The following projects are examples of the ways in which pharmacy practice is expanding and the work that the Blueprint for Pharmacy National Coordinating Office (BP-NCO) is seeking to fund.
Transforming Learning: Education and Continuing Professional Development
An outstanding education in pharmacy: Educational outcomes help faculties detail expectations regarding competencies for graduates. They instill the complexity and context of pharmacy in practice. This is a crucial aspect of pharmacy education; however, insufficient funding has been dedicated to reviewing and updating outcomes. Help to ensure that the education students receive accurately reflects both academic values and the future of the profession.
Providing strong mentors: Many of our pharmacy graduates are able to harness the full scope of their training because of the strong mentorship of preceptors. Preceptors orient graduates with the Canadian health care system and help instill the values of professional practice. The expansion of existing training and leadership programs, workshops and materials, can maximize the vital role preceptors play in pharmacy education.
Education that includes real-world experience: Experiential education at the forefront of pharmacy practice informs both educators and students alike. Innovative programs are required to increase the capacity of Canadian pharmacies in hospitals and communities to provide high quality experiential education in entry-to-practice and advanced practice programs.
Inform hands-on learning: Experiential learning is a highly effective educational method. With the profound changes occurring within the field of pharmacy, it is essential that experiential learning opportunities reflect these changes. Help us prioritize and develop strategies to enrich experiential learning across Canada at both the community and institution level.
CPD and CE – Identifying Pharmacists’ Attitudes and Values: There is little evidence regarding pharmacists’ attitudes and practices with respect to continuing professional development and continuing education. Help us to identify and understand these attitudes
Pharmacists of the Future: Pharmacy Human Resources
Research that shapes our future: The valuable ongoing coordination, knowledge translation and research activities necessary to ensure that work progresses in an integrated and timely fashion represent the core work of evolving the profession. Resources are needed for the Blueprint for Pharmacy National Coordinating Office (BP-NCO) to monitor efforts being made across the country, to promote those efforts and the Vision for Pharmacy, and to place our work and our Vision in a national context.
Optimal drug distribution for hospitals: Automated and unit-dose drug distribution systems have a positive impact on workplace satisfaction. Tools and resources are required that will assist hospitals to adopt these systems to their workspaces. Help our hospital pharmacists to optimal practice with change management for use of cutting-edge distribution systems.
Understand the impact of changing roles for pharmacy technicians: The regulation of pharmacy technicians is expanding pharmacists’ ability to provide professional services to the community. Help managers to allocate resources in their businesses and policy-makers to understand the changing landscape of pharmacy human resources with this project designed to study the efficacy of regulated pharmacy technicians.
Advancing Understanding: Legislation, Regulation and Liability
Talking to Canadians about their pharmacist: Many Canadians don’t know that their local pharmacist is their most accessible point of care, or the host of services available at their local pharmacy. A national public relations campaign - including television, radio and print media – will communicate with Canadians the role their local pharmacist can take in their health care.
Reviewing the Business: Financial Viability and Sustainability
Establishing financial viability and sustainability in pharmacy: The evolved role of the pharmacist through expanded professional pharmacy services needs to be documented and formalized. Valuable efforts such as those undertaken by the Canadian Pharmacy Services Initiative (CPSI) require significant human resources. Help us leverage our efforts to disseminate best practices in pharmacy, thereby strengthening national coordination and leadership.
Facilitate the adoption of pharmacy services with a Pan-Canadian Clinical Decision Support Tool: The array of pharmacy services enabled by expanded pharmacy practice requires technology solutions to support service delivery to patients. Canadian pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be supported with the roll-out of the proven MirixaPro™ clinical system support tool, which is being customized for Canada. MirixaPro™ is a clinical documentation system that enables the implementation of the Canadian Pharmacy Services Framework (CPSF) and encourages the standardization and harmonization of service delivery across provincial jurisdictions. MirixaPro™ enables pharmacists to electronically document patient progress, identify compliance issues, and supply educational materials. This information can then be shared with other health care providers. For more information visit MirixaProCanada.ca.
Reaching Out: Information and Communication Technology
Giving pharmacists the tools they need to practice: 21st century technologies have made their way into the pharmacy with the introduction of electronic prescribing and drug information systems (DIS). This often places a burden on the pharmacy itself to update their IT infrastructure and integrate practice to support Medication Therapy Management. Help to identify and describe gaps in required software, identify barriers to and business processes for integration and map vendor solutions to pharmacies.
Helping pharmacists understand and implement information and communications technology: The implementation of ICT software requires a significant financial and human resources investment, but communicating to pharmacists and pharmacy owners the benefits of implementing ICT platforms will contribute to wider adoption rates, resulting in improved patient care. Help us identify and articulate the benefits of such investments and the impacts experienced by frontline pharmacists, pharmacy owners and policy makers.
These projects are either already completed or currently underway.
Blueprint for Pharmacy Opportunity Tree
The Blueprint for Pharmacy Opportunity Tree session at the CPhA conference saw 100 participants exchange stories of the Vision for Pharmacy in action. Participants were asked to note the “roots” of this success and what the impact would be of the Vision being a reality. Participants were then asked to note what they would personally commit to doing to move towards this Vision.
Research identifies challenges for change
During this CPhA conference session, Meagen Rosenthal, MA, and Ross T. Tsuyuki, BSc(Pharm), PharmD, MSc, presented their research, Pharmacists’ self perception of their professional role: Insights into pharmacy culture. The Blueprint for Pharmacy provides the Vision for where we want to go as a profession. This study proposed that pharmacists’ underlying attitudes and beliefs are impeding changes in pharmacy practice and we must understand current pharmacy culture before practice change can occur. Using a brief survey of community and hospital pharmacists and pharmacy educators, this research concluded that pharmacy culture does not appear to be as patient-centered as it could be. Pharmacists appear to be primarily focused on drugs, especially the technical aspects of dispensing. Given these results, achieving the Vision for Pharmacy will be difficult and this challenge needs to be addressed.