每年1月，希瑟·莱昂斯-伯尼（Heather Lyons-Burney）博士。, welcomes a group of area high school students to visit her laboratory at the 威尼斯人娱乐城 药学院’s Springfield campus. 在两个半小时的时间里，学生们将体验化学配制，并讨论非无菌配制在满足患者独特需求方面的作用。
这些学生是大奥扎克大学大学先修课程中心（GO-CAPS）项目的一部分。 在整个一年中，他们将每月与里昂-伯尼见面，经常是她的威尼斯人娱乐城药学学生之一，以了解药学主题并从事类似药剂师的活动。
GO-CAPS is a career exploration program that partners with businesses throughout Missouri’s greater Ozarks area. 它为高中三年级和四年级学生提供了一个由现实世界、以职业为导向的经历驱动的教育机会。 对于那些对医疗保健，特别是药房感兴趣的人来说，有里昂-伯尼。
“My goal is for the students to understand the role of the pharmacist on the health care team and how pharmacists impact patient outcomes,” she said. “Whether or not they decide to be a pharmacist, I want them to feel comfortable reaching out to the professionals who are the medication experts. I enjoy working with these motivated students, helping them explore various occupations in health care and how we work best as a team.”
作为高中课程的一部分，GO-CAPS学生参加了一个项目，包括跟随，参加课堂演讲，参加各种药房项目，并最终开发自己的顶点项目。
Lyons-Burney是该地区GO-CAPS项目的一部分，并在咨询委员会担任学习经验和现场门诊护理诊所实习的资源。 该计划提供了一个紧凑的时间表，探索广泛的医疗保健领域，包括学习执行心肺复苏术和急救与护理人员，如何设置骨折与骨科医生和获得对医疗技术的更深入的了解。
As a pharmacist, Lyons-Burney leads the high school students, currently a class of 16, in exploring the various areas of health care where one might find a pharmacist and provide them with clinical examples of the many roles today’s pharmacists play.
Their classroom and laboratory sessions touch on lessons such as how pharmacists intersect with patients in addressing social determinants of health to clinical discussions on the complications of diabetes, such as neuropathy, and how to conduct a mono-filament foot exam to assess the loss of one’s sensation. 学生们还分成小组，研究和展示病人的案例。
“My focus is to explore the roles of pharmacists in various settings by walking the high school students through a topic discussion of a disease state and discuss how a pharmacist in a hospital, long-term care setting, specialists office, primary care clinic or community pharmacy may be involved with patient care and the health care team,” Lyons-Burney said.
She said that much of the pharmacist’s role in patient care involves considering options for therapies and whether or not those therapies will be safe and effective for a patient.
“To demonstrate that process, it’s easiest to put the student somewhat in the seat of a pharmacist and have them think through a patient case to come up with a safe, effective option,” she said.
莱昂斯-伯尼说，通过探索包括药学在内的多种医疗保健专业，GO-CAPS项目的学生最终可能会进入他们以前从未考虑过的职业。
“Regardless of the health care profession that the students choose, this provides them with skills and knowledge that gives them a head start,” she said.