Christina DeRemer

Christina’s Story

Christina received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, in Philadelphia, PA. After graduation, she completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency (PGY1) and a Primary Care Pharmacy Specialty Residency (PGY2) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. She then joined the pharmacy team at MCG Health, now Georgia Regents Health System, and obtained Board Certification as a Pharmacotherapy Specialist. Christina practices with the adult inpatient internal medicine/hospitalist services and in the pharmacist-managed ambulatory care anticoagulation clinic, where she precepts both pharmacy residents and students. She holds an appointment as Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy from the University of Georgia (UGA), College of Pharmacy.

Christina joined ASHP as a student and has maintained her membership for professional development, leadership opportunities, and national networking with colleagues. For her personally, there is a professional fulfillment in knowing that this national organization encourages and fosters individual participation for the unified mission of forwarding the profession of pharmacy and feeling the impact made through this involvement.

Facility

Based in Augusta, Georgia, GRHealth is a world-class health care network, offering the most comprehensive primary, specialty and subspecialty care in the region. GRHealth provides skilled, compassionate care to its patients, conducts innovative clinical research and fosters the medical education and training of tomorrow’s health care practitioners. GRHealth is a not-for-profit corporation that manages the clinical operations associated with Georgia Regents University. GRHealth encompasses: 478-bed Georgia Regents Medical Center, 154-bed Children’s Hospital of Georgia including the region’s only Level IV NICU, more than 80 outpatient practice sites in one convenient setting (Medical Office Building), and Critical Care Center, housing a 13-county regional Level I trauma center.

Significant Projects

Teaching and mentoring residents and students is an essential component of Christina's daily activities. She has precepted more than 30 residents in both ambulatory and internal medicine areas and more than 80 students in her 10 years at Georgia Regents Medical Center (GRMC). She recently accepted the roll as Educational Coordinator for University of Georgia College of Pharmacy IPPE/APPE pharmacy students at GRMC and was previously the resident coordinator for GRMC/UGA PGY1 resident class for five years.

With her practice in internal medicine, Christina feels as though she is involved in numerous aspects of the health system. One of her main focuses has been anticoagulation optimization, management, and monitoring. Institutionally, she has been collaborating to update the VTE assessment and protocol, and was previously involved in the out roll and education of the weight-based heparin protocols. In 2010, Christina was one of the two pharmacists that established the pharmacist managed anticoagulation clinic.

Regarding anticoagulation-focused scholarship, Christina is completing a 2014 resident project that collaborated with two electrophysiologist physicians that has been submitted for publication decision to Cardiovascular Drug and Therapy focusing on the impact of documentation of atrial fibrillation risk stratifications. She was also a site investigator and referenced in New England Journal of Medicine for her participation in the Clarification of Optimal Anticoagulation through Genetics (COAG) trial. Optimizing anticoagulation is an area of interest and practice focus for Christina.

Her second main focus has been to enhance hospital-based management of insulin for diabetic patients. Christina has continuously been collaborating with multi-disciplined professional teams to optimize insulin managed patients. This has been an evolving process that started with a pilot project and led to an electronic order set for assisting prescribers in ordering insulin with correction factor insulin and a hypoglycemic protocol. Most recently, after another MUE assessment, further adjustments to the order set are planned along with a cost saving approach for insulin delivery to floors.

Christina has presented at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, ASHP National Pharmacy Preceptors Conference, Georgia Association of Perianesthesia Nursing Conference, and is a regular presenter with the Georgia Society of Health-System Pharmacists and GRU/UGA Grand Rounds, in addition to institution specific groups and in-services. Many presentations are related to the above topics of anticoagulation, insulin management, and increasing use of extenders.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

“Be open to change, embrace it and be bold. Being an active member in ASHP has also opened my eyes to the enjoyment that I receive personally collaborating with others to fulfill a need, create and complete projects, while working towards a unified goal.”

ASHP’s Value to Members

“I joined for the networking and residency support, but actively maintain membership for the overwhelming educational aspect and involvement opportunities. ASHP serves as a repository of endless information and resources from high view leadership and legislative aspect of the profession to focused learning on a specific medication.”

“ASHP provides a unified voice for promoting and forwarding the profession (like provider status!) It serves as a platform for information sharing and networking which is absolutely needed!”