Yvette Mitchell placed in the top ten nationally at the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists Patient Counseling Competition. After winning a competition at the local level, Mitchell, a P3 pharmacy major from Mahtomedi, MN, competed against more than 100 pharmacy students from different pharmacy programs across the country.
“Competing against so many other students was pretty intimidating at first,” said Mitchell. “But it was really neat to get to interact with other participants as the competition went on and to see how passionate and dedicated we all were about patient care.
At the national competition, Mitchell first had to pass a preliminary round, where she was given a practice scenario at random and had to provide counsel to a patient on the appropriate use of the drug involved. They were evaluated based on the content and style of the counseling presentations.
She was one of the ten highest scoring participants, which gave her the opportunity to compete in the final round. In the final round, Mitchell faced a more complex situation, which challenged her ability to convey pertinent information to patients in realistic situations.
Anisa Fornoff, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Drake University , was a judge at the competition and is very proud at how well Mitchell performed.
“Yvette was confident in her abilities and did an excellent job preparing for the competition,” said Fornoff. “She is very compassionate and was able to successfully demonstrate care and empathy toward her patient’s issues and concerns.”
Mitchell and the other top ten finalists were recognized on stage during the APhA-ASP Closing Ceremony in March and received prize compliments. The ceremony took place during the American Pharmacist Association annual meeting in San Diego at the end of March.
Mitchell credits Drake’s Pharmacy Skills and Application series and her professor’s guidance and feedback for her success in the competition. The competition helped boost Mitchell’s confidence and made her excited to work with colleagues who are equally as passionate about patient care.
“Receiving this award was a great honor,” said Mitchell. “Many hours of hard work went into preparing me for this competition and it was wonderful to see how well Drake develops counseling skills in its students.”