LINC Research Council Members Receive Award from The Arlyn Kloesel Endowment Grant Program

The Arlyn Kloesel Endowment Grant Program for Innovative Pharmacy Practice and Business Models awards the LINC Research Council $18,000 for their grant Exploring the Impact of Interprofessional Healthcare Training on Improving Pharmacist Delivery of Care to Patients Experiencing Aphasia. Primary Investigator, Dr. Rebecca Moote, PharmD, MSc, BCPS, FNAP and Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Catherine Torrington Eaton, PhD, CCC-SLP were the brains behind this proposal along with additional contributors from the LINC team: Dr. Joseph A. Zorek, PharmD, BCGP, FNAP, Executive Director of LINC; Dr. Annette E. Craven, PhD, CPA, ACC, LINC Qualitative Data Analyst; and Dr. Angela Kennedy, SLPD, CCC-SLP, LINC Clinical IP Initiative Lead.

This grant funds research aimed at improving pharmacists’ abilities to communicate with and care for patients with impaired communication. Aphasia, an acquired language disorder due to stroke or neurological disease, creates significant barriers to medication understanding and adherence. Pharmacists counsel patients with communication challenges but receive little to no formal training on the use of effective communication strategies. This project looks to fill a training gap as there are currently no existing pharmacist-focused Communication Partner Training (CPT) programs. The interprofessional project leverages UT Health San Antonio’s LINC infrastructure to design and evaluate a virtual, pharmacist-specific CPT program. The project aligns with the Kloesel Endowment’s mission to advance educational innovations in pharmacy practice and improve patient outcomes through better communication. Congratulations to all those involved in this project.