An important message from our Ascend Learning CEO

Greg Sebasky, CEO of Ascend Learning sent the following message to Ascend Learning team members today. 

Ascend Team Members,

As we all witness the difficult and painful events of the past week, I, like many of you are experiencing understandable feelings of grief, fear, anger and sadness. I believe we’re all looking for the right words to express our strong support for those suffering due to ongoing racism and discrimination as well as the unequal treatment and lack of opportunity for many people, including black, brown, and indigenous citizens of our country. True humanity requires opportunity, justice and equality be accessible to everyone. I don’t have a perfect answer or perfect words to address all that is happening around us, but I do believe together we can continue to make a meaningful difference in the world. And I know we all share a desire to do what is right by and for all people.

Contributors: Mark Beaufait, Toya Moore, Betsy Conrad

The problem: There are not enough certified medical assistants in the labor market.

Every 11 seconds, an older adult is admitted to the emergency room for a fall. Approximately 80% of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and 77% have at least two. Additionally, one in four experiences some form of a mental health condition, including depression and anxiety disorders, and dementia—a number expected to double by 2030.¹ As the United States’ aging population grows, increasing healthcare needs are creating more pressure on healthcare providers and their teams.

Meet the modern military family: a family that often has two working parents (one serving, one in a civilian job) with two incomes, living off-base among their civilian neighbors.

Introducing Jeremy Sasser, NHA pharmacy strategist and host of OnScript with NHA, a podcast for pharmacy technicians and those who educate and train them.  OnScript recently launched as part of the Pharmacy Podcast Network (PPN).

Jeremy recently started hosting and broadcasting this podcast series as a new avenue for interacting with and educating customers, sharing their point of view on meaningful topics and driving thought leadership in the pharmacy industry.

Today, we bring you a question and answer interview session where he will share why podcasts and why now as well as an overview of the content, who should listen and how you can tune in.

Give it a listen here!

Since January, I have traveled across the country with a single mission: to unite educators and employers for the purpose of developing the best medical assistants (CCMA) together. Many of you read my prior article, “My New Year’s Un-Resolution: How it can benefit the healthcare industry”, so you know that I am passionate about this topic and I feel an enormous obligation to help advocate for the medical assistant profession. Here’s what I’ve learned so far in 2019…

NHA has recently been hosting roundtable discussions with allied health educators and large employers of medical assistants across the country. We have discovered opportunities to work more closely, share information and create feedback loops to support allied health educators, students and their future employers.  

Contributors: Keith Boring, Phillip Trezza, RACR and Carl Vickers

Hiring in healthcare is difficult. Finding a person with all the right qualifications plus the professionalism skills that elevate performance is no easy task for employers. However, there’s a large pool of potential candidates who have been trained in a way that instills a strong work ethic, cultural competence, and the leadership experience employers desire. Unfortunately,
this group’s training program is not well-understood, often leaving them overlooked.

Contributors: Alex Adams, Pharm.D., Brian Hille and Samantha Thompson, CPhT

Idaho was the first state to allow certified
pharmacy technicians to administer
immunizations — an advanced task that had previously only been permitted for licensed pharmacists.

The problem: pharmacists need time to counsel patients
Research continues to show that when pharmacists spend more time with patients, better patient outcomes can be achieved.¹ But if more time with patients leads to better outcomes, why aren’t more pharmacists doing it?