Pharmacy Students Do First-Time Flu Vaccinations

Maryland pharmacists and University of Maryland School of Pharmacy students take a significant step in health-care delivery.

By Jeff Raymond
January 11, 2007

Sana Majid leaned over David Roesner’s right arm, plunged a needle into his skin, and injected a dose of influenza vaccine. It was an utterly ordinary moment of health-care delivery, yet a significant step for Maryland pharmacists and University of Maryland School of Pharmacy students.

Before this flu season, Maryland pharmacists were not permitted to administer flu shots. But a change in state law, and new industry regulations, now allow specially certified pharmacists-and supervised pharmacy students-to give the shots. A collaboration between the School of Pharmacy and Shoppers Pharmacy, spurred by the efforts of J. Bradley Thomas, RPh, Shoppers Pharmacy district manager and a member of the School’s class of 1982, led to a series of flu shot clinics at the pharmacies this month.

The result was a win-win situation for everyone: Students practiced their craft, Shoppers Pharmacy raised its profile among the students while serving its customers, and members of the public received protection from the flu. Roesner, who was shopping for groceries at the Timonium store when he saw the flu shot display, decided to roll up his sleeve. The father of a student in the University System of Maryland, he said he was especially happy that University of Maryland students were involved.

Thomas, a former preceptor for the School of Pharmacy, used to take students into his workplace to help them gain practical knowledge and skills. He says he enjoys working with students again, and is happy to give back to his School and his profession. “I’m in a position that I can do something, and the company is also interested in developing a better relationship with the School,” he says. He hopes to have at least one pharmacist from each store in his district become a preceptor, meaning a dozen students could be working and learning at Shoppers Pharmacy stores at any time.

Cherokee Layson-Wolf, PharmD, an assistant professor overseeing the vaccination program, says the School will help press for legislative action that will allow pharmacists to deliver other kinds of common vaccinations. While the state’s doctors’ association objects to allowing pharmacists to give vaccinations, pharmacists see the issue as a matter of public health.

“Physicians alone can’t vaccinate all of Maryland,” Cynthia Boyle, PharmD, director of the School’s Experiential Learning Program, told The Examiner, a Baltimore newspaper.

Joining Majid at the first flu shot clinic were fellow students Carla Cabanilla and Svetlana Polyanskaya. Their supervisor was Maggie DiMatteo, PharmD, pharmacy manager at the Timonium Shoppers store and a 2006 graduate of the School.