Blueridge Neuroscience Center
Welcome to Blueridge Neuroscience Center near downtown Kingsport, TN! Here we work closely with the friendly medical assistants of Kristi, Kathy, Teresa, and Shiela by doing medication reconciliations on new patients. It is required of the patients, especially new one to the clinic, to bring in all of their medications including over the counter medications. As the pharmacy intern, you are to mainly focus on anticoagulants and pain control medications. However, there are instances when the patient would like to know more about certain adverse effects they have been experiencing and the possible cause behind it. Which led me to my glorious case study that I presented on a patient who was experiencing lucid visual hallucinations. In this case study I worked closely with Dr. Hagen and Dr. Hernandez to discern what the possible cause of the visual hallucinations were and formulated my recommendations off of these findings. After my presentation I added my recommendation to my powerpoint and final SOAP note that was sent to the nurse practitioner Bonnie Hurley and Dr. Ken Smith.
Dr. Hagen, Dr. Justice and Dr. Smith are concurrently working on a study cross-sectional study on Opioid morphine milliequilvalents in trauma patients. This study is actually intriguing in that they are finding whether or not the amount of MMEs can:
1. Help distinguish the need for surgical prevention
2. See how much is needed to treat certain traumas which include cervical, lumbar, intracranial and neurological.
This site is really beneficial to those who feel weak in neuropsych and ANS/CNS as Dr. Hagen is really knowledgeable on these topics. In addition, you are practically alone with the patient during a med rec so having a couple of professors/pharmacists that you feel comfortable asking questions maybe pretty great to have for counseling purposes.
During the rotation I had the pleasure of assisting with the Mental Health First Aid training for my second time with the p1 class and faculty. I also assisted with several lectures and presentations. So all in all, this was a great rotation and I highly recommend it for people especially if thinking about relocating the the Bristol/Johnson City/ Kingsport area.
