What started as a local competition for pharmacy student Karrie Radovich, DPH-3, to learn more about being a better patient educator quickly became a chance to compete as a student pharmacist and the national representative from the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy.

Radovich participated in the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) National Patient Counseling Competition. The competition is designed to reflect changes that are occurring in practice, to promote and encourage further professional development of the student pharmacist, and to reinforce the role of the pharmacist as a health care provider and educator.

The competition began at the local level as students like Radovich competed to represent their school or college of pharmacy on the national level at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Fla. March 28-31, 2014. The national competition was split into a preliminary and final round. During the preliminary round, Radovich randomly selected a simple practice scenario and had to counsel a patient on the correct use of the drug involved. Participants were evaluated on the content and style of their counseling, with the ten highest, including Radovich, called to the final round.

In the final round, Radovich randomly selected a prescription and was faced with a realistic counseling situation that challenged her ability to convey pertinent information while counseling a patient on safe and effective drug use.

Radovich was one of the top ten finalists in the competition, recognized during the APhA-ASP Awards Ceremony, and received a prize compliments of APhA-ASP.