FORT BELVOIR, Va. (May 8, 2013) -- A Fort Belvoir Community Hospital clinical pharmacist was recently picked to attend a pain management program component, making her one of 10 pharmacists in the country chosen for the Pain and Palliative Care Traineeship.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists selected Dr. Hayley Ball, Family Medicine clinical pharmacist, for the five-day, experiential program which provides intensive didactic and clinical training at well-established clinical sites.
The traineeship prepares the participants to design patient-specific pharmacotherapy; solve drug therapy problems; and develop protocols, policies and procedures for the treatment of patients. The goal is to better acquaint pharmacists to proper pain management in hopes of establishing pharmacist-run services at Belvoir Hospital.
Ball currently works in Family Medicine, reviewing prescriptions with patients, adjusting medication therapies, following up with patients, and keeping close contact with providers. Some days are spent helping geriatricians in the falls clinic or memory health clinic, while other times Ball works on non-formulary drug requests throughout the hospital. But, each day consists of some disease management education and medication adjustment for better control of patients' health/disease states.
"I try to be a confidant for my patients and establish trust with them so that I am not [only] telling them how to get better, but instead working with them to help themselves get better," Ball said. "This is the most enjoyable part of my job, the face-to-face contact I have with the patients and their families."
The program is 40-hours of shadowing and participating in various pain clinics throughout the Baltimore region for better training on pain patients and proper treatment of their conditions. She intends to utilize the training to incorporate a pain management service with the Family Medicine Patient-Centered Medical Home model to better care for service members, families, and retirees.
Lt. Col. Eric Maroyka, Department of Pharmacy chief, said Ball's enthusiasm and eagerness to define the pharmacist's role within Belvoir Hospital's Family Medicine PCMH has been superb.
"Her willingness to put forth the extra effort in order to help the patient is one of the many professional attributes she prides herself on and is widely recognized by her peers, nursing, and medical staffs," Maroyka said. "I am exceedingly confident the additional skills she will gain through this training opportunity will enable her to provide an increased level of patient care at our site."
According to Dr. Ball's letters of support from the hospital leadership, her selection confirms a commitment to establishing an organized pharmaceutical pain management and palliative care service and involvement of the pharmacist on the patient care team. Pain and Palliative Care Traineeship will build on the hospital's quality-of-life standards and improve delivery of world-class healthcare.
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