Embedded Pharmacists Across the Froedtert and MCW Healthcare Teams

Dr. Ryan Feldman, assistant professor and emergency medicine pharmacist, and Ami Leigh Schmidt, PharmD ’23, resident pharmacist, draw up medications in the Froedtert Hospital emergency department.

Pharmacists, including faculty in the MCW School of Pharmacy, are medication experts who are continually learning – as new medications continually come to market and new data is available to inform how existing medications should be used in various patient populations.

“Because I’m actively working in outpatient and inpatient settings and seeing what mental health treatment teams are doing in acute and chronic care, my lectures and examples I give to students speak a lot more powerfully than repeating information from a pharmacotherapy textbook,” said Kevin Bozymski, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, a psychiatric pharmacist in the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network and associate professor in the MCW School of Pharmacy.

A second School of Pharmacy faculty member who specializes in infectious diseases also works to infuse practical information into her curriculum. “I noticed when I became a hospital pharmacist that there was a disconnect between what I was learning in school and how medications are actually administered, as well as what could go wrong between the pharmacist verifying the prescription and someone giving the medication,” said Kristen Bunnell, PharmD, BCCCP, MCW associate professor.

MCW pharmacy students on the campus of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center can take the skywalk from their classrooms to Froedtert Hospital, a Level I trauma center. During clinical rotations, these students learn from pharmacists in specialized areas who see complex patient cases and also may be their professors. Thirty-two percent MCW’s School of Pharmacy faculty are practicing pharmacists in the Froedtert & MCW system.

Another benefit of the Froedtert & MCW partnership is that guest lecturers from Froedtert bring their expertise into the MCW classrooms. During the 2023-2024 academic year, the MCW PharmD curriculum was enhanced by more than 140 guest lecturers from various partner health systems throughout Wisconsin who contributed more than 1,000 hours of teaching.

“The connection to Froedtert allows us to have powerful lectures based on firsthand experience,” said Zach Hovis, PharmD, BCACP, MCW assistant professor and clinical pharmacist in ambulatory care. “In my advanced cardiology course, cardiology pharmacists teach our students about how they have recently managed a patient experiencing a severe heart attack.”

Access to Research Opportunities

Ryan Feldman, PharmD, BCPS, DABAT, MCW assistant professor, and Matthew Stanton, PharmD, BCPS, DABAT, MCW associate professor, both emergency medicine pharmacists at Froedtert Hospital, point out the world-class research opportunities for students on the academic medical center campus.

“It’s massively helpful to be co-located because I can walk across the hall and connect with pharmacy students who are interested in doing research,” said Dr. Feldman. “Early in their school careers, they can become involved in research initiatives or shadow to learn about what’s happening in the hospital’s emergency department. That’s not something you have access to at every pharmacy school.”

Erik Everton, PharmD ’20, an alumnus of the inaugural School of Pharmacy class, worked with Dr. Feldman on a research project to cold-call pharmacies across the nation to ask if they knew about an abuse of a drug called loperamide. That study was published, accepted as a podium presentation at a national conference and became a steppingstone for Dr. Everton to begin his career in the pharmaceutical industry following his two-year fellowship.

Dr. Stanton worked with then-student Tracy Zook, PharmD ’22, to review drug information on packet inserts for beta blockers and found that the overdose sections were outdated and too broad. This study subsequently was presented at a national toxicology conference. Another student is repeating this research project reviewing package inserts for calcium channel blockers, and the FDA has shown interest in the research abstract.

Preparing Students to Practice at the Top of their Pharmacy Licenses

MCW pharmacy students engage in clinical rotations throughout all three years of the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum, with Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences every Friday during the first two years; then, as third-year students, they are immersed in Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences full time.

“After some shadowing time, as students get more comfortable in their rotations, we’re getting them directly involved in patient care – from assisting with drug information for the providers to collecting medical histories and counseling patients on proper use of their medications,” said Zachary Pape, PharmD, BCACP, an ambulatory care cardiology clinical pharmacist and MCW assistant professor.

In psychiatric pharmacy rotations, students learn critical counseling skills beyond identifying the best medication and side effects that should be recognized.

“The pharmacist investigates what’s happening to the patient psychosocially and environmentally,” shared Dr. Bozymski. “If you're not addressing what day-to-day things they’re doing in their routine and the coping skills they’re building, the medication alone will not make a difference.”

The Froedtert emergency department has received national attention for its progressive policies surrounding team-based care – which MCW pharmacy students observe and engage in during clinical rotations. The emergency medicine pharmacists have prescriptive authority and also can administer medications in the event of a large-scale emergency, allowing all team members to practice at the top of their education and licenses.

Dr. Feldman provides an example of a multi-vehicle crash that may occupy all nurses in the trauma bay. “We’ll step up to the bedside to suggest the dose, draw up the medication and give the patient the medication as well,” he said. “We’ll give 100 percent of the care and prevent people from experiencing catastrophic care gaps that would cause death or suffering.”

“We are doing every part of the medication use process,” added Dr. Stanton. “We’re doing prescribing and transcribing to ensure that physicians are selecting the appropriate drug for the patient, and administering the medication. The pharmacist giving the medication and seeing the effect it has on the patient – that's something you can’t teach in the classroom.

MCW School of Pharmacy Celebrates Class of 2024 PharmD Recipients

In late May, the MCW School of Pharmacy conferred the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree on 35 students in the Class of 2024. A number of graduates are continuing their education through residencies and fellowships. Following the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Match, 22 of 23 participating students obtained postgraduate year one (PGY1) positions, yielding a 96 percent PGY1 match rate. Overall, 64 percent of these graduates are continuing their training in Wisconsin. An additional student also secured a postdoctoral fellowship position in the pharmaceutical industry.

– Melissa Behling