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Student APhA The Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association
Student
APhA
The Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association The Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association (STPA) gives the Texas pharmacy student a complete membership and voice in pharmacy. This may sound like a sales pitch to join STPA, but looking into the organization, one can see that STPA gives the student a chance for total involvement in the profession. To get a true picture of STPA, one must look at its parent organization, the Texas Pharmaceutical Association. TPA was founded nearly one hundred years ago, and is made up of forty-eight component chapters. Most important to the pharmacy student, the three colleges of pharmacy in Texas are included in these component members. Also, TPA is one of the eighteen affiliated members of the American Pharmaceutical Association, which gives the student a link with APhA. Although STPA is only three years old officially, its history goes back several years to when TPA voted to give each of the three colleges a vote in the TPA house of delegates. This was followed two years later by student representation on the TPA councils and committees and an increase in House votes, proportiona te to the total SAPhA membership of each college. After trying to handle all these responsibilities as separate chapters for two years, the University of Houston, Texas Southern University and The University of Texas decided to organize so the three colleges could become unified not only on the state level, but also on the regional and national level of SAPhA as well. So, in 1971, prior to the TPA annual meeting in Fort Worth, the three colleges met and formed the Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association. In three years, STPA has been involved in bettering the role of the pharmacy student in several areas. One of the most important accomplishments of STP A was successfully lobbying in the state legislature for the passage of a bill giving pharmacy interns the legal right to dispense prescriptions under the supervis.ion of a qualified preceptor in the last four hundred hours of internship. Last year the first meeting of deans, faculty and student representatives on the academic level was accomplished by STPA. This was the first time that the three colleges had full representation at a meeting where curriculum. job opportunities, similarities and differences in the colleges could be discussed with complete involvement from all levels. STPA has enabled students to gain the expertise to get their goals and issues accepted in Texas pharmacy. It has served as a training ground for several leaders of the state association, as well as leaders on the national level of APhA and SAPhA. With the state association giving the colleges the opportunity to form STP A, and giving the student total input, TPA has realized increased membership as well as better involvement, and the student has realized the importance of the state association. Ifthe APhA student chapters are segregated from the state associations, then they are an outside element in state
pharmacy with input only through the regional and national level of SAPhA. But, with incorporation into the state association, the SAPhA chapter, along with the state association, becomes totally unified, and better able to cope with all issues that arise in pharmacy. Through STPA, TPA has given the Texas pharmacy student the mechanism for a viable and important tool and it is up to the students to use the tools given to them to the utmost.. TPA has also given STPA a most important goal in the future of the Texas student-membership in our state organization. As with any organization, STPA suffers from the apathy of some of its members. There are several reasons for this. It is a young organization, there are three colleges involved, and all of its members are trying to get an education at the same time. Being a young organization, STPA has administrative problems to be worked out. Also, in an organization which has three colleges there are going to be certain rivalries involved. It is easy when people are involved in an issue to forget the issue and start to bring out these rivalries to the detriment of the organization. For an organization to survive and function properly. each member must be willing to do what is the best for the organization. The last problem STPA has can be tied into every pharmaceutical association-the excuse of having more important things than the organization. This does not mean that getting an education is not the most important goal of the student, but too many students use this as an excuse to slide along and not get involved. These students carry this apathy into their practice, and then their job becomes more important than the organization. Too many students and pharmacists complain about the organization or ask, "What can the organization do for me?" This is not the purpose of STPA, SAPhA, TPA or APhA. The purpose of these organizations is to represent the views and the practice of pharmacy. This cannot be expressed in the class room or in a pharmacy. It must be expressed where the public, the legislature, and other pharmacists can hear these views. Without total participation from each individualwhich does take time and work-there can be no organization. When STPA has had to meet challenges and overcome apathy it has been successful. It has tried to overcome rivalry by having face-to-face meetings and this is working. STPA is proving that it is viable, thereby it is closing the gap of non-involvement. With the important issues that are facing pharmacy in the near future, it will be interesting to see if all associations-including STPA-will be able to overcome rivalries, apathy and division to better pharmacy and increase the public's well being. Virgil Bohannon Jr. Region VI Delegate Member, STP A Vol. NS 15, No.1, January 1975
47
APhA
The Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association The Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association (STPA) gives the Texas pharmacy student a complete membership and voice in pharmacy. This may sound like a sales pitch to join STPA, but looking into the organization, one can see that STPA gives the student a chance for total involvement in the profession. To get a true picture of STPA, one must look at its parent organization, the Texas Pharmaceutical Association. TPA was founded nearly one hundred years ago, and is made up of forty-eight component chapters. Most important to the pharmacy student, the three colleges of pharmacy in Texas are included in these component members. Also, TPA is one of the eighteen affiliated members of the American Pharmaceutical Association, which gives the student a link with APhA. Although STPA is only three years old officially, its history goes back several years to when TPA voted to give each of the three colleges a vote in the TPA house of delegates. This was followed two years later by student representation on the TPA councils and committees and an increase in House votes, proportiona te to the total SAPhA membership of each college. After trying to handle all these responsibilities as separate chapters for two years, the University of Houston, Texas Southern University and The University of Texas decided to organize so the three colleges could become unified not only on the state level, but also on the regional and national level of SAPhA as well. So, in 1971, prior to the TPA annual meeting in Fort Worth, the three colleges met and formed the Student Texas Pharmaceutical Association. In three years, STPA has been involved in bettering the role of the pharmacy student in several areas. One of the most important accomplishments of STP A was successfully lobbying in the state legislature for the passage of a bill giving pharmacy interns the legal right to dispense prescriptions under the supervis.ion of a qualified preceptor in the last four hundred hours of internship. Last year the first meeting of deans, faculty and student representatives on the academic level was accomplished by STPA. This was the first time that the three colleges had full representation at a meeting where curriculum. job opportunities, similarities and differences in the colleges could be discussed with complete involvement from all levels. STPA has enabled students to gain the expertise to get their goals and issues accepted in Texas pharmacy. It has served as a training ground for several leaders of the state association, as well as leaders on the national level of APhA and SAPhA. With the state association giving the colleges the opportunity to form STP A, and giving the student total input, TPA has realized increased membership as well as better involvement, and the student has realized the importance of the state association. Ifthe APhA student chapters are segregated from the state associations, then they are an outside element in state
pharmacy with input only through the regional and national level of SAPhA. But, with incorporation into the state association, the SAPhA chapter, along with the state association, becomes totally unified, and better able to cope with all issues that arise in pharmacy. Through STPA, TPA has given the Texas pharmacy student the mechanism for a viable and important tool and it is up to the students to use the tools given to them to the utmost.. TPA has also given STPA a most important goal in the future of the Texas student-membership in our state organization. As with any organization, STPA suffers from the apathy of some of its members. There are several reasons for this. It is a young organization, there are three colleges involved, and all of its members are trying to get an education at the same time. Being a young organization, STPA has administrative problems to be worked out. Also, in an organization which has three colleges there are going to be certain rivalries involved. It is easy when people are involved in an issue to forget the issue and start to bring out these rivalries to the detriment of the organization. For an organization to survive and function properly. each member must be willing to do what is the best for the organization. The last problem STPA has can be tied into every pharmaceutical association-the excuse of having more important things than the organization. This does not mean that getting an education is not the most important goal of the student, but too many students use this as an excuse to slide along and not get involved. These students carry this apathy into their practice, and then their job becomes more important than the organization. Too many students and pharmacists complain about the organization or ask, "What can the organization do for me?" This is not the purpose of STPA, SAPhA, TPA or APhA. The purpose of these organizations is to represent the views and the practice of pharmacy. This cannot be expressed in the class room or in a pharmacy. It must be expressed where the public, the legislature, and other pharmacists can hear these views. Without total participation from each individualwhich does take time and work-there can be no organization. When STPA has had to meet challenges and overcome apathy it has been successful. It has tried to overcome rivalry by having face-to-face meetings and this is working. STPA is proving that it is viable, thereby it is closing the gap of non-involvement. With the important issues that are facing pharmacy in the near future, it will be interesting to see if all associations-including STPA-will be able to overcome rivalries, apathy and division to better pharmacy and increase the public's well being. Virgil Bohannon Jr. Region VI Delegate Member, STP A Vol. NS 15, No.1, January 1975
47