P4 student Bindia Patel brought distinction to Longhorn pharmacy when she was named first runner up in the 2015 patient counseling competition sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association’s (APhA) Academy of Student Pharmacists.
Patel earlier emerged as a winner from the local competition to represent The University of Texas at Austin at the national competition. Local winners from each school or college of pharmacy compete on the national level at the association’s annual meeting and exposition. Announcement was made at the March national meeting of APhA in San Diego, Ca.
The national competition is divided into the preliminary round and final round. At the preliminary round, students select a simple practice scenario at random and are required to counsel a patient on the appropriate use of the drug involved. Students are then given time to refer to the reference sources available in the model pharmacy. After consulting the references and determining the appropriate information for the patient, the participants counsel the patient. Evaluations are based on the content and style of the counseling presentations. The ten highest scoring participants are then invited to the final round.
The final round involves a more complex counseling situation where the participants again select a prescription at random and are asked to counsel the patient on safe and effective drug use. In addition, the patient in the final round will display personality characteristics such as anxiousness, belligerence or apathy to challenge the participants’ ability to convey pertinent information in a realistic situation.
The top ten finalists in the national competition will be recognized during the closing ceremony of the national meeting. The four top winners of the national competition will receive cash prizes.