No skipped beats during a pandemic
Kaanan Shah is a second-year PharmD candidate at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth College of Pharmacy.
APhA–ASP Operation Heart, to me, is a way to promote heart health and raise awareness of cardiovascular disease. I have always been interested in and passionate about cardiology, since it was a big part of my childhood. My dad, a cardiologist, introduced me to the field at a very young age with his patients and the cases that he would encounter. I also used to always find stents lying around all over his office and was curious about them. He is the reason I chose to run for the Operation Heart chair position and possibly pursue cardiology as a future career. He is also the reason why heart health is something I am very passionate about, and I want to advocate for its awareness.
Walk it out
In my time so far as Operation Heart chair, I have had the opportunity to plan and hold events to raise awareness about heart health and disease. In the fall semester, I collaborated with Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity to gather a group of 25 students to participate in the annual Tarrant County Heart Walk, which was held in Arlington, TX, in September. The weather was perfect for a walk, and everyone who participated had a great time with enough time to go back home to study for Monday exams. Many participants told me that they were so happy to have come, as it helped them relax before a long day of studying.
Educating future pharmacists
I also had the opportunity to hold a practice Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for the first-year student pharmacists to help them prepare for their upcoming final OSCE in October. I worked with Operation Diabetes Chair Emily Quach and Chapter President-elect Brittney Guilbeau to put on this event. Second- and third-year student pharmacists signed up to act as patients or graders and presented the students with patient cases. Using the information from the case, the first-year students got to practice their interview and consultation skills as well as practice blood pressure and pulse readings as well as diabetic foot exams.
The feedback we received from the first-year students was glowing. They all appreciated the hard work that went into planning the event, which included reserving the OSCE rooms and other logistics that can sometimes present challenges on a large campus, and the opportunity to have one more chance to practice their skills before their final. This was a new event that hadn’t been done in the past, so it is something that I hope continues in the coming years.
Furthermore, I collaborated with Operation Diabetes again to hold a blood pressure and blood glucose screening event at a local Walgreens. Four student pharmacists had the opportunity to practice their physical assessment skills that we learned in our laboratory courses on the 22 patients they saw during their 4-hour shifts. They also helped educate those patients on the importance of routinely getting these screenings and to stay in control of their own health. It felt great to have made such an impact on these patients lives as well as giving the students a chance to practice their skills.
Reaching out to the community
The final event held last semester was the Hand-in-Hand clinic at the Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church in Arlington, TX, in November, which was held in conjunction with the Asian Pharmacists Association chapter at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. It was a mass event that provided various health services to members of the Vietnamese community. Along with blood pressure and blood glucose checks, vaccinations and even dental check-ups were completed. This event was held on a completely volunteer basis, with pharmacists and physicians dedicating their time off to helping the community.
This upcoming semester, I am planning for more events and health screenings throughout the semester so we can continue helping patients realize how important heart health is and helping them learn ways to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Like, share, follow
In addition to holding events, I also helped promote heart health through social media platforms linked to our school’s chapter of APhA–ASP. Using Instagram and Facebook, I created posts with information about various awareness days.
The first was World Heart Day (September 29), when I created a post about the purpose of World Heart Day, details about heart disease, and how to stay heart-healthy. I also created a post about National Blood Donor Month, which occurs in January, in which I emphasized the importance of blood donations, as the United States is currently going through a national blood crisis.
For American Heart Month, I am planning many more social media posts to raise awareness concerning cardiovascular disease. As of the writing this article, I am currently working on putting together a “28 Days of Healthy Heart Tips” series to post every day in the month of February, which is American Heart Month. In addition, February 4 is also National Wear Red Day, which is in honor of Go Red for Women. Go Red for Women focuses on heart health specifically for women, as heart disease is the number 1 killer of women. I am planning to get students and faculty to wear red so that we can take a picture to honor National Wear Red Day and Go Red for Women. The week of February 13–20 is also Heart Failure Awareness Week, which focuses on promoting education and prevention of heart failure. I am planning to do a daily quiz on social media for a prize during that week; this way, students will have a chance to test their heart failure knowledge and perhaps learn something that they didn’t know before.
Our chapter’s February general meeting will also be heart-themed. We will have a faculty member from our school who is also a cardiology ambulatory care pharmacist come and speak on how heart health plays a role in her practice.
I am very excited to see how the rest of the semester pans out and hope to plan more and more heart-related activities.
Operation Heart during a pandemic
Being the Operation Heart chair during the pandemic has been challenging. Event planning was tough because we needed to factor in social distancing and safety. On top of that, coming out of a completely virtual school year the year before meant a lot of my position included guesswork and using my own creativity, as the chair before me had been even more limited in her role.
Throughout the last 6 months, I have gotten more in the groove of how to handle events in a pandemic. I have learned that planning well in advance and having a backup plan is always beneficial. For example, with the Tarrant County Heart Walk, I had been monitoring the event throughout the summer to ensure that it was being planned in a safe way and that there were no cancellations. Additionally, I was planning my own “COVID-friendly heart walk” as a backup if the official walk had to be canceled. Participants would have had the option to walk alone and send in pictures or join me at Trinity Park and walk together.
Along with that, I learned that social media was a big help! Initially, I was not sure how to spread awareness without always being able to meet in-person. Creating informational flyers to post on Facebook and Instagram really helped get the word out, along with the support of APhA–ASP members who would share them to their platforms as well.
Grateful
I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be the Operation Heart chair for the 2021–2022 school year. It has been a great chance for me to advocate and raise awareness for a cause that I am so passionate about and to make an impact on patients’ lives. Along with educating students and patients, I am learning so much about myself while putting together these events and doing research for the social media posts that I make. I hope to finish out the year successfully and plan to continue to use what I have learned this year in my future practice.