Vancouver, BC
cshpbc@gmail.com

PHARMACY APPRECIATION MONTH (PAM) 2022 LUNCHTIME PRESENTATION

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment

Speaker: Gigi Y.C. Wong, BScPharm, RPh, ACPR, MPH

About: Gigi Wong will be presenting about pharmaceuticals in the environment, including: how pharmaceuticals enter the environment; the environmental classification of pharmaceuticals and properties of persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity; an example of wildlife negatively impacted by pharmaceutical use in society; how pharmaceuticals in the environment contribute to antimicrobial resistance; and the importance of the pharmacy profession to be active steward for proper pharmaceutical waste disposal.

About the Speaker: Gigi is a pharmacist who aspires to increase awareness of pharmaceuticals in the environment. Perhaps to inspire others to take action to minimize preventable waste, or to unlock a flexible mindset towards more sustainable practices. Gigi is currently the pharmacist for Quality at Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services (FHA, PHC, PHSA, VCH) supporting 25 hospital pharmacy sites towards compliance to new standards for safer sterile drug preparations for patients. Gigi’s professional interest is to contribute to where population health and environmental health intersects: sustainable health systems.

COVID-19 Therapeutics - Pharmacists’ Test in Knowledge Translation and Leadership

Speakers: Jolanta Piszczek, PharmD, MSc, Tim T.Y. Lau, PharmD, ACPR, FCSHP, Alicia Rahier, BSc(Pharm), ACPR

About: Jolanta Piszczek, Tim Lau, Alicia Rahier will be on a panel to answer questions related to their involvement as pharmacists on the COVID-19 Therapeutics Committee (CTC), including: who the CTC is comprised of and the role of pharmacy; how the CTC makes decisions for the COVID-19 treatment guidelines in BC; overarching challenges with knowledge translation; and leadership. The audience will also have an opportunity to ask questions.

PLEASE NOTE: This presentation will not cover the therapeutics and treatment recommendations for COVID-19 infection – this will be covered in the upcoming CSHP-BC Spring Therapeutics Update on Tuesday, April 26th, 2022.

About the Speakers: 

Jolanta is a board-certified Infectious Diseases pharmacist and a full-time dedicated member and chair of the BC COVID-19 Therapeutics Committee. Prior to this role, she spent 10 years at Island Health as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship. She graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and completed her PharmD at the University of Toronto. She also has a Master of Science in Evidence Based Medicine from the University of Oxford.

Tim works as a Clinical Supervisor and Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship at the Vancouver General Hospital. He is also a Clinical Professor at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Associate Member in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine at UBC. He is involved as a member of the Provincial Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Expert Working Group, Canadian Sexually Transmitted Infections Expert Working Group, and the BC COVID-19 Therapeutics Committee. In his other life, Tim enjoys performing as an actor and vocalist.

Alicia is a residency-accredited pharmacist who represents the Northern Health Authority on the BC COVID-19 Therapeutics Committee. She has been a practicing hospital pharmacist in Northern Health for the past 12 years. This fall will be her 8th year as the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Coordinator, and she has been part of COVID-19 therapeutics planning and coordinating for BC northerners since March 2020. She is a UBC alumnus from the Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy program, and is located in Prince George, BC.

One Standard at a Time:
The Journey to NAPRA Compliance

Speaker: Atamjit Bassi, Pharmacy Technician

About: Atamjit Bassi will speak about the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) Model Standards for Pharmacy Sterile Compounding that will become bylaws by the College of Pharmacists of BC in July 2022. She will also provide an overview of the impact of these bylaws on those who compound sterile preparations.

About the Speakers: Atamjit is a pharmacy technician for Quality at Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services (LMPS). She has over 20 years of experience in different pharmacy settings, including hospital and community practice, and is an active member of College of Pharmacists of BC Registration Committee. She is passionate about changing status quo, and continues to be involved in promoting professional growth for her fellow pharmacy technicians through education and networking opportunities. With her team of two pharmacy technicians and a clinical pharmacist, Atamjit helps develop tools and resources to support the sites across LMPS to meet the upcoming NAPRA sterile compounding standards.

Drug Checking: Utility and Implementation in a Pharmacy Context

Speaker: Jarred Aasen, RPh

About: Jarred Aasen will present about the service of drug-checking. Drug-checking is when a sample of street substance is chemically analyzed, and the results are disclosed back to the service user. These results are useful on an individual basis (i.e. the direct service user), and the aggregated data can help inform the community at large. The goal of this service is to promote discussion, reduce stigma, and create more informed decisions relating to substance use.

About the Speaker: Jarred is a 2015 graduate from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Pharmacy and Nutrition. He moved to Victoria, BC shortly upon graduation, and began working as a staff pharmacist at STS pharmacy, a unique, independent pharmacy focused on harm reduction and Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT). Over a series of events, Jarred founded Lantern Services, which received Canada’s first Section 56 Exemption for drug checking purposes. Jarred and Lantern Services have been working closely with the University of Victoria’s department of Chemistry and Social Work to further implement and evaluate drug checking.