Congratulations to the SOP’s first-place team comprised of Caitlyn Tung (PY3), Emma Cousin (PY3), Amelia Brown (PY3) and Melanie Busch (PY2), winners of the recent UW AMCP P&T competition. This year, 11 local teams presented (one short of last year’s record). If chosen among submissions from other pharmacy schools across the nation, SOP’s team will participate in the National AMCP P&T Competition, scheduled to take place April 12-16.
The competition, which counts as three elective credits, typically runs from the beginning of December through the middle of January. Together in teams of four, students write a drug monograph, design a presentation, and compose an essay. Through a comprehensive literature review and analysis, the teams decide whether they would add the drug to a managed care plan’s formulary. This year the drug was Dayvigo or lemborexant, which is approved for insomnia. The competition focused on refining students’ ability to do critical research evaluation and apply population health concepts.
Amelia, who is a member of this year’s winning team, is also involved in AMCP as a chapter secretary.
“The competition has been a great adjunct to the curriculum because it teaches students to make their own clinical decisions about studies and how to apply them to a population,” she said. “It is also great because SOP alumni who are now working in managed care come back and volunteer as judges. It is wonderful to see how the SOP community steps in to facilitate learning for us.”
SOP PharmD students and AMCP P&T co-coordinators Ellen Huang and Zach Baldwin both applaud the above-and-beyond efforts of all participating students.
“I commend all the competitors’ resilience throughout this crazy time,” said Ellen. “They’ve asked great questions and have done the best they could to get the most out of this experience.”
Zach added that though this year’s virtual version of the competition hosted a unique set of challenges, participants succeed with flying colors and that the format will serve them well in the long run.
“The transition to a virtual competition has been a tricky process for all involved, I think,” he added. “But we are excited about this opportunity to have students experience a highly formalized online presentation, and I think we will see this sort of practice more and more, even after COVID-19 precautions are not needed. The skills learned through this are highly transferrable.”