Julie Duong

Julie received her PharmD and Masters in Health Informatics and Health Information Management from the University of Washington (UW). She has over 10 years of experience in pharmacy technologies and informatics and 6 years of clinical practice in acute care. She works for UW Medicine and is a clinical instructor for the UW School of Pharmacy.

Facility:
UW Medicine,located in Seattle, Washington, includes several teaching hospitals such as the University of Washington Medical Center - Montlake and Northwest campuses, Harborview Medical Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Airlift NW (providing air support and transport of patients). With a combined bed count of over 1400, UW Medicine not only services the Pacific Northwest but provides medical care, teaching and learning opportunities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.

Current Responsibilities:
I support distributive technologies such as automated dispensing devices, smart infusion pumps, outpatient dispensing systems, process automative tools, and data and reports for pharmacy. I enjoy teaching and have precepted pharmacy students and residents for almost 20 years. Currently, I serve as the residency coordinator for the Health Systems Pharmacy Administration and Leadership (HSPAL) residency with a focus in informatics leadership.

Recent Significant Projects:
The most recent project I led in partnership with others involved the integration of smart infusion pumps with our electronic health record (EHR). This project also included consolidation of three drug libraries to one single, thus required review of around 6000 items, 180,000 settings, and 500 configurations. While we are probably among the last few organizations to implement pump integration, the unique approach of integrating technological solutions and involvement of our pharmacy operations in the testing was unique and led to aligning 1900 infusion meds, testing 3200 orders, the fastest testing in 10 hours and highest first-day test passing rate of 97%. Our pump and EHR vendor noted our novel approach and intends to share with other organizations moving forward. We brought live the integrations across our 3 hospitals and achieved around a 75% (usual goal to achieve after the first week of go live) interoperability compliance upon day one. The integration has also boosted our infusion guard rail compliance to mid and upper 90% consistent with goals as recommended by ISMP. In recognition of the positive impact and success our integrated project had, we received the Project of the Year award from our organization’s IT department. We had such great collaboration and partnership throughout the project.

Advice for Someone New to a Specialty Area:
Don’t be intimidated by the technical speak, and know that you don't need coding experience. I have trained people who had technical experience and those who did not. I found the ability to track and follow deep detail then being able put things into context and make intricate connections while understanding the impact to users is important. As pharmacists, it is important to have a clinical base to ensure we continue to instill patient safety and guide sound choices in practice.

Involvement with ASHP:
I have been involved with the Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology Advisory Group on Operations and Automation for the past threeyears serving as a past workgroup lead and group member.

Reason for ASHP involvement:
While joining other informatics organizations, I missed the discussion with other pharmacy colleagues on technologies that directly impact pharmacy operations. ASHP was one of only a few organizations that incorporated this focus group into a national organization.

Value of ASHP for Peers or Colleagues:
Being able to exchange tips and practices with others in my field has been invaluable, especially in situations where we are evaluating new technologies, needing creative solutions to challenging problems, etc. The community has been so open to exchanging information and best practices. It has been such an honor also to instill my own practice into guidance or recommendations through ASHP.

Value of ASHP for the Profession:
ASHP has such a wide collection of pharmacists across the nation and the profession so its recommendations and guidance are truly well represented in current practice. I have greatly appreciated my interactions with many within the organization as well as the depth of expertise. My membership has helped me stay connected and grow as a professional and being part of solutions to issues that impact the profession.