PharmUC - University of Charleston

PharmUC
As an integral part of the education process, the University of Charleston offers an
innovative patient care clinic within the school called PharmUC, providing medication
management, immunizations and dependency prevention education, along with a fully
functioning Walmart Pharmacy, both staffed by a combination of licensed pharmacists,
pharmacy faculty and UC student pharmacists.
Dr. Krista Capehart, Dr. Michael Bottorff, and Dr. Michael O’Neil provide services at
PharmUC and serve as preceptors to student pharmacists. Comprehensive services
offered include diabetes management and education; high blood pressure and
cholesterol management; asthma and COPD management and education; smoking
cessation consultation; and substance abuse prevention services. Dr. Capehart, the
pharmacist-in-charge, notes: “The PharmUC patient care clinic is a very exciting place to
work. The relationships built with patients are special.”
In its first full year of operation, the PharmUC patient care clinic offered monthly public
events aimed to raise community awareness about various disease states. In January,
students and faculty held a free blood sugar screening, promoted by the students as key
in diagnosing diabetes before long-term complications develop.
February’s event was a free cholesterol and blood pressure screening. There was also a
free educational session open to the public on heart health.
The National Kidney Foundation, together with PharmUC, held a free Kidney Early
Evaluation Program (KEEP) screening on March 29. Screenings were offered to the
Charleston community and to UC faculty and staff for anyone age 18 and older who has
high blood pressure or diabetes, or has a parent or sibling with high blood pressure,
diabetes, or chronic kidney failure.
In April, the School of Pharmacy hosted its first-ever Medication Take-Back Program.
Members of the community were invited to bring unused prescription medicines to the
PharmUC, and 15 patients were counseled about where and how to appropriately return
or destroy controlled substances. A total of 346 non-controlled prescription drugs were
taken back, which added up to 40 pounds of medications.
Also in April, student pharmacists hosted the second annual “Operation Diabetes
Glucose Screening” at the Capitol Market in Charleston. The activity was sponsored
by the UC chapter of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student
Pharmacists (APhA-ASP), and provided blood pressure measurement, glucose screening
and A1C (average blood sugar) testing, in addition to measuring body mass index, all
free of charge.
Finally, faculty and students, in cooperation with Walmart, hosted a free spirometry
screening to check lung function on May 27. The event also included instruction in the
use of inhaler devices.
2011-12 PharmUC Events
Friday, July 29, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Blood Sugar Screening
Friday, August 26, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Drug Take-Back Program
Friday, September 30, 2011
10:00 a.m. - noon
Cholesterol and Blood Pressure
Screening
Friday October 28, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Flu/Pneumonia Immunizations and
Health Literacy
Saturday, November 5, 2011
time TBA
Diabetes Fair (Main Campus)
Friday, December 16, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Drug Take-Back Program
January 2012
Smoking Cessation Program (throughout the
month)
Febuary 24, 2012
Cholesterol and Blood Pressure Screening
March 2012
KEEP Kidney Event with National Kidney
Foundation & SNPhA
April 2012
Drug Take-Back Program
For more information, visit
www.ucwv.edu/pharmuc.
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