PQA provides healthcare quality experience to students from a wide variety of disciplines. This summer, we are hosting three students through our PQA Summer Executive Internship sponsored by Pharmacy Quality Solutions and MPH practicum program.

They are adding medication safety, adherence and appropriate use experience to their professional training. We recently invited them to answer five questions about the work they are doing, where they're going in their careers and how they hope to apply their PQA knowledge to their professional advancement.

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Brianna Dewitty   
MPH Practicum Program   
School: University of North Carolina
Major/Degree Program: Master of Public Health in Applied Epidemiology
Anticipated Year of Graduation: Spring 2023               

What drew you to PQA and our work to improve medication use safety, adherence, and appropriate use?
Improving patient outcomes through equitable measures is the goal of my career in public health. I have also recently gained an interest in pharmacoepidemiology and wanted to get exposure to medication quality issues that are currently being addressed in the field. PQA is an interdisciplinary organization, and I was excited to work alongside experts from various healthcare backgrounds.

What are your goals for your time at PQA?
My main goal is to improve my academic writing while learning how to convey the message in a way that is digestible for patients and members of the public. Working with oncology, I hope to gain an understanding of the methods and models frequently used within the literature.

Where would you like to see yourself in five years?
In five years, I am hopeful that I will become more comfortable with a variety of data visualization and analysis apps. I would like to be fluent in SAS, Python, and R. I also find Tableau to be an effective way to communicate statistics and would love to create a dashboard for a health department.

What do you hope to learn this summer at PQA to take back with you to school this fall?
I would like to increase my knowledge of medication use and healthcare quality as I have spent most of my time in clinical practice. I also want to improve my efficiency with data synthesis and data analysis.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that’s not work related.
I know how to play five instruments, but only three of them well.

 

Farehaa “Fay” Hussain  
PQA Summer Executive Internship sponsored by Pharmacy Quality Solutions
School: University of South Carolina
Major/Degree Program: PharmD
Anticipated Year of Graduation: 2024               

What drew you to PQA and our work to improve medication use safety, adherence, and appropriate use?
I aligned with PQA’s roles as an educator and convener, and I wanted to contribute to PQA’s work in addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) and quality medication use. I believe improving medication adherence is one of the most high-impact things a pharmacist can do to maximize health outcomes, but I had minimal exposure to performance measurement tools. This opportunity was unique as I could simultaneously explore things I am passionate about as well as areas I had little experience.

What are your goals for your time at PQA?
My goal at PQA is to learn more about how to measure and improve medication use quality at a national level. 

Where would you like to see yourself in five years?
In five years, I would like to be immersed in a career where I can educate others and advance medication use quality at a broad level. I want to work to increase access to care for underserved populations.

What do you hope to learn this summer at PQA to take back with you to school this fall?
I hope to develop my project management and leadership skills. My goal is to leave the internship with an enhanced ability to identify a need, develop a solution, execute it and share the results.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that’s not work related.
During quarantine, I picked up scrapbooking as a new hobby!

 

Bryan Weaver
PQA Summer Executive Internship sponsored by Pharmacy Quality Solutions 
School: University of Toledo
Major/Degree Program: PharmD/MBA
Anticipated Year of Graduation: 2025               

What drew you to PQA and our work to improve medication use safety, adherence, and appropriate use?
I am genuinely interested in the measures that PQA develops that affect safety, adherence, and appropriate use of medications. Prior to pursuing a pharmacy education, I knew I wanted to pursue a non-traditional pharmacy pathway where I could have a greater influence on the profession and quality of healthcare. With PQA I will be able to get a better understanding of these practices in hopes to apply the knowledge and skills in practice to improve overall patient care and adherence.

What are your goals for your time at PQA?
My goal while at PQA is to learn and gain a better understanding of the impact that the measures PQA develops have on health care and pharmacy.

Where would you like to see yourself in five years?
In five years, I would like to see myself working in a non-traditional pharmacy career. I aspire to work in pharmacy association management, working to provide better access of care to all patients.

What do you hope to learn this summer at PQA to take back with you to school this fall?
This summer I hope to learn as much as I can about how PQA works behind the scenes. I aim to develop a new perspective on the impact PQA has, not just in the pharmaceutical industry, but in healthcare as a whole. I want to experience first-hand how PQA provides better access to quality patient care.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that’s not work related.
In my free time, I enjoy powerlifting with my friends.