Asad Patanwala, ‘PH02 was selected by the 2012 ACCP Awards Committee to receive the College’s prestigious 2012 New Clinical Practitioner Award. The award will be presented in Hollywood, Florida, on Monday, October 22, 2012, at 9:15 a.m. during a special session of the 2012 ACCP Annual Meeting.
The New Clinical Practitioner Award honors a new clinical practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the health of patients and/or the practice of clinical pharmacy. The awardee must have been a Full Member of ACCP at the time of nomination, as well as a member at any level for a minimum of 3 years; in addition, the awardee must have completed his or her terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously. Asad (Sid) Patanwala, Pharm.D., BCPS, is a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice and science and a clinical pharmacy specialist in emergency medicine at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Shortly after assuming his faculty position, Dr. Patanwala developed a new service within the emergency department (ED) at University Medical Center. He initiated a direct patient care and consult service for the ED staff, including nurses, residents in training, and attending staff. This on-site pharmacist activity now provides direct consultation to patients in the ED for more than 50 hours a week. In addition, the program works with the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee of University Medical Center regarding ED-related medication issues, including evaluation of new pharmaceutical agents and development of a revised computerized physician order entry set to improve patient safety.
Dr. Harvey Meislin, head of the University Medical Center’s ED, wrote in his letter of support for Dr. Patanwala’s nomination,
Overall, this program that has been initiated by Dr. Patanwala has become an essential part of the daily practice of emergency medicine in a very busy level one trauma center. The relationship between physicians and pharmacists has never been better; we constantly depend on one another. This relationship has extended into both the academic and research environment. As I understand it, the new clinical practitioner award is to recognize and honor a new clinical practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the health of patients and/or the practice of clinical pharmacy. Dr. Patanwala meets every aspect of this award. As the department head of Emergency Medicine for more than 30 years, the involvement of the emergency pharmacy program has made a contribution unlike any other.
Dr. Patanwala has published and presented on the impact of ED clinical pharmacist contributions to improving patient safety and reducing medication errors, including presentations at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians and publications in the Annals of Emergency Medicine and the Journal of Opioid Management.