Pharmacy Customer Service

MEHERETAB ABRAHA, PharmD.

**** ******** ****, ******** ******, MN 55429

Private email: *******@*****.***; or ********@*****.***; & Phone#: 763-***-**** or 763-***-**** EDUCATION Pharmacy School, University of Minnesota - Twine Cities

• Doctor of Pharmacy degree, June 1998.

• Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree, December 1997. EMPLOYMENT Veterans Hospital, Minneapolis – Minnesota June 2008 to present: HISTORY

MNVA Anticoagulation Clinic Clinical Pharmacist, July 2011 to the present As a MNVA Anticoagulation Clinic, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist & provider:

• I provided direct management of warfarin and target-specific oral anticoagulants as needed and for the designated duration of therapy for our veterans and per the recommendation of the veteran’s MNVA PCP or his MNVA-managed CBOC.

• Per the limits of my scope and per the standard practice of care of our anticoagulation clinic, I initiated and managed anticoagulation therapy only in response to a clear request made by a licensed practitioner via a consult that stated the required indication for anticoagulation, desired anticoagulant, target goal INR range if patient was treated with warfarin, and the duration of anticoagulation needed or expected.

• However, if any issues or concerns were identified during my review of the consult received, with regard to the anticoagulation therapy or if I discovered new issues that the licensed prescriber wasn’t aware of or had a chance to review and address, I flagged the provider in a timely manner with the concern that needed to be addressed, in order to come up with optimal oral anticoagulant med based on patient-specific factors such as patient labs, diet, life style, DDI or any other medical, mental or social issues that may make it too difficult for the patient to comply with his anticoagulation therapy properly and I would actively recommended further evaluation of the patient by his PCP to accommodate those patient issues to make sure that the patient benefits from his prescribed anticoagulation therapy.

• Once a patient specific optimal anticoagulation therapy was agreed upon by the patient and his medical provider, I performed initial patient education and indicated follow-ups to monitor and evaluate patient as needed by ordering appropriate labs, in addition to in-clinic or phone follow up assessment of the patient pre- & post initiation of the prescribed anticoagulation therapy and to the best of my professional ability.

• I advised and/or filled initial dose of anticoagulant and handled subsequent dose changes to maintain optimal anticoagulation therapy based on patient lab results or patient health or patient specific changes that needed to be accommodated per my overall professional assessment of the patient, to the best of my ability and for the whole duration of the indicated patient’s anticoagulation therapy.

• Since I totally believe that patient education is a corner stone for the patient’s successful anticoagulation therapy and patient compliance by maximizing therapy benefit and minimizing side effects, I took as much time as needed in an in-clinic setting preferably or else via the phone to educate the patient and/or care giver about the new anticoagulation therapy particularly on the initial few weeks and months of initiating therapy and as needed, thereafter.

• I monitored diet, changes in other meds, alcohol consumption, kidney & liver functions and other aspects of patients anticoagulation therapy in an attempt to prevent adverse DDI while striving to maintain therapeutic anticoagulation therapy and accommodate patient’s personal and social needs in light of his/her anticoagulation therapy and didn’t hesitate to frankly ask the patient respectfully to alter identified dietary, alcohol, behavioral, and other factors that present increased risk or impair optimal anticoagulation therapy.

• And if patient failed time and again, to take his anticoagulation therapy seriously and continued to be noncompliant, I alerted PCP as needed. And circumstances were the risk of adverse outcome outweighed the benefits of the prescribed therapy and if patient continued with the risk behavior knowingly, then I discontinued the anticoagulation therapy and discharged the patient from the anticoagulation clinic ONLY per agreement and clear instruction of the patient’s PCP or other licensed medical provider with scope to do so, and per the standard protocol of the MNVA anticoagulation clinic.

• I provided assessment and if needed be temporary management of enoxaparin therapy for patients whose warfarin therapy needed to be interrupted for any invasive procedure based on our anticoagulation clinic bridging protocol, when I was alerted about the patient’s upcoming procedure either by the patient or preferably in response to a consult from his medical provider regarding the upcoming procedure.

• I did my best to make the work environment in our anticoagulation clinic better for me and my follow coworkers, technicians, clerks as well as our patients and their family members and their caregiver who accompanied them during in clinic.

• I also tried my best to maintain good relationship to foster great team-work, fairness and transparency, and thereby tried to reduce redundancy, guessing and/or unnecessary arguments between techs and pharmacists about workload distribution by pharmacists to our respective technicians;

• As a preceptor I trained and supervised Pharm.D. and other students per the rotating schedule we have and participated in various presentations about current topics of concern/importance as needed and as time permitted to educate myself, my team and the students that I trained.

• I provided coverage for follow coworkers when a follow coworker is on vacation and took care of their patients as my own, and discussed any minor issues of concern identified or brought to my attention during their absence directly with them upon their return, instead of running directly to report it to the supervisor without first discussing it directly with them, to foster trust and maintain great team work, as I believe that all of my coworkers in the clinic like myself have no any other agenda or alternative motive but to provide the best care to our veterans by empowering and educating each other in any shape or form possible, and thereby serve our veterans, our ultimate heroes with the best of care that they deserve, and for which they have actually paid in advance, with their blood and their sweat, so that this great nation and its people can leave in freedom, free from intimidation, injustice or fear. MNVA Green AD Pharmacist, June 2010 to July 2011

Accurately Reconciled patient meds when a Veteran is/was:

• Admitted to our hospital, to assist inpatient doctors to provide the newly admitted patient with proper care by diligently interviewing patient or caregiver and documenting patient’s prescribed and OTC meds that they were taking at home before they were admitted and other valuable information such as allergies etc. in CPRS, and

• Educated patients and their caregivers on their new meds or dose changes when the patient gets discharged to home, to make sure that the patient is aware about the changes done and can follow the new instructions by making sure that the patient have all of the med and the necessary instructions needed, in time before the patient leaves the hospital.

MNVA Staff Pharmacist, June 2008 to June 2010

During this period, I worked in different areas of the Outpatient Pharmacy and as a new pharmacist I also floated as directed by my Outpatient Pharmacy supervisor to cover different areas in Inpatient, in IV pharmacy areas as well as in Outpatient Clinics, as needed.

Hence as an Outpatient Pharmacist:

• I reviewed prescribed pharmacy orders in Vista & CPRS for completeness by making sure that the order placed included proper patient information, dose, and route, frequency of administration, quantity and/or refills in addition to checking patient profile to rule out possibly allergies to newly prescribed med, drug interactions or incompatibilities, or duplications, and got in touch with the prescriber in a timely manner to resolve it, if any such issues were noted and then dispensed the proper med to the patient per his physicians recommendation and alerted/flagged follow coworkers with the issue so that the patient is properly counseled about the changes made when the patient comes to pick-up his medication.

• I performed my responsibility carefully in all aspects of the outpatient pharmacy care areas and strived to provide superb and professional patient care services at the profile window areas at all times by staying calm to maintaining respectful interaction with all of our patients and their visiting guests in the profile area even when some patients were irritated or were less respectful to others, and provided diligent and caring patient services.

• I also worked respectfully with all members of my outpatient pharmacy team and interacted with techs and fellow pharmacists alike, in such a way to foster and maintain great, coherent and efficient teamwork and did my best to maintain proper professional relationships members of all other departments of the MNVA as well as non-VA providers, for the sake of the common goal: Which is to provide safe, effective, cost-conscious and patient-centered drug therapy to all of our patents, by paying diligent attention to available formulary alternatives and per my assessment of patient specific factors, our current formulary policy and in consultation with the prescriber to optimize outcome and reduce cost.

• As need and or as requested I provided drug information on available formulary alternatives when communicating with various providers respectfully, and educated patients when such changes were implemented about their new alternative therapy as needed in a modified communication tone and style and according to the patient’s level of understanding and in an easy to remember or easy to follow presentation tuned to that particular patient.

• As a clinical pharmacist I abided by all the rules and regulation of the outpatient pharmacy to the best of my ability and followed all the standard protocols related to dispensing formulary prescribed meds and maintaining proper records for controlled, scheduled, non-scheduled or OTC medications and medical supplies, as needed.

• I processed and completed pending mail order in Vista on a timely manner and per my assignment for the day I interred tubed hardcopy for controlled prescription into Vista and processed them as needed, after verifying the information on the hard copy with the patient’s information in the computer system we have carefully to avoid error and promote patient safety.

• At the filled prescription checking station, I checked diligently to ensured that the medications vials or the dispensing containers were appropriately labeled to reduce med use errors, and increasing patient’s positive outcome and satisfaction with his/her prescribed therapy.

• As needed and per our MNVA formulary criteria’s I consulted with the PCP and other medical providers respectfully to alert them with our cost-effective alternative available drug therapy recommendation after reviewing the patient’s specific needs, allergy or former therapy failure history and/or pertaining current patient labs and health changes.

Cub Pharmacy Fridley, Minneapolis – Minnesota

Pharmacy Manager, 2003 to 2008.

• Supervised the accurate and efficient filling and dispensing of all written, faxed and oral prescriptions to our customers.

• Ensured that my pharmacy team provide outstanding customer service to all of our clients and patients.

• Based on my believe that a divided house can’t stand let along provide good patient care, I did all I can as a Pharmacy Manger to facilitate and promote unity and appreciation of each other, between members of my pharmacy team who came from different background, culture, religion and age group and there by strived to foster a reliable and strong team work by taping in the particular gifts and potential of each individual member of the team so that we can provide a great patient care to all of our pharmacy guests and to accomplish and excel in what we were hired to do, which was to provide excellent customer service.

• Provided patient education and counseled on their new prescriptions. Regions Hospital Pharmacy, St. Paul – Minnesota

Staff Pharmacist, 2002 to 2003 (on a part time schedule) Cub Pharmacy Lake street, Minneapolis – Minnesota

Staff Pharmacist, 2002 to 2003

Cub Pharmacy Fridley, Minneapolis – Minnesota

Staff Pharmacist, Winter 2001 to 2002

Cub Pharmacy St. Anthony, Minneapolis – Minnesota

Staff Pharmacist, Fall 2001 to Winter 2001

Cub Pharmacy White-Bear, St. Paul - Minnesota

Staff Pharmacist, Spring 1999 to Summer 2001

Cub Pharmacy Midway, St. Paul - Minnesota

Pharmacy Intern, summer 1996.

• Processing New Rx's, refills & resolving patient insurance problems and concerns.

• Followed up with patients on the phone to update & document patients' correct use and experience with their new drug therapy per instruction of the supervising licensed pharmacist, particularly when patients were placed on a new course of antibiotic medication to promote positive outcome. Chemical Engineering Department, University of Minnesota Undergraduate Research Assistant, Summer (1992 - 1994)

• Assisted in studying the development of carrot somatic embryos.

• Monitored, collected, analyzed and charted data from embryo cultures.

• Developed new techniques for single embryo tracking.

• Prepared medium for sustaining the growth of embryo cultures.

• Operated image analysis system, to monitor normal embryo growth. Project Technology Power, University of Minnesota

Mathematics Instructor, Spring (1992 - 1995)

• Developed and taught mathematics course for eight graders in a pre-college program sponsored by the University of Minnesota, Minority Department. PROFESSIONAL University of Minnesota Pharmacy Technology Lab, Minneapolis EXPERIENCE Pharmacy Laboratory Rotation, May 1998 - June 1998

• Prepared oral, topical, subcutaneous or intramuscular medication for patients in different dosage form and strengths that were not otherwise available commercially for especial patient use.

• Researched current articles to determine stability, and to avoid any unsafe drug-drug or drug-medium interaction, that could be associated with the new dosage form prepared, to insure patient safety and well-being. Apria Healthcare Services, Minnetonka, Minnesota

Clinical Rotation, March 1998 - April 1998

• Assessed patients’ clinical status and calculated appropriate TPN formula, accordingly.

• Monitored Homecare patient's medications/solutions for appropriateness of dosage, drug interaction and other related clinical aspects before delivery.

• Followed up with patients through the phone to evaluate progress/outcome of therapy.

Bel-Aire Pharmacy, White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Clinical Rotation, January 1998 - March 1998

• Performed on site lipid profile checkup for patients.

• Discussed the results with the patients and educated them accordingly.

• Worked in a Pharmacist-Patient-Physician triad of customer care, to set appropriate goals for a patient, and monitored and documented patient’s outcome regularly.

Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota Clinical Rotation, October 1997 - January 1998

• Monitored inpatients' daily laboratory values and drug therapy outcome

• Checked patients scheduled and nonscheduled medications for appropriate indication, dose, and possible side effects.

• Researched important clinical topics for current and up-to-date information. Wrote easy to read and use handouts and gave presentations to pharmacy staff members and fellow students.

Methodist Hospital, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Clinical Rotation, September - October 1997

• Calculated patient's Nutritional needs.

• Recommended appropriate recipe for patient's TPN.

• Monitored patient's lab values daily and adjusted TPN recipes accordingly. Fairview University Medical Center, Minneapolis - Minnesota Pediatrics - Clinical Rotation, August - September 1997

• Monitored pediatric patient's daily laboratory results.

• Assisted in selection of appropriate drug, dose and monitored for side effects. Abbott Northwestern Clinic, Minneapolis - Minnesota Hospital Externship, June - August 1997

• Monitored in-patients' scheduled & PRN medications regularly.

• Checked the patients automated drug delivery mechanics daily for appropriateness of loaded medications.

• Assisted in compounding, filling and delivering patients medications. Cub Pharmacy Midway, St. Paul - Minnesota

Community Pharmacy Externship, summer 1996.

• Learned basic skills required for working in a Community Pharmacy setting.

• Followed up, documented and addressed patients concerns with their new medications.

• Participated & organized projects aimed at educating Cub Foods customers about common diseases, which include: Diabetes, Asthma, Cholesterol and Osteoporosis.

AWARD While Schooling in USA, EGYPT and The Sudan [North East Africa]

• Harold Pratt Memorial Scholarship 1996-1997

• Melendy scholarship for Undergraduate Research Summer 1995.

• University of Minnesota African American Learning Resource Center, Outstanding Academic Achiever Award (1992 - 1995)

• Arab Maritime Transport Academy, Alexandria Egypt, Outstanding Academic Achiever Award (1989)

• United Nations Educational Office scholarship for secondary and post-secondary study (1980 -1986 and 1988 - 1991)

PROFESSIONAL Minorities in the Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota (1991-1995) ORGANIZATION Eritrean Engineering Student Association (1991-1993) SOCIAL ACTIVITY Trinity Lutheran Congregation (1991 to present)

• Active member of the Lutheran Congregation Church at Riverside, Minneapolis from (1991 to the present).

• Active member of the common table, in promoting dialog and understanding across diverse cultures, ethnicity and faith/religious practices by actively trying to notice and promote the beauty and richness in others and by bringing everyone around a common table for the sake of peace, justice and dialog and harmony in our immediate community and abroad.

• Active member of the church counsel (1996 to the present).

• Active member of the Global Mission Committee of the church (1996 to the present).

• Active member of the new building steering Committee of the church (2016 to the present).

REFERENCES Available on request.

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