Krista Capehart, WVPA President, will present Leesa Marie Prunty, of Milton, the 2015 Excellence In Innovation Award in recognition of her demonstrating innovative pharmacy practice which has resulted in improved patient care. The presentation will be made at the 108th Annual Convention at Stonewall Resort during the Installation and Awards Dinner, Saturday evening, October 17.
A graduate of WV University School of Pharmacy where she earned PharmD and BCPS degrees, Leesa is a shared faculty member between Marshall and the Cabell Huntington Hospital’s Neonatal-Intensive-Care-Unit and Pediatric-Intensive-Care-Unit. She filled a unmet need as a clinical pharmacist in the Pediatric ICU at Cabell, before being added to the Neonatal ICU, which had been without a clinical pharmacist, to further care for patients.
Throughout this process she has integrated her shared position with Marshall teaching student pharmacists in the pediatric arena. Leesa utilizes students to help improve patient care through an elective offered during the summer in which students will be included in rounds with the PICU team, and perform research on patient safety and medication utilization for the pediatric population.
She has performed several reviews of protocols for the hospital which improve patient safety for pediatrics, filling a need on the hospital’s pharmacy and therapeutics committee. She is currently working on several original protocols including pediatric pharmacokinetics, which will help standardize and ensure the safety of the pharmacy department’s kinetic dosing of antibiotics for pediatric patients.
Leesa has authored several papers on pediatric and educational projects related to her research at the hospital, which has been presented at the national level. She truly innovates the pharmacy profession by her practice in both the NICU and PICU as well as her integration of students to improve patient care in pediatrics to a very measurable degree.
