NCPA
02-13-2009, 12:00 PM
From the NCPA Student Affairs Site (http://ncpastudentaffairs.blogspot.com/2009/01/student-engagement-is-key-to.html)
By Charles S. Hartig, PharmD Candidate 2009, NCPA SLC Member
Last year, I had the opportunity to lead the Drake University NCPA Chapter as the president. Throughout the year I had many difficult challenges such as fundraising, membership drives, and professional events. Other pharmacy organizations as well continued to be involved with the pharmacy profession and incorporate different pharmacy programs. There were definite obstacles to working within a pharmacy student organization. One such obstacle that was constant for both NCPA and all of the other pharmacy organizations was lack of student involvement. While executive committees of each organization tirelessly planned events, turn out was marginal. Some events grabbed more attention than others but on the whole many student leaders were disappointed.
In reality this had been a problem for a long time. Student leaders always thought student members sign up for a national organization to receive the publications, discounts to annual meetings, or simply for their resume. But in actuality this information was anecdotal. We had no idea why people weren’t signing up for pharmacy organization events and meetings.
The Drake University ASP president and I decided to unscientifically present some of our attendance records from meetings, conventions, and other events. Our average attendance to national annual meetings was ? 9% of our chapter. The average bi-weekly meeting attendance was ? 30%.
Following up from a national meeting, a survey was released to record specific reasons students did not attend the national meeting. The top three reasons (by ranking) for missing a meeting were (1) school work (69%), (2) other commitments (58%), and (3) cost (44%). While the findings are interesting and contrary to our popular beliefs, the solutions were much harder to come by.
In reality, pharmacy organizations always deal with cross programming (meetings and events falling at the same time). Class time and school work also can fall within meetings and events. It is difficult to find meeting times that collaborate with all members schedules. Students are busy and school comes first. This is a hard obstacle to overcome. NCPA at Drake found that meeting later in the evening (7-8pm) would allow more students to come to meetings. We also started publicizing events far in advance for pharmacy students to get them on their schedule and find other times to study for exams. Another adaptive technique was to start utilizing programming that could handle any amount of people but only need a handful to be successful.
Cost was also a major issue. With students ever the more strapped for cash, travel and hotel can be more than a student budget can afford. We looked to Drake University to help all pharmacy organizations pay the bill for student travel and meeting registration. Drake along with many other colleges of pharmacy do have travel accounts for students to attend national meetings, unfortunately the money usually is limited. Cost continues to be an ongoing obstacle for students wishing to go to an annual convention.
There are many perceived obstacles that can stop a student getting involved with professional organizations. Students currently involved have found it a truly rewarding experience. But when it is all said and done students must want to attend professional pharmacy meetings and events. The rewards can be great if students can get over those initial obstacles.
By Charles S. Hartig, PharmD Candidate 2009, NCPA SLC Member
Last year, I had the opportunity to lead the Drake University NCPA Chapter as the president. Throughout the year I had many difficult challenges such as fundraising, membership drives, and professional events. Other pharmacy organizations as well continued to be involved with the pharmacy profession and incorporate different pharmacy programs. There were definite obstacles to working within a pharmacy student organization. One such obstacle that was constant for both NCPA and all of the other pharmacy organizations was lack of student involvement. While executive committees of each organization tirelessly planned events, turn out was marginal. Some events grabbed more attention than others but on the whole many student leaders were disappointed.
In reality this had been a problem for a long time. Student leaders always thought student members sign up for a national organization to receive the publications, discounts to annual meetings, or simply for their resume. But in actuality this information was anecdotal. We had no idea why people weren’t signing up for pharmacy organization events and meetings.
The Drake University ASP president and I decided to unscientifically present some of our attendance records from meetings, conventions, and other events. Our average attendance to national annual meetings was ? 9% of our chapter. The average bi-weekly meeting attendance was ? 30%.
Following up from a national meeting, a survey was released to record specific reasons students did not attend the national meeting. The top three reasons (by ranking) for missing a meeting were (1) school work (69%), (2) other commitments (58%), and (3) cost (44%). While the findings are interesting and contrary to our popular beliefs, the solutions were much harder to come by.
In reality, pharmacy organizations always deal with cross programming (meetings and events falling at the same time). Class time and school work also can fall within meetings and events. It is difficult to find meeting times that collaborate with all members schedules. Students are busy and school comes first. This is a hard obstacle to overcome. NCPA at Drake found that meeting later in the evening (7-8pm) would allow more students to come to meetings. We also started publicizing events far in advance for pharmacy students to get them on their schedule and find other times to study for exams. Another adaptive technique was to start utilizing programming that could handle any amount of people but only need a handful to be successful.
Cost was also a major issue. With students ever the more strapped for cash, travel and hotel can be more than a student budget can afford. We looked to Drake University to help all pharmacy organizations pay the bill for student travel and meeting registration. Drake along with many other colleges of pharmacy do have travel accounts for students to attend national meetings, unfortunately the money usually is limited. Cost continues to be an ongoing obstacle for students wishing to go to an annual convention.
There are many perceived obstacles that can stop a student getting involved with professional organizations. Students currently involved have found it a truly rewarding experience. But when it is all said and done students must want to attend professional pharmacy meetings and events. The rewards can be great if students can get over those initial obstacles.