Script Your Future launches seventh annual student competition for innovations in medication adherence – National Consumers League
January 15, 2018
Contact: Carol McKay, National Consumers League (412) 945-3242, carolm@nclnet.org
Washington, DC–January 15 marks the launch of the seventh annual Medication Adherence Team Challenge, a two-month-long intercollegiate competition among health profession student teams and faculty for creating solutions to raise awareness about medication adherence as a critical public health issue. The Challenge, hosted by the National Consumers League (NCL) and its Script Your Future campaign, is returning to university campuses across the country after six years of successful student competition and innovation.
The Challenge is an integral part of Script Your Future, a campaign launched by NCL and its partners in 2011 to combat the problem of poor medication adherence in the United States, where nearly three out of four patients do not take their medication as directed.
“With the uncertain future of healthcare in America, the role of health professionals in helping patients preserve and improve their own health is more critical than ever. The Challenge uniquely encourages an interprofessional approach and lays the foundation for adherence-minded care among future professionals before they enter the workforce,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director. “Over the years we have been so impressed by the ingenuity of our student teams and their ability to impact patients in their communities. We look forward to seeing what this year’s Challenge will contribute to the discussion.”
The Challenge is sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA).
From January 15 through March 16, inter-professional teams—including student pharmacists, nurses, doctors, and others—will implement creative outreach approaches in their communities to raise awareness and improve understanding about medication adherence. At the end of the Challenge, teams submit entries for review by national partner organizations, and winners are recognized for their efforts to improve medication adherence.
“The Script Your Future Adherence Challenge has provided a tremendous opportunity for health professions students to illustrate how they can work collaboratively to improve patient care through better medication adherence,” said Dr. Lucinda L. Maine, executive vice president and CEO at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. “This challenge, now in its seventh year, continues to provide a great example of the power health professions teams can have on the public health issue of medication adherence.”
Since the Challenge began in 2011, more than 12,000 future health care professionals have directly counseled nearly 50,000 patients and reached more than 23 million consumers about the importance of medication adherence. Last year’s National awardees were the University of Charleston School of Pharmacy and Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). NEOMED also won two focused awards in the areas of health disparities and media outreach. The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy earned the focused award for creative inter-professional team event. For the first time, NCL also honored an outstanding team in their first or second year of the Challenge with the Rookie Award. This prize went to University of the Sciences Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.
To learn more about last year’s winners, visit the Script Your Future website.
For more information on the Challenge visit the Challenge Community. Tweet along with us during the Challenge using #SYFchallenge and follow the campaign @IWillTakeMyMeds.
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Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League (NCL), a private, non-profit membership organization founded in 1899. NCL’s mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information about the Script Your Future campaign, visit ScriptYourFuture.org. For more information about NCL, please visit nclnet.org.
