Kirtland’s pharmacy staff receives training from Veterans Affairs

  • Published
  • By By Lt. Col. Derek Larbie
  • 377th Medical Group Pharmacy Flight Commander
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  In an effort to help Kirtland Airmen receive the deployment training they need, the 377th Medical Group has teamed up with the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

The two organizations recently established a Memorandum of Understanding, a joint venture that allows active-duty personnel, as part of their Readiness Skills Verification, to learn from VA staff and to utilize their facilities.

Kirtland's pharmacy staff is being trained in areas of inpatient pharmacy operations, intravenous pharmaceutical preparations and trauma response and resuscitation.

"Our pharmacy service lends itself to training since it serves as a teaching facility for the University of New Mexico's doctor of pharmacy program, and the Central New Mexico Community College's pharmacy technician certificate program," said Dr. Madeline King, program manager for strategic planning and pharmacy education at the VA.

King said the VA's post-graduate pharmacy residency and psychiatric pharmacy residency programs "further demonstrate our commitment to pharmacy education."

The 377th MDG pharmacy's personnel started their inpatient pharmacy rotations Sept. 3 in the VA Inpatient Pharmacy. The VA provided training on inpatient, emergency and intensive care unit pharmaceutical care, allowing the 377th MDG personnel to perform intravenous compounding in a sterile environment and prepare emergency care medication orders for adult patients.

"We are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to receive this superb training from the VA pharmacy," said Master Sgt. Lisa Hill, 377th MDG Pharmacy flight chief. "This is the first time our Airmen have been able to fill this gap in their RSV training."

The Readiness Skills Verification is sustainment training designed to ensure military members with a fully qualified career field maintain the currency of skills necessary to perform their duties in a deployed setting.

Hill said the joint venture not only fulfills a gap in deployment training, but provides the Air Force with Airmen with razor sharp inpatient pharmacy skills who are fully qualified active-duty pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

"I've never seen such professional and helpful staff, who not only enjoy what they do, but take pride in training as well," said Senior Airman Sabrina Howard, who was involved with the initial training. "I can only hope that our patients view us in such a positive light."