Students place second nationally in clinical skills competition
Pharmacy students make Lipscomb's best showing ever at the annual competition to create a care plan for a fictional hospitalized patient.
Janel Shoun-Smith |
(L to R) Chair of Health Care Informatics Beth Breeden, Nathan Fields, P4, College of Pharmacy Dean Tom Campbell and Caleb Hammons, P4, all celebrate Fields and Hammons strong performance at the competition.
Nathan Fields and Caleb Hammons, P4 students, earned second place in the nation, competing among 139 competitors, at the 24th annual American Society of Health-System Pharmacists National Clinical Skills Competition in December.
Competing student pharmacists prepared a written and oral presentation of a comprehensive care plan for a fictional hospitalized patient. Fields’ and Hammons’ care plan was found to be more clinically sound than that of student teams from Rutgers University, University of Missouri at Kansas City and High Point University.
Their score for the competition came in just two points below the University of North Carolina’s team. This is the first time a Lipscomb team has made the top ten in the ASHP National Clinical Skills Competition.
Fields and Hammons
Fields, of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, said that he drew on his rotation experience in cardiology and his work with Lipscomb professor Zac Cox, associate professor, who conducts clinical research in treating acute heart failure, to prepare the award-winning care plan. Hammons, of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, drew on his rotation experience in emergency medicine as well as an internship at a level 2 trauma center to identify one of the most urgent health issues needing treatment: high potassium levels.
“Nathan and I are close friends and have known each other for years now. Our teamwork came naturally and we knew each other’s strengths going into the competition,” said Hammons. “Caleb and I made a fantastic team. We really complemented each other and are so happy to have been able to represent the Lipscomb community on the national pharmacy level,” said Fields.
Both Fields and Hammons attended Lipscomb for their undergraduate education as part of the 3+1 program that feeds directly into the Doctor of Pharmacy program and are also dual degree students in Lipscomb’s Masters of Healthcare Informatics program.
The Lipscomb team identified 17 items to address in the comprehensive care plan, with the most urgent being elevated potassium levels and the second being an acute decompensated heart failure exacerbation. Examples of other immediate items to be addressed in the hospital included atrial fibrillation, iron deficiency anemia and coronary artery disease management. The tertiary issues to be treated outside the hospital included issues such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, vaccinations and acid reflux.
Fields and Hammons are both currently applying for residencies to start after they graduate in May. Fields is interested in the cardiology, critical care and informatics fields. Hammons is interested in the critical care and informatics field.
Fields credits the Lipscomb faculty for preparing him for the competition. They have really instilled in us the expertise and passion they have for their areas of practice, which is ultimately what led to our success,” Fields said, with Hammons complete agreement.
