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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association has created two awards to recognize pharmacists who provide superior medication adherence services to patients.
NCPA said Monday that the new awards — the Outstanding Adherence Practitioner Award and the Outstanding Adherence Educator Award — will be presented annually starting next year.
The Outstanding Adherence Practitioner Award will honor a pharmacist who demonstrates a commitment to improving medication adherence and improving patient outcomes in a community pharmacy setting, and the Outstanding Adherence Educator Award will recognize a pharmacy educator who makes a significant contribution to pharmacy student learning in the area of medication adherence.
"Community pharmacists provide outstanding levels of patient care services related to improving medication adherence, while the profession’s educators ensure the next generation of pharmacists are properly trained practitioners in this invaluable service," NCPA president Lonny Wilson said in a statement. "In recognition of these unsung efforts, NCPA is establishing these awards to create broad awareness of these best practices and promote further adoption of medication adherence programs among community pharmacists, present and future."
According to NCPA, nominees for the Outstanding Adherence Practitioner Award will be judged on the demonstration of a continuous commitment to patient adherence services; implementation of coordinated adherence services involving other health care professionals; documentation of increased patient medication adherence; and promotion of the availability and value of pharmacy-based adherence services.
Candidates for the Outstanding Adherence Educator Award will be judged on the development of innovative course content or teaching tools on medication adherence;
integration of active learning techniques on medication adherence throughout the PharmD curriculum and experiential education; provision of regular feedback, encouragement and support to students who participate in medication adherence-related activities; and
development of unique teaching strategies to improve medication adherence in pharmacy practice.
NCPA added that the new awards are part of its commitment to advancing adherence as a core competency of the pharmacy profession by 2015. Nomination forms for both awards will be available on the NCPA website on March 1, 2012, and applications will be accepted until July 31, 2012. The winners will be announced at next year’s NCPA Annual Convention and Trade Exposition in San Diego.
