Strategies to engage pharmacy students and residents in worksite-based health and wellness programs

Provisions focused on wellness, disease prevention, and chronic disease state management are hallmarks of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and amendments included in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Among other wellness and prevention initiatives, the Act includes funding for federal grants to small businesses (<100 employees) to institute workplace wellness programs and for technical assistance to employers (of any size) to evaluate outcomes of existing worksite wellness programs. In addition, the Prevention and Public Health Fund established through the Act is providing support for a national project to create and assess comprehensive workplace health programs. There are numerous opportunities for pharmacists, pharmacy residents, and pharmacy students to provide direct patient care and patient education and to evaluate outcomes of worksite wellness programs. Clinicians and educators alike may find that involving students and residents in these roles provide valuable opportunities toward achieving educational goals and furthering clinical practice objectives, yet not a lot of literature on strategies to do so has thus far been published. This paper describes innovative introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (IPPE/APPE) and residency programs that have been developed through the worksite-based health and wellness program at Ohio Northern University (ONU HealthWise). Students and residents are also afforded opportunities to strengthen research skills, utilizing health outcomes and patient satisfaction data generated by ONU HealthWise. Involving pharmacy students and residents in the many aspects of comprehensive worksite-based wellness programs equips them with the necessary skills to assume the future responsibility of developing and administering such programs.