Cynthia Naughton, Pharm.D., B.C.P.S.

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Ambulatory Clinic

The Family HealthCare Center website states it is “dedicated to excellence, an advocate for diversity, and passionate in the belief that access to high quality health care designed for those most vulnerable improves the health of everyone.” This clinic provides care for a diverse population, including patients new to the United States, and is staffed with interpreters and culturally competent clinicians.

Cynthia coordinates and provides a broad range of clinical pharmacy services to this community ambulatory center, including managing the anticoagulation service and creating and presenting provider continuing education. In addition, she participates in the hypertension clinic, refill authorization service, smoking cessation counseling, and diabetes group visits.

Cynthia is also a professor at North Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and involved in practice-based research. Her responsibilities at NDSU are diverse. She coordinates the Renal, Fluid, & Electrolytes course, is a guest speaker in Pharmacy Management, serves as a mentor and virtual patient in various Pharmaceutical Care courses, and teaches the Freshman Skills for Academic Success class. In addition to her teaching role, Cynthia is the current Curriculum Chair and serves on the New Student Admissions Committee for the College of Pharmacy.

Cynthia’s research includes a project that examined the role of pharmacist intervention versus standard medical care in controlling the modifiable risk factors in chronic kidney disease patients.

How They Got There

After receiving a Bachelor Degree in Pharmacy, Cynthia began working as a hospital staff pharmacist. Early on, she was interested in performing clinical services and working in a multidisciplinary team. In order to prepare for those endeavors, she pursued graduate pharmacy degrees.

Cynthia’s clinical involvements have been diverse. Whenever she uncovers a pharmaceutical care need, she educates herself and creates a plan to implement a service to meet that need. Throughout her career and in her various roles, Cynthia has provided pharmaceutical care services to her hospital’s Dialysis Unit, Nutrition Team, Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, and Infection Control Team. She has also been Secretary of the Institutional Review Board and involved in Medication Utilization Evaluation. During her first Clinical Coordinator position, she established the first clinical pharmacy services at her hospital, including nutritional support and kinetic dosing. As a Clinical Specialist, she developed medication protocols for thrombolytics, IV sedatives, neuromuscular blockers, and heparin, and clinical pathways for acute pain management and pneumonia.

A major factor in her ability to be a part of these teams and to create pharmaceutical care services was that she actively sought out unmet pharmaceutical care needs. By locating those needs, preparing a plan of action, and proposing the plan to other clinicians, she has had much success in establishing new services. For example, at her hospital’s ambulatory dialysis unit, pharmacy’s involvement was limited to medicine distribution despite the complexity of pharmacotherapy for dialysis patients. Aware that pharmacist intervention in this area could improve overall patient care, she approached the nephrologists and unit managers. Within two years, pharmacists were involved with dosing of erythropoietin, IV iron, vitamin D, and phosphate-binders, coordinating medication reconciliation, and collaborating in a multidisciplinary team.

Other Professional Activities

Every year, Cynthia attends at least one national pharmacy conference in order to network with other practitioners and to “keep abreast of the profession”.

Advanced Training

In 1978, when Cynthia received her Bachelor of Science of Pharmacy, that was the only degree available. She later received her Master of Pharmacy in 1986 and post baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1995. In 2003, she became a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist.

Above all, Cynthia emphasizes that “experience is the best teacher!” Throughout her professional journey, she has taken hold of all opportunities she knew would enhance her clinical skills. This has included traineeships and preceptorships in nephrology, anticoagulation, and smoking cessation. After taking part in these educational programs, she incorporates the newly gained knowledge into her practice.

Advice

“Your pharmacy education does not stop with graduation! Take advantage of all opportunities to advance your knowledge in the practice of pharmacy. Stretch yourself. With each new service developed, I educated myself but surely didn’t know all the answers. I knew, however, if you wait until you feel comfortable to set out and provide a service, you never will! In the words of Nike… Just do it! And learn along the way.”