Health Talk

Editor’s note: Over the next few days, Health Talk is highlighting University of Minnesota health professional students’ stories about their experiences at the student-run Phillips Neighborhood Clinic. The posts mark the tenth anniversary of the clinic, which you can read more about here.

As we go through life, there are decisions that must always be made. Certain decisions are easy and a natural part of life, like deciding what you want for breakfast. Others are much more monumental. Joining the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) has been one of the best decisions, if not the best decision, I have ever made thus far in my life.

The PNC became a second home for me during the last couple of years. It has helped me develop my future professional career, one that focuses on the patient.

I truly believe that the PNC’s interprofessional environment is a valuable place to develop future health care providers. It provides an instrumental platform for putting knowledge into practice, and through programs and organizations like this, one’s professional development flourishes.

Experience has shown me that attitudes and behaviors that characterize a professional cannot be learned from a textbook or lecture. Rather, they must be actively acquired and instilled through the process of professional socialization.

Through the PNC I have had the opportunity to work and collaborate with students in other medical programs to care for underserved patients.

During my first year of school at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, I served as a patient advocate where I had the privilege to interact with many patients, be their voice, and coordinate their care team.

For my second and third year, I transitioned to the pharmaceutical care clinician role, a unique and vital role not only within the PNC but also for my future career in the pharmacy profession.

As a pharmacy student, I had the opportunity to practice my patient counseling skills and help dispense medications for patients. Additionally, I had the opportunity to suggest the appropriate choice of medication therapy for patients during care team huddles. Working alongside students of other health professions helped broaden my vision of the future of health care in the United States, where there is one medical home in which patients receive holistic care from all health professions.

Because of a leadership role I held during my second and third year at the PNC, I developed a comprehensive understanding of how to train volunteers and improve clinical operations. Furthermore, being in this role at the PNC allowed me to gain a better understanding of proper patient care principles. These lessons are priceless as I begin my career.

Thank you and congratulations on the 10-year anniversary, Phillips Neighborhood Clinic. Here is to another 10 amazing years of developing future care practitioners!