medicare quality programs. And then the final one is going to take a look at medication therapy management and what the future of that looks like.
00:11:13:17 - 00:11:43:07
Amanda Ryan
So just to give you a little bit more detail on those, the first session about behavior change and value based care, we're going to be joined by a guest speaker. Her name is Louise Keough Reid, and she's from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. And what she's going to do is discuss from a high level what change management is and what that looks like and how what she calls creating prepared minds can help build opportunities for success in changing health care across the board.
00:11:43:09 - 00:12:04:13
Amanda Ryan
And then we're going to transition into a conversation. Following that, there's going to be more about what can we as individuals do? How can we look at our own behaviors and use that to advance value-based care? So perhaps a little bit of a different twist on a value-based care conversation. And attendees have heard before. And then on the IRA, we're going to focus specifically on two parts of that.
00:12:04:16 - 00:12:23:13
Amanda Ryan
The first is the out-of-pocket cap to prescription drug costs. And then the second is what's called empathy or the Medicare prescription payment plan. It's hard for me to get out. That's why I like empathy better. But those two will take effect in 2025, and we're going to have a look at how that impacts and improves patient access to medications.
00:12:23:15 - 00:12:43:16
Amanda Ryan
When you have a patient on that panel, which I'm really excited about, their perspective is always really valuable there. And then the third general session is going to discuss developments in Medicare Part D, those quality programs. We've had sessions like this in the past, but there's always something happening, always something new to talk about. And our attendees really do appreciate that session.
00:12:43:18 - 00:12:54:09
Amanda Ryan
And then a little bit more detail on the final one. We're going to look at medication therapy management where we can go in the future related to that and how we might look at evaluating the quality of those services.
00:12:54:11 - 00:13:17:17
Nick Dorich
Excellent. Well, Amanda, great topics that we that the PQA team that has covered there. It's always interesting to me because we often talk in health care but also specifically in pharmacy about silos and to be very easy to get trapped into some of our own areas. And you mentioned a couple of topics that, hey, it may not be privy to pharmacy, but it's still important because they are impacting maybe health benefits.
00:13:17:22 - 00:13:39:22
Nick Dorich
They are maybe areas where other providers, other physicians may be looking for help from pharmacists down the road. So there's some areas that may be new and we're going to help. We're going to it may take us some steps to get there. But important for us to understand how this impacts the larger health care ecosystem. Now, Amanda, that was the general sessions and kind of some of the themes that are running with those.
00:13:39:24 - 00:13:50:19
Nick Dorich
There are breakout sessions, there are some smaller sections that run at the meeting as well. Before we go into our next question, are there any other breakout sessions or speakers you would like to highlight before we move on?
00:13:50:21 - 00:14:15:03
Amanda Ryan
Sure. So even though the general sessions are going to be taking place on all three days of the meeting, we do have breakout sessions as well, like you mentioned, Nick, and those will be happening on days two and three. So we've got 12 in total and we're going to have four different time blocks. So you could attend up to four of the 12 if you're at the meeting and we invite you to select whichever session pertains to that particular person who's participating.
00:14:15:05 - 00:14:42:22
Amanda Ryan
So these are a little bit more focused than our general sessions and smaller sessions, but we're going to cover lots of different topics here, and we like to have a variety of topics in these sessions as well as a variety of presenters so that people can not only understand the topics from their own perspective. So if they come from a health plan, they might hear another health plan talking about a particular topic, or they might hear, say, a technology company talking about a similar topic and go, Hey, you know what?
00:14:42:24 - 00:15:03:08
Amanda Ryan
Breaking down those silos like you talk about, you know, how could we potentially partner on something like this? So just throwing out a couple of the topics that will be in those sessions. We've got things like health disparities and social determinants of health and how they relate to medication management services. We've got more value-based care going on in the breakout sessions as well as payer pharmacy partnerships.
00:15:03:13 - 00:15:09:21
Amanda Ryan
So once again, ways that we can work together not only in our own organization but with others as well.
00:15:09:23 - 00:15:45:22
Nick Dorich
Fantastic. Amanda, There's a question that may be on top of mind for others as they're listening in and they're probably thinking, well, hey, PQA, that's the group that, you know, develops and endorses measures that are used in programs like CMS Stars. And these are going to be applicable to pharmacies in practice today. Are there any sessions or are there any considerations at this meeting covering, you know, how PQA measures are used or are there any conversations about what measures may be, you know, newly endorsed or maybe perhaps even thinking about measures that could be developed in the future?
00:15:45:24 - 00:16:11:17
Amanda Ryan
Well, I would definitely say there is conversation that happens about measures just informally, informally as well. But I would start by saying that breakout sessions are a really great place for attendees to really get an understanding of how a particular organization or group of organizations are approaching medication use quality. So as a couple of examples, we do have a session that's about improving behavioral health quality metrics.
00:16:11:19 - 00:16:29:17
Amanda Ryan
So there are some measurement pieces to that one. We've got a couple others that are focused on medication adherence. So some of our bread and butter PQA measures related to adherence as well, of course. So that topic will be included in the breakouts. And then we do have a brand new session this year that I'd like to tell you about here.
00:16:29:19 - 00:16:54:04
Amanda Ryan
It's called building quality improvement skills for quality medication use. And we're doing this session in partnership between PQA and the Institute for Health Care Improvement. And so the idea with this session is to help people understand how to apply improvement science principles to medication use quality in general, but also to pitch based measures. So this is in complement…
00:16:54:04 - 00:17:20:21
Amanda Ryan
We did this to support other education that PQA already provides. And the reason we did this is because we heard from members and other stakeholders that they really needed some additional support in this area. So they wanted to understand how to enhance medication, use quality, ensure patient safety and really look at quality improvement principles to do that. So what we're going to cover in this session is what's called the model for improvement, and it's a framework that can be used for making change.
00:17:20:21 - 00:17:43:06
Amanda Ryan
So how do you test changes? How do you plan, how do you implement changes like that? And we've got faculty that will be joining us for that session that we're going to talk about examples and case studies for how they've used the model for improvement. And that's related to things like medication adherence for diabetes medications is something we're going to cover in there, as well as looking at polypharmacy.
00:17:43:07 - 00:18:05:05
Amanda Ryan
So in addition to that, we do have some awards that we give at the annual meeting. So we'll recognize some Medicare plan contracts through some awards, either the PQA Laura Cranston Excellence in quality or a quality improvement award. So that's a place where measures will be highlighted as well. And then to answer your question, the part of the question about new measures.
00:18:05:07 - 00:18:25:14
Amanda Ryan
We have conversations all throughout the meeting about measures. People will throw out ideas to assess progress that, hey, you know, you ought to consider, I'm developing a measure on this, that or the other thing. They'll share ideas for potentially how we could utilize the measures that are already in place. And we also do have a couple of those policy sessions that I talked about earlier.
00:18:25:18 - 00:18:45:09
Amanda Ryan
And those policies will absolutely influence measurement. So things like the IRA, things like Medicare quality programs, and then that final general session on MTM, one thing we will be thinking about there is what measurement could potentially look like in the future for MTM services. So lots of measurement threads throughout the meeting for sure.
00:18:45:11 - 00:19:08:11
Nick Dorich
Yeah. Amanda, I'll add, I'll add a punctuation mark or an exclamation mark to that has as a statement, you know, there is whether it's, you know, myself and our work at PQS, folks at PQA, there's a lot that goes into measure development. These measures do not just appear and it's often a, it's a lengthy and deliberate process to build measures that are appropriate, that are valid, that are reliable.
00:19:08:13 - 00:19:24:04
Nick Dorich
And there's lots of ways for folks to get involved. And the number one way, at least from my own experience in having been involved with PQA meetings for almost 15 years now, is to be at the meetings with your organization. Find out, are you a PQA member? Is your organization typically a member? Is there a way to get involved?
00:19:24:06 - 00:19:42:12
Nick Dorich
Even if you're not able to attend this meeting, make sure you get onto those email communications and find ways that you can be a volunteer for various committees. So you know, the meeting, the annual meeting, while it is the biggest event that PQA has, it's not the only way to get involved. And we just highly encourage folks to take a look at Amanda.
00:19:42:12 - 00:20:02:17
Nick Dorich
With that, I want to get to our kind of our last question, and this goes to how folks can get involved, actually, but specifically for our students, for our residents and our fellows. Now, we already mentioned that they can be attending this meeting, and this is certainly going to be a different meeting than other pharmacy related meetings that students would be attending.
00:20:02:19 - 00:20:20:01
Nick Dorich
Typically for a lot of meetings, it would be only students. But here they're really going to get to mesh and blend with professionals from various stages of their career. But what are some of the activities? What are some of the reasons that students, residents, fellows, or even just new pharmacy practitioners? Why should they be attending the PQA annual meeting?
00:20:20:03 - 00:20:39:24
Amanda Ryan
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we do encourage our students, residents, fellows, early career professionals, all those folks to join us for the meeting. And we do have several sessions that are planned with them in mind. So for them to participate, but like you say, it's not just students, it is quite the mix of professionals and a great place for them to meet folks.
00:20:40:01 - 00:21:08:23
Amanda Ryan
So a couple of of the sessions that I was just mentioning there for students and others is the first of all, the poster session. So the annual meeting poster session that is sponsored by PQS, by the way. So thanks to a PQS for sponsoring that session, it's going to take place on day two, which is May 15th. And this is really an opportunity for students, residents, fellows, and others to highlight and showcase the efforts that they've been putting forward on quality improvement research.
00:21:09:00 - 00:21:28:14
Amanda Ryan
It also allows attendees to mingle and engage with one another, find out about this research and kind of what's going on in the health care quality landscape. We do have a students section in that poster session, so we do have special awards for the best student resident or fellow poster. So we'll have some volunteer judges that are there throughout the poster session.
00:21:28:14 - 00:21:51:11
Amanda Ryan
And then on day two of the PQA annual meeting, we will announce gold, silver, and bronze for the professional presenters. So non-student resident and fellows and then a special award for the best student, resident and fellow poster. We've got a first timer session that we offer on day one. So that's where students or anybody who's been to the meeting for the first time can learn from veterans what they've experienced at the meeting.
00:21:51:11 - 00:22:10:24
Amanda Ryan
And next, sounds like you are quite the veteran yourself. So folks like you that have attended before share with those who are new and how they can best make make the best of their time at the meeting. And then we've got a couple other specific programs for students. One is called Health Care Quality IQ or HQIQ that is also sponsored by PQS.
00:22:10:24 - 00:22:35:08
Amanda Ryan
So thank you again, because that program is about six months long and it starts at the PQA annual meeting. And then after the meeting, we as PQA staff work with our students to teach them the foundational principles of medication use quality. So that really kicks that program off and we're excited to meet those students. And then we've got another students, a group of students that is attending, and they are recipients of our diversity and quality scholarship.
00:22:35:10 - 00:22:57:04
Amanda Ryan
So both of those HQIQ students and the scholarship students are going to attend our special pre-meeting session, which is called Medication Use Quality Live. And then they were going to be paired with mentors that will help assist them get the most out of the meeting. So is there any students listening to this Resident Fellows, early career professionals that might like to get involved in any of that for next year?
00:22:57:06 - 00:23:08:24
Amanda Ryan
Be on the lookout. We always release announcements about all of those programs typically in the fall. So if you're interested in those, we encourage you to self nominate or apply for them for next year.
00:23:09:01 - 00:23:42:05
Nick Dorich
Yeah, for any of the students, residents, fellows, I'll add the other thing that folks may be thinking and for those that are younger in their career or just in their early stages of it, there's always a part about what do I do after I graduate or after I'm done with my program? And I can tell you firsthand, I have seen I've even made introductions myself between students or residents that I've known or that I had been met previously, introducing them to folks that may be in attendance as a pharmacist or as a director for quality and health and things of that nature, which then weeks or months later becomes a, Hey, thanks, I actually got
00:23:42:05 - 00:23:59:20
Nick Dorich
a job out of that. So for any of the student, if you're a student, resident fellow, or even if you're a faculty member and you've got some students that you think are particularly well qualified, there's great opportunities that they're there. I know there's lots of those, but the PQA annual meeting should be a consideration for that level of involvement.
00:23:59:22 - 00:24:19:12
Nick Dorich
Amanda, I think we could cover a lot more because it's three days of conferencing and it's three days of conferencing for really a process that goes year round. Is there any kind of final statement, final putting a bow on the president here that you'd leave us with before we get to our closing for for this podcast?
00:24:19:14 - 00:24:42:24
Amanda Ryan
I would just say, you know, as you said, it's something we work on for many months to create a great experience for all of our attendees. We look forward to seeing everybody every year. It's always wonderful to reconnect with old friends, meet new ones, really find out about the work that they're doing and what we can do together as PQA, as well as a member organizations and other stakeholders that attend.
00:24:43:01 - 00:24:48:19
Amanda Ryan
So just very much looking forward to seeing everyone in Baltimore. And I can't wait to see you there.
00:24:48:21 - 00:25:08:14
Nick Dorich
Fantastic. Well, Amanda, thank you for that. Before we wrap up our episode, we've got a couple of questions that are we've already talked a lot today going on 20, 20 minutes or so for for this recording. But one of the things about pharmacists is that we're great talking about very many things. So I've got a couple of last minute questions for you before we wrap up today's episode.
00:25:08:16 - 00:25:09:17
Nick Dorich
Are you ready?
00:25:09:19 - 00:25:11:07
Amanda Ryan
I'm ready. Go ahead.
00:25:11:09 - 00:25:19:00
Nick Dorich
Okay. Question number one. And this one is probably my favorite. What makes you most thankful to be working in the pharmacy profession?
00:25:19:02 - 00:25:38:21
Amanda Ryan
One of the things that's most important to me as a professional really as a person, is just opportunities to always learn. So I am thankful that there are so many different opportunities for pharmacists. And I tell students that I work with all the time about this. Not only can we be a community pharmacist or a clinical pharmacist, but we can work in quality like I do.
00:25:38:21 - 00:25:50:05
Amanda Ryan
We can work in a health plan. We can work for a life sciences organization. We can teach others. So I'm just thankful to be able to learn and continue to grow as well as have an opportunity to try a lot of different things. In my career.
00:25:50:07 - 00:26:08:15
Nick Dorich
I've been asking that question on on this show for a little while, Amanda, and I think you're the first one to give that answer about the lifelong learning aspect of it. And I absolutely that that might be my favorite part of the pharmacy profession. So thumbs up, virtual high five here. First to that answer, next question for you.
00:26:08:17 - 00:26:15:23
Nick Dorich
What superhero or just in general fictional character would you want to work with you in your pharmacy experience?
00:26:16:00 - 00:26:34:00
Amanda Ryan
All right. We'll see you. This one's a little off the beaten path. We'll see if anyone said this one before. I think it was 20 years ago, something like that, that the first Incredibles movie came out. And the one that popped to my mind for this question was Elastigirl. So after I was Mrs. Incredible. So she is fast.
00:26:34:00 - 00:26:50:05
Amanda Ryan
She can climb, she can get into small spaces. If I see her in a community pharmacy, I can see her taking a prescription at one window and stretching her arm and the other side to help somebody answering the phone. I just feel like her superpowers could come in really handy in a situation like that.
00:26:50:07 - 00:27:05:23
Nick Dorich
Yes, Good answer. Great movie. I love that one as well. And I don't think we've heard that or heard that yet. But great answer. Next question for you. What's one personal recommendation that you have for living a good, healthy and happy life?
00:27:06:00 - 00:27:29:01
Amanda Ryan
So this is actually kind of related to the first question, the first phone question here that you asked me. And it's really continuous growth. So in your personal life and your professional life, just being able to find out new things, challenge yourself in new ways, whether you're talking about a young child, just learning how to walk all the way through our professional careers to, you know, the fun things that we do in our personal lives.
00:27:29:01 - 00:27:35:24
Amanda Ryan
I think it gives us things to strive for, gives us energy every day, and it's something that can be really important for a healthy and happy life.
00:27:36:01 - 00:27:40:04
Nick Dorich
Absolutely. Yeah. Don't let that brain shrivel up. Keep it moving.
00:27:40:06 - 00:27:41:10
Amanda Ryan
Here you go.
00:27:41:12 - 00:27:49:18
Nick Dorich
And then last question here. What game show or reality TV show would you want to participate on as a guest?
00:27:49:20 - 00:28:11:19
Amanda Ryan
So this is the show we've watched since the beginning, my family and I what's on season 36 now? And it's The Amazing Race. I do not think I can win the show. However, I do think it would be really cool to go on a lot of the adventures that they do try the things out. It seems really easy when I'm sitting on my couch at home, like I come on and just, you know, this is not that hard.
00:28:11:19 - 00:28:16:07
Amanda Ryan
But I do think it will be a lot of fun to go on The Amazing Race and see how far we could get.
00:28:16:09 - 00:28:33:00
Nick Dorich
Traveling the world like that. Amanda That would certainly give you the opportunity to be learning something new every day, which a lot of your your other your other questions are. So that makes a lot of sense to me. Well, fantastic. And Amanda from myself, and from the PQS team. Really appreciate you coming on the show today. I certainly have.
00:28:33:00 - 00:28:53:21
Nick Dorich
I've mentioned I've been attending the PQA meeting almost 15 years myself. I always find it to be one of the most impactful events that I do each and every year, not just related to pharmacy in my my job, but I chose my words. They're very specifically. But it really is a great way to to learn, to see how others are approaching medicine, medication use.
00:28:54:01 - 00:29:14:16
Nick Dorich
But also the general ideas are on quality improvement, which Amanda, I was a big fan as you talked about some of those process sessions that you had mentioned that are going to be new. It's a great way to engage with students, residents, folks throughout their career trajectory in pharmacy and in health care. So if you if you are not planning attending, you still have time to sign up again.
00:29:14:16 - 00:29:16:10
Nick Dorich
Amanda, what are those dates again.
00:29:16:12 - 00:29:26:24
Amanda Ryan
The dates for the meeting are May 14th through 16th. Early bird registration is available through April 19th, so we encourage you to register as soon as you can, and we'd love to see you there.
00:29:27:01 - 00:29:46:10
Nick Dorich
Yeah, absolutely. So I hope to see you there. Amanda, Before we go here, last question for you now. If folks have questions about what you talked about here with the meeting, perhaps if they have suggestions on future education content for PQA and that sort of thing, how can they get in touch with you and how can they get in touch with you?
00:29:46:12 - 00:30:01:19
Amanda Ryan
Sure. I'm best way to get in touch with me is via email. So my email is aryan@pqaalliance.org and then our website is PQA Alliance. That word. You find out everything going on with PQA on our website.
00:30:01:21 - 00:30:22:20
Nick Dorich
All right. Well, that's it for now, folks. If you are attending the meeting, which I hope you are, make sure to find Amanda. Make sure to find the staff at PQA. Find out how you can get involved. Let them know you listen to the podcast here as well, and we'll go from there. But for that listeners, that means we have now wrapped up this episode of The Quality Corner Show.
00:30:23:01 - 00:30:31:00
Nick Dorich
We thank you for joining us today. We hope you listen to our next episode. Before we go, we have one final message from the PQS team.
00:30:31:02 - 00:30:52:16
Speaker 2
The Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show has a request for you. Our goal is to spread the word about how quality measurement can help improve health outcomes, and we need your help in sharing this podcast. Dear friends and colleagues in the health care industry, we also want you to provide feedback, ask those questions and suggest health topics you'd like to see covered.
00:30:52:18 - 00:31:14:22
Speaker 2
If you are a health expert and you want to contribute to the show or even talk on the show, please contact us if you email info@pharmacyquality.com. Let us know what is on your mind, what we can address so that you are fully informed. We want you to be able to provide the best care for your patients and members, and we wish all of you listeners out there well.