Angelo Ballasiotes provides WSU students with a chance to experience many different aspects of the pharmacy profession during their six-week pharmacy rotation.
“The rotation is really a window into what pharmacy can do,” said Ballasiotes, clinical assistant professor of pharmacotherapy.
Ballasiotes, who works with patients who have mental illnesses and substance-abuse issues, also teaches in Spokane about anxiety disorders, dual diagnosis and other areas.
Ballasiotes works at four Yakima clinics, including inpatient and outpatient clinics, as well as the jail in the area. He mentors up to two fourth-year pharmacy students during each rotation throughout the year.
“I have students with me all the time,” he said.
Building confidence
Students are chosen at random for the rotation, which has been offered for about 10 years.
“Angelo really has an idea of where he wants you to go with the rotation,” said Dustin Tjersland, a student who went through the rotation with Ballasiotes in May 2006. “He wants students to have confidence and act independently as a pharmacist.”
This is promoted by a novel aspect of the practice. Ballasiotes has prescriptive authority — he actually prescribes for and treats his patients. This unique ingredient provides an even more “real world” experience for the students working with him.
Students participating in the rotation become part of the staff, Ballasiotes said.
“The clinic really relies on our students,” Ballasiotes said. “They’re not just learning; they’re working.”
Students participating in the rotation educate patients in regards to drug and health issues, learn about the various side effects related to medications, authorize medications and refills, and sit in on the support-group process, Ballasiotes said.
Attending support-group sessions helps students understand issues many patients face on a daily basis, Tjersland said. Students learn about the mental health industry in Washington and become desensitized in their reactions to the mentally ill, Ballasiotes said.
“They learn that it’s an illness and it doesn’t change who we are as human beings,” he said.
You can’t learn it all
Although students participate in numerous aspects of pharmacy throughout the rotation, Ballasiotes said he realizes there is still much that they have to learn.
“They aren’t going to learn everything here,” he said. “In fact, I am learning something new every day.”
“(The rotation) really allows the students to understand and see what is possible in pharmacy,” Ballasiotes said. “I hope that is my legacy.”
WSU at Large is an occasional series about WSU programs outside of Pullman. If you have a suggestion of a program to be featured, please contact intern Jessica Fitts at today2@wsu.edu.
