BrewingtonEden Brewington, Pharm.D., is a critical care pharmacist at Moses Cone Health in Greensboro, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 2020. She then completed a first year of postgraduate training at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, followed by a second-year specialized residency in critical care at Emory University Health in Atlanta, Georgia.
Early in her pharmacy education, Brewington knew she wanted to pursue a career in critical care because of the high-acuity patient population, integration of pharmacists into interdisciplinary rounding teams, and management of complex disease states. Her education at the University of Kentucky began her journey into clinical practice. Throughout her education and training, she was able to observe patients admitted with complex disease states and experience a wide variety of teaching styles, with preceptors providing constructive feedback. Many of her faculty and preceptors were well known in their fields and offered unique perspectives on medication management and optimization for their specific patient populations. During her residency, preceptors pushed her outside her comfort zone to evaluate the gray areas of clinical practice. Under their guidance, she learned how to apply clinical knowledge to provide individualized patient care. She also served as a resident research coordinator for the PGY1 residents and completed research projects involving the addition of dexmedetomidine in patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome and outcomes associated with methylprednisolone in patients with COVID-19.
Brewington’s primary practice site is the medical ICU, but she also rotates through the neurotrauma ICU. The institution’s interdisciplinary team rounding model creates an environment where everyone can contribute. This team incorporates patients/family members at the bedside, nursing staff, medical/pharmacy residents/learners, and medical/pharmacy attendings. Members of the team offer their own unique perspective on aspects of the patient’s care and are encouraged to express their concerns about and insights into the current treatment plan. This includes the patients themselves because they must be on board with the proposed course. Translators are available to help facilitate conversations and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Brewington recently began precepting PGY1 residents as well as pharmacy students with the hope of starting a PGY2 critical care program in the next few years. Currently, her institution hosts over 20 pharmacy residents with PGY1 experiences in acute care, community pharmacy, and ambulatory care. Moses Cone Hospital has PGY2 residency experiences in cardiology, pediatrics, infectious diseases, ambulatory oncology, ambulatory care, and health-system pharmacy administration and leadership. She serves as the secretary of the critical care pharmacy committee at her institution and as an adviser on the research committee for pharmacy resident research projects. Currently, she is mentoring residents on creating and implementing an ICU bowel regimen order set as well as a pharmacist-driven insulin management protocol. In developing protocols and order sets, she emphasizes the importance of involving all individuals who will be affected by a new workflow. Incorporating their feedback ensures that all feel their viewpoints have been heard to create optimal patient care. Her current research interests include alcohol withdrawal, delirium prevention/treatment, and seizure management.
Brewington has been a member of ACCP and the Critical Care PRN since pharmacy school. She served as a student liaison for her chapter of ACCP and, more recently, joined the PRN’s Trainee Engagement Committee, where she will serve as the lead for one of the committee charges in the upcoming months. Her advice to trainee members of ACCP is to get involved! ACCP has 28 PRNs, which allow for collaboration with clinical pharmacists in virtually any specific interest area. Each PRN has its own committees that encourage participation from trainee members with limited time commitments. ACCP has allowed Brewington to connect with pharmacists across the country who share her interests.