Jill Robke

Dr. Jill Robke received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Kansas. She is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist. She was named Pharmacist of the Year 2004 by the Missouri Society of Health-System Pharmacists. She was a recipient of an ASHP Best Practices in Health-System Pharmacy award for improving immunization rates in at-risk patients in 2003. In 2002, she was recognized as one of Drug Topics Pharmacists of the Year and won the Missouri Society of Health-System Pharmacists research award in 1997 and 2001. She was named a Fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in 2009. In 2018 she was honored as Preceptor of the Year by the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy.

Current employment, practice, and academic responsibilities:

Dr. Robke is currently a Clinical Specialist at Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City. Saint Luke's Hospital is the flagship facility in Saint Luke's Health System, which consists of 16 area hospitals and several primary and specialty care practices, and provides a range of inpatient, outpatient, and home care services. Saint Luke’s has cared for Kansas City and surrounding communities for more than 140 years. Founded as a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, its mission includes a commitment to the highest levels of excellence in health care and the advancement of medical research and education. Saint Luke's Hospital Pharmacy is an ASHP Certified Center of Excellence ™ in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice. The certification recognizes Saint Luke's pharmacy department's commitment to superior patient care. Saint Luke's is the second organization to achieve the recognition.

In this position, Dr. Robke coordinates pharmacy care in the abdominal transplant area and serves as a preceptor for the inpatient and clinic abdominal transplant rotations for pharmacy practice residents and clerkship students. She also co-chairs the System Pharmacy Education Team (SPET) for the health-system. 

Significant projects and accomplishments:

Dr. Robke was a founding member of the system pharmacy education team (SPET), which is a staff-led committee of pharmacists from across Saint Luke's Health System focused on optimizing the use of students as patient care extenders. SPET's primary goal is to support preceptors and students and standardize the learner experience across the health-system. SPET has continuously worked to coordinate the patient care services provided by our different student pharmacist groups. During the pandemic, Dr. Robke was part of the COVID-19 Vaccination Task force, responsible for providing immunizers for vaccine clinics. Pharmacy learners helped to staff 38 clinics between December 17, 2020, and February 5, 2021, and administered over 15,000 vaccine doses. Since the pandemic, Saint Luke's and SPET have continued to utilize student learners a primary immunizer during our annual employee influenza vaccine clinics.

Promotion of Health System Pharmacy Practice:

An unintended consequence of students staffing employee vaccine clinics has been the opportunity for them to interact with a wide variety of hospital employees from environmental services to professionals. Often, employees are unaware that pharmacists deliver more vaccines than any other health care worker. This has frequently initiated enlightening inquiries about the students' pharmacy coursework and patient care experiences.

Professional Engagement & SPE:

Dr. Robke has been a member of ASHP her entire career. Dr. Robke was awarded a ASHP Foundation research grant in 1999, completed an asthma patient care traineeship in 2000, served on the Council on Therapeutics 2004-2007, served on the ASHP task force on the changing demographics in 2009, was a voting participant at the 2010 Pharmacy Practice Model initiative, and a chapter author for the Preceptors Handbook. In addition, she served as panelist for both literature awards and immunization grants. Her most recent appointment is the Section of Pharmacy Educators Development of Student Education and Learning Experiences Advisory Group. 

ASHP & Pharmacy Education:

ASHP sets the practice standards for our profession. As such, it is the starting point for practitioner to both share and seek out best practices. The preceptor resource center provides tools and information to support novice and experienced teachers. In addition, the ASHP is the chief advocate for our profession and benefits all pharmacists. That motivates me to be involved and give back. 

Professional Advice: 

Find mentors that practice sustainable precepting. This will allow you to develop the skills to make learners essential to your practice.