Focus on UC Pharmacy Practice Partner Deanna Ratermann, PharmD

Deanna Ratermann, PharmD, is the residency program director and education coordinator at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Northern Kentucky. Systemwide, St. Elizabeth Healthcare offers experiences to approximately 10 to 12 Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) students per month and five to seven Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) students per semester. In her position, Ratermann oversees all residency and student training, as well as pharmacy education at St. Elizabeth.

Why did you choose pharmacy as a career? 

I began looking into pharmacy as a career while in high school; I was serving as camp counselor for my hometown’s 6th grade class trip. Two of the girls in my cabin had medical conditions requiring daily monitoring and medications. I recall a profound curiosity and desire to understand how the medications worked in the body to treat their medical conditions. After a little research on the profession of pharmacy, I found that pharmacists make a significant impact on the quality of care provided to patients and that the pharmacy profession had a wide variety of exciting career opportunities.

What roles do you have at St. Elizabeth, and what do students learn in these areas? 

On top of my other responsibilities to the system, I still maintain an active practice as an internal medicine clinical pharmacist at our Edgewood campus. I round every morning with our physician residents to assist in optimizing medication use for our patients. Pharmacy residents and students on rotation with me attend rounds and learn how to manage pharmacotherapy in patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic disease states. I place a large emphasis on learning to practice evidence-based medicine by staying up to date on clinical practice guidelines. I encourage pharmacy residents and students to become the medication experts for the health care team and teach them to collaborate with various disciplines to provide exceptional patient care.

What message do you hope students take away from their experience with you? 

I have several messages that I hope students take away from their experience at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. The first is to be a continuous self-learner, even after their 4th--year rotations! The profession of pharmacy and the medical field are constantly evolving and there is opportunity to learn something new each day. The second is to learn to exercise clinical judgement based off experience and knowledge. Not every decision made in a patient care scenario is going to be black and white, they must learn how to make decisions in the shades of gray. Lastly, I hope they remember how they were not only taught, but rather mentored throughout the month. I hope they then go out into their careers and mentor and cultivate more promising young professionals.