Erin Sullivan

Sullivan is a pediatric clinical pharmacist specialist and PGY2 pediatric residency program director at University of Michigan Health - C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sullivan completed both her undergraduate education and PharmD at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, where she graduated in 2016. She then completed a PGY1 pharmacy practice residency at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo Michigan and PGY2 pediatric pharmacy residency at University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Following residency, she obtained a clinical pharmacist generalist position at University of Michigan Health - C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and then quickly moved into her current role as clinical pharmacist specialist – NICU, where she's been practicing for approximately seven years.

Facility:
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital is a 348-bed academic medical and tertiary referral center, level 1 pediatric trauma center, and has a level IV NICU. It also houses Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital with 50 maternity rooms. It has consistently been ranked as the top children's hospital in Michigan by U.S. News & World Report for the past nineteen years.

Current Responsibilities:
I am a pharmacist specialist in the neonatal intensive care providing clinical pharmacy services to micropreemies, complex surgical neonates, severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia patients, and a variety of other disease states. I hold an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and take APPE students, PGY1 residents, and the PGY2 Pediatric resident on rotation.

Recent Significant Projects:
One recent project I led that positively impacted care is a novel LMWH anti-Xa level collection method in the NICU to minimize blood volume, reduce patient discomfort, and improve timely monitoring for our patients. This quality improvement project showed outstanding results with blood volume collection reduced to 0.5 mL from 1.8 mL! We are now rolling out use in all pediatric patients <6 months old to further optimize care across the institution.

Advice for Someone New to a Specialty Area:
I would advise anyone interested in pursuing pediatrics to seek out mentorship and/or connections with others in their chosen specialty area through involvement in national and state organizations. This can be done formally through a mentorship program or through active networking at events such as the ASHP Midyear . I was fortunate throughout residency training to be surrounded by strong clinical mentors and noted as part of a team of all new practitioner clinical specialists, that this leadership and support was missing. Seeking out these relationships and maintaining existing relationships from residency was critical to success early in my career.

Involvement with ASHP:
My current involvement with ASHP includes an appointment on the Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists Advisory Group on Pediatrics, participation in the ASHP Nutrition Support Patient Care Impact program, and active participation in my state affiliate chapter as a committee co-chair for the last several years.

Reason for ASHP involvement:
I have been an active member of ASHP for over 10 years and initially became involved in ASHP as a student pharmacist to enhance networking opportunities and discover information related to health-system pharmacy practice and pharmacy residencies. I continued as a PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy resident to access residency resources, discover presentation/continuing education opportunities, network with pharmacists in my area of interest, and, due to encouragement from residency preceptors. As a new practitioner, my involvement declined with the all-consuming nature of a new clinical position, and I found myself feeling disconnected from the profession. I completed the inaugural ASHP Wellness Certificate Program and became involved in our state affiliate chapter of ASHP (Michigan Society of Health-System Pharmacists) and found a renewed passion and interest in organizational involvement. After several years of participation in our state affiliate chapter, I took a step outside my comfort zone and broadened my involvement to the national level with the ASHP SCSS Pediatric Advisory Group position and nutrition support program. My connection to other pharmacists through ASHP and our state affiliate has become an area that reinvigorates and dispels burnout and is something I am passionate about continuing for the remainder of my career.

Value of ASHP for Peers or Colleagues:
ASHP allows me to connect with other pharmacists both within and outside my practice area to broaden my perspective. It provides support/reassurance that others are experiencing similar challenges within their practice and provides opportunities for clinical and professional growth. These connections and opportunities are a lifeline to spark ideas and refresh my outlook of my daily responsibilities.

Value of ASHP for the Profession:
There are numerous areas of value ASHP brings to the profession with the most notable from my perspective being advocacy, clinical and professional development, accreditation of residency training programs, and serving as a champion of innovation in pharmacy practice. I'm honored to play a small role in this large organization and look forward to continued involvement throughout my career.