MUSC team wins the ASHP/SCSHP Clinical Skills Competition

MUSC pharmacy students Carly Mitchell, ’25, and Madeline Frellick La Rue, ’25, teamed up to win the American Society of Health-system Pharmacists (ASHP) / South Carolina Society of Health-system Pharmacists (SCSHP) Clinical Skills Competition in Columbia on October 11.  

The team will represent MUSC at the ASHP National Clinical Skills Competition at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in New Orleans in December. 

The win brings the trophy back to MUSC for the second year in a row. Mitchell and La Rue finished as runners-up in the competition last year, which was won by the MUSC team of Jenny Smith and Samantha Brace. In this year’s competition, MUSC was also well-represented by the team of Kyela Mosher and Fatimah Al Doughan.

"I am so proud of the way that both our teams presented during the competition!" said Dr. Kathy Chessman, who moderated the competition and also serves as faculty advisor for MUSC's chapter of the Student Society of Health-system Pharmacists. "They represented MUSC quite well. Carly and Madeline were on a mission this year to place first, given their second place showing last year. Mission complete!"

Mitchell, who graduated from Clemson University in 2021 with a B.S. in Biochemistry, has worked as a pharmacy technician at both CVS Pharmacy and Tidelands Health. La Rue graduated in 2019 from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Chemistry, along with a B.A. in Women's and Gender Studies and a minor in Sexuality Studies. She worked as the lead pharmacy technician at an independent compounding pharmacy in Birmingham, Ala. for two years before coming to MUSC.

The ASHP National Clinical Skills Competition is an interactive, team-based analysis of clinical scenarios for hospital and health-system pharmacists, providing pharmacy students the opportunity to enhance their skills in collaborative practice with physicians in providing direct patient care.