At the PSW Annual Meeting, members packed the room for “Voices of Pharmacy: Shaping Tomorrow, Together,” a session rooted in PSW’s commitment to LISTEN to its members. Through rich, small-group conversations, we gathered powerful insights, challenges, and future-focused ideas from across practice settings.

Themes included workforce burnout and culture, payment model frustrations, provider status priorities, AI innovation, technician advancement, and community pharmacy sustainability.

The ideas shared will directly inform PSW’s upcoming strategic planning efforts, ensuring members’ voices shape what’s next.

The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), in collaboration with a grant from Pfizer, aims to enhance access to pharmacist-administered RSV vaccines for pregnant individuals. As part of the collaboration, NASPA developed a pharmacy-counter-friendly flowchart decision guide. This resource is designed to help pharmacists determine whether and when to recommend the RSV vaccine to their pregnant patients, in accordance with clinical and regulatory guidelines.

NASPA is also sharing a limited number of printed resources with PSW, and Sarah Sorum will be distributing them to community pharmacies in the coming weeks. If you are interested in obtaining hard copies, please contact Julie Ulland.

PSW Supports “We’re Your Pharmacist” Campaign

PSW has joined the ASHP We’re Your Pharmacist campaign to amplify national messages about pharmacists’ impact on health. This campaign is just one way PSW highlights the essential roles of pharmacists and technicians across all settings in Wisconsin. Learn more at yourpharmacist.org.

Confused about what pneumococcal vaccine your patients need and when they need it? With numerous pneumococcal vaccines on the market, recent changes to guidelines, and numerous patient-specific recommendations, it can be challenging to stay current.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Focus on New Recommendations for Adult Pneumococcal Vaccination resource reviews the differences between the available pneumococcal vaccines. It also breaks down current recommendations based on age, medical conditions, risk factors, and vaccine history. Click here to access the resource.

Additionally, the CDC’s PneumoRecs VaxAdvisor is a free interactive tool that follows the immunization schedule recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and can help you quickly determine what is recommended for a specific patient. Click here to access the VaxAdvisor web version or download the mobile app.

Over the next eight weeks, we’ll guide you through the PSW Opioid Abatement Toolkit chapter by chapter, with each issue offering insight and practical tips for pharmacy professionals ready to lead in addressing opioid use disorder (OUD), overdose prevention, and equitable care.

Whether you work in a community, health system, or ambulatory care setting, this toolkit can support your efforts to shape meaningful change using opioid settlement funds and pharmacy’s unique position in public health.

This isn’t a sprint, it’s a journey. Together, we’ll break down the toolkit one week at a time, making space for small, thoughtful steps toward a big, lasting impact. We invite you to take this journey with us! Read, reflect, and reimagine what’s possible in your pharmacy settings. The complete toolkit is available at any time here.

Week 1: Understanding the Source: Background on Opioid Settlement Funds

Did you know that Wisconsin will receive more than $400 million in opioid settlement funds over the next 18 years? These dollars are being allocated to counties and municipalities with the expectation that they will invest in evidence-based strategies for prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction.

What you can do:

• Review how funds are being distributed in your county.
• Identify the local officials or committees responsible for disbursement.
• Introduce yourself and your pharmacy as a ready partner for implementation.
• Consider how your services could align with the evidence-based uses outlined in Exhibit E of the national settlement agreement.