CREIGHTON CLOSED MARCH 19
Due to dangerous winter weather, Creighton’s Omaha campus will be closed on Wednesday, March 19. All in-person classes, clinics, and events should be considered canceled. Please monitor Creighton Alert and local news for details.
Creighton pharmacy students, local clinics create healthier communities
Image
A keen desire to serve others drives many healthcare professionals. At Creighton University, we strive to live our Jesuit values, both in the classroom and out. Of these values, being men and women for and with others; tending to the whole person, or cura personalis; and giving preferential treatment to the materially poor and marginalized are deeply rooted in our health profession education. These values form both students and faculty as individuals.
They also inform our curriculum, in which experiential learning plays an essential role. Hands-on experiences and Jesuit values converge at the free Magis Clinic in Omaha and St. Vincent de Paul free clinic in Phoenix.
Image
The Magis Clinic was founded in 2004 by Creighton School of Medicine students. Aided by such partners as the Siena Francis House homeless shelter and mission, it provides free healthcare and referrals to existing community services. It is the first free medical clinic in Omaha to treat homeless men, women, children and the medically uninsured.
It is staffed by volunteer students, physicians and pharmacists from Creighton’s School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. Services include basic acute primary care consultations and follow-up, physical exams, mental healthcare, laboratory services (including basic blood tests) and pharmaceuticals. Specifically, pharmacy faculty and students support medication management, patient education and chronic disease care.
Similarly, in its Phoenix counterpart, medical, nursing, physician assistant, pharmacy, occupational therapy and physical therapy faculty and students team up to serve patients at a weekly interprofessional clinic, using a team-based approach shown to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Specifically, pharmacy faculty and students support medication management, patient education and chronic disease care.
Serving these patient populations helps students understand the complexities of healthcare access and the social determinants of health.
— Yousef Toma, PharmD, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Creighton’s Phoenix campus.
The free clinics “align with Creighton’s mission to integrate service with education,” thus extending the University’s mission into the community beyond the classroom,” says Yousef Toma, PharmD, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Creighton’s Phoenix campus.
Image
“Serving these patient populations helps students understand the complexities of healthcare access and the social determinants of health,” Toma continues. “They learn to navigate medication affordability, provide culturally sensitive care and collaborate with an interprofessional team, shaping them into compassionate, adaptable pharmacists who are better equipped to serve diverse communities in their future careers.”
Many of the free clinics’ patients face financial, language or health literacy barriers and working at the clinic helps students understand the complexities of healthcare access and the social determinants of health.
“Students learn that every person should receive quality and compassionate healthcare, and we believe this service-learning opportunity fosters an Ignatian-inspired lifelong commitment of service to those vulnerable and underserved,” says Paul L. Price, PharmD, RPh, BCPP, senior associate dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions and associate professor in the Pharmacy Practice Department in Omaha. He adds that the experience also affords pharmacy students an opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary healthcare practice environment.
The pharmacy profession and the work of a pharmacist is at its basis about the care and well-being of people regardless of background, life experiences, culture, income level and insurance status.
— Paul L. Price, PharmD, RPh, BCPP, senior associate dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions and associate professor in the Pharmacy Practice Department
Most Creighton students are unfamiliar with the challenges of being uninsured. But “Creighton is preparing us to be people who care for and respect the dignity of others,” says third-year pharmacy student and Phoenix native Omar Villalpando. And “volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul gives pharmacy students the opportunity to start living and embracing the oath of a pharmacist.”
While working at the free clinic is mandatory for third-year students, many first- and second-year students volunteer their time. Brin Swanson, PharmD candidate’25, began volunteering for multiple clinics during her first year. She started picking up extra shifts, applied successfully to be a Magis officer and now serves as a student manager of the clinic.
Working at Magis “builds bridges,” the Lincoln, Nebraska, native says. “One is able to connect with individuals from different backgrounds and communities, which has helped me gain a better understanding of healthcare disparities.”
This experience has also developed necessary critical thinking, communication and problem-solving abilities, soft skills so important to pharmacy practice. St. Vincent de Paul volunteer Micah Paredes, PharmD candidate’27, says she has gained confidence in conducting clinical rounds, “managing complex patient cases where the answers aren’t always popping off the page” and developing strong communication skills, which are essential given that “pharmacists are often on the front lines of patient care.”
One is able to connect with individuals from different backgrounds and communities, which has helped me gain a better understanding of healthcare disparities.
— Brin Swanson, PharmD candidate’25
Magis and St. Vincent de Paul also provide lessons in adaptability. “Many free clinics do not have access to a large inventory of medications. This gives students the ability to use critical thinking skills in deciding how to optimize a patient’s health,” Swanson has discovered. “It is critical to sometimes thing outside the box when it comes to treatment for a patient.”
Shifts in the free clinics remind students that they don’t learn in a vacuum, that the real world is more complicated, more nuanced than textbook case studies. And that it’s a privilege to work with this population.
“The pharmacy profession and the work of a pharmacist is at its core about the care and well-being of people regardless of background, life experiences, culture, income level and insurance status,” Price says.
“We are trained to care for them. It’s what we do.”
