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Small Predicts Pharmacy’s Role for the Future
|
Ronald Small delivers the keynote
address at the
hooding ceremony for the School of Pharmacy.
photo by Bennett
Scarborough |
Ronald Small, chief pharmacy officer at Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, gave graduates a
glimpse of the changing role of pharmacy in patient care and what
they might expect for the future. Small delivered the keynote
address at Campbell University’s School of Pharmacy hooding
ceremony, Sunday, May 9.
“As pharmacists, you’ll be challenged to fulfill our
historic roles as professionals who, with the help of physicians and
other members of the health care team, hold the patient’s well-being
foremost in our concerns,” he said. “But as an integral part of the
health care team, pharmacy must create its own agenda for change.”
Pharmacists must continue to focus on quality
pharmaceutical care programs if the American health care system is to
survive, Small predicted. “I believe pharmacy is maturing as a clinical
profession and is well-positioned to continue to evolve if we focus on a
transition from product to patient care practices,” he said.
Opportunities to positively impact drug therapy through
disease management initiatives, expanded use of technology and
technicians in the medication use process, and new opportunities for
creating drug therapy by better understanding how an individual’s
genetic inheritance affects the body’s response to drugs are factors
that will positively influence the transition.
“Be willing to pay the price and do what is needed for
the people you serve,” Small urged. “Be self-disciplined, set goals,
care about people, stay informed, take risks, have vision, have fun, and
above all, be ethical.”
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Small earned a pharmacy degree and a Master of Business
Administration. He has made significant contributions to the pharmacy
profession--most notably in the areas of drug cost reduction strategies,
antibiotic utilization management, quality management, and pharmacy
practice in a community health center.
He serves as an adjunct professor at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Campbell University School of
Pharmacy. He is also a frequent lecturer in hospital administration at
Wake Forest University.
A total of 76 Doctor of Pharmacy degrees were conferred
Monday, May 10, during the graduation exercises.
The Campbell University School of Pharmacy was
established in 1986 as the first new school of pharmacy to open in the
United States in 35 years. In 1990, the charter class distinguished
itself with a 100 percent passage rate on state and national board
examinations. Subsequent classes have maintained a record 99 percent
passage rate on the national and state board exams. The School is a
member of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
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