Mary and Melanie had the opportunity to attend ASHP Midyear this year which was live in-person. This was Melanie's first time attending and she was very excited since it is one of the biggest pharmacy conferences in the world. Mary was happy to be back after attending virtually for the past 2 years. They were so impressed with how everything was so well organized including ASHP check-in, the ASHP Midyear App, the exhibitor hall, etc. There was so much to see but they were focused on meeting the exhibitors and attending a few lectures specifically related to the speciality of compounding. They attended the opening session with Michael Strahan, and said he was very funny and shared a lot about his personal journey. He was inspiring and movitivating. The one thing they got from him is changing how you speak about future endeavours. Don't say "if" but say "when" as if to change your mindset and be positive and assertive that something will happen. Since Mary and Mel are in their first year of business together they thought this was very good advice.
They attended the lecture "Oh No: There's Something Growing in My IV Room" presented by Patti Kienle and Abby Roth. This was excellent as it provided great information for pharmacy compounders out there that have dealt with excursions and when the audience was polled, they had all dealt with excursions before which was not surprising. They also attended "Surface Contamination Result Under USP <800>: Risk Approaches and Decision-Making" presented by Working Buildings/Safebride which they found interesting discussing the accepted surface limits (ASL), occupational exposure banned (OEB) and occupational exposure limits (OEL). They walked through the calculations and definitions which they found very helpful. Mary also had the opportunity to attend the workshop "Culture and the Cost of Fitting In" presented by Leslie Riley which she found very helpful since compounding issues are often not everyone's favorite subject to discuss making it difficult for compounding specialist pharmacists to "fit in" and she talked about how imposter syndrome is actually good for you and why. She was able to meet new pharmacists and do group work with them that she is able to take back to her practice.
They also spent a lot of time in the exhibitor hall where they met so many amazing companies with all the same goal for enhanced innovation and patient safety and had the opportunity to help answer USP 797 (2022) questions during a expert panel discussion.
Did you attend ASHP? If so, we would love to hear about your experience. Please leave your comments below.
Midyear was great and I really suggest that anyone who can attends next year!