I had the pleasure of visiting the pharmacy team—both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians—at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) last week to celebrate American Pharmacists Month (APhM). CDR Gary West and LTC Aatif Sheikh lead this group of dedicated individuals as they provide medication therapy services to service members, military retirees, and their families. As you may know, Walter Reed Army and Bethesda Naval Medical Centers are merging on one campus. Despite the challenges of building construction and renovation, the team provides inpatient and outpatient medication needs and services for the large number of beneficiaries within the national capital region and those returning home from combat.

I am always humbled when I visit our military hospitals; I’m so grateful for our service personnel’s willingness to serve our country. I was impressed with the multidisciplinary approach and their significant contributions to achieve positive medication outcomes for warriors with devastating injuries and often complicated medication regimens. Pharmacists such as Dr. Chengqing Li (she calls herself CiCi), Clinical Coordinator, serve as valued members of the care TRIAD Team that includes the nurse case manager, the primary care physician, and the service member’s supervisor, squad leader, and family, to ensure oversight and management of complicated drug regimens, pain management, monitoring medication adherence, and coordination of care.

Dr. Lisa Oh, the Patient Safety and TJC Pharmacist, explained the Department of Defense’s new Patient Safety Reporting System (PSR). The PSR is a Web-based tool that enables military health system–wide reporting of both medication and nonmedication-related patient safety and adverse events. The tool will provide critical information on how to effectively improve patient care through data analysis and enhanced data collection, ultimately improving patient safety in the military health system.

We all know of the challenges associated with transitions of care from hospital to home. This particular issue is a major focus in the Affordable Care Act (the health care reform law). WRNMMC is addressing the issue with discharge pharmacy counseling as an important aspect of Walter Reed’s medication therapy management process. Pharmacist Diana Lalchan works with various health professionals involved in patient care to reconcile previous outpatient and inpatient medications with those received at discharge. She also provides in-depth bedside counseling to patients prescribed and dispensed discharge medications to reach their in-house goal of medication reconciliation for 75% of discharges.

Harold Vizian serves as the patient advocate pharmacy technician, the first-line responder to resolve the patient’s questions and concerns related to their medication. His goal is to ensure patients have a safe, informative, and positive pharmacy experience. In the military system, technicians are empowered to provide many functions not yet available to them in the private sector.

This was my third year to visit at least one of our military hospitals. The highly motivated spirit of our wounded warriors and the health care personnel who serve them should be an inspiration to us all. I come away from these visits with a renewed drive to share their stories as examples of how collaborative care can work.

Hopefully, as we embark on consensus building of community pharmacy standards, we can use the insights gained from our military colleagues to inform the process.

Thank you to all who serve in the military, Public Health Service, Indian Health Service, Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal programs that support our public servants.

Happy American Pharmacists Month!