Canadian Pharmacy Residency Board

Address:
c/o Foothills Medical Centre
1403 29 Street NW
Calgary, AB, T2N 2T9

Director:
Dr. Tania Mysak, BSP, PharmD
Director, Practice, AHS Pharmacy Services
Phone: 780-735-0770

Coordinators/Contacts:
Irina Rajakumar, BScPhm, ACPR, BCIDP
Pharmacy Clinical Practice Leader
Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist
Office: 403-944-8720
 

Program

Type: Infectious Diseases/Antimicrobial Stewardship

Focus: Inpatient/Ambulatory

Established in: 2019

Duration: 12 months

# Positions:1

Starting date: July 2, 2024 preferred. Later start negotiable

Application Deadline: January 13, 2024

Stipend: $50,850 per annum

Benefits: Yes

Vacation/holiday leave: 10 paid days

Education/conference leave: Budget and time provided to support residents to attend conferences will be reviewed each year

Program Description:
This advanced pharmacy residency (year 2) specializing in infectious diseases is an organized, directed post-graduate program that builds upon competencies developed through the successful completion of a Pharmacy Professional Degree, an accredited year 1 general hospital residency and/or an accredited Clinical Masters (in Pharmacy) degree. Candidates must be eligible for licensure with the Alberta College of Pharmacy.

Pharmacy practice(s) in areas of infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship (ID/AS) are common, yet formal training and qualification in Canada is lacking. The AHS Y2 pharmacy residency seeks to fill this void by establishing and refining a program of study to support practices of specialists in infectious diseases and generalists with an interest in furthering education in infectious diseases. 

The residency is conducted through the accomplishment of formal learning objectives, consistent with the accreditation standards of the Canadian Pharmacy Residency Board (CPRB). The program has an established core of learning activities, but may also be tailored to each resident’s background, experiences, and personal goals for the program. 

The majority of the residency experiences will occur within Calgary Zone, primarily Foothills Medical Centre located in Calgary, Alberta and/or Edmonton Zone, primarily University of Alberta Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital, located in Edmonton, AB. The Foothills is the largest hospital in Alberta and services patients annually from Calgary, southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and northeastern British Columbia. The University of Alberta Hospital is a major referral centre for Northern Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories. All three institutions are teaching hospitals and care is delivered in a multidisciplinary team approach. Through this collaboration, a strong emphasis with be placed on interprofessional collaboration in clinical practice, teaching and research reflecting the current state and direction of advanced pharmacy practice. 

The purpose of the advanced (year 2) pharmacy residency in ID/AS practice is to:

• enhance inter- and intra-professional care in ID/AS to a level that will serve as a model for others;
• practice to full scope (additional prescribing authority required by end of residency);
• develop and demonstrate leadership, change management, and research skills that will enable graduates to improve medication use for individual patients and groups of patients with infectious disease;
• and develop and demonstrate the ability to educate others in ID/AS

Minimum required credentials:

• Credentials: Applicants should hold a Year 1 Pharmacy Practice Residency (ACPR) and / or a Doctor of Pharmacy as a second professional degree or Master’s Degree in advanced pharmacotherapy prior to starting the advanced pharmacy residency (year 2).  
• Licensure: Candidates must be eligible for licensure or licensed with the Alberta College of Pharmacy.  

Interested Applicants should submit the following, via email, to the coordinator(s):

• Curriculum Vitae (include a list of clinical rotations from residency and/or PharmD program)
• Letter of Intent (maximum 500 words)
• Reference and Performance Summary from Coordinator of past Residency Program (if completed within the past 3 years) OR Academic Transcripts (if no residency completed)
• 3 Letters of Reference (professional)

Preceptors (not exhaustive):

• Irina Rajakumar
• Kristen Blundell
• Rebecca Druken
• Deana Sabuda
• Cecilia Lau
• Jackson Stewart
• Jinell White
• Susan Fryters
   

Potential Sites:

• Calgary
  • Foothills Medical Centre South Health Campus Alberta Children's Hospital Peter Lougheed Centre Rockyview General Hospital Southern Alberta Centre for HIV (SCHC-Calgary) Opportunity to receive a clinical academic colleague appointment with the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta
• Edmonton
  • University of Alberta Hospital Stollery Children's Hospital Royal Alexandra Hospital Misericordia Hospital Grey Nun's Hospital Northern Alberta Program (HIV)

Teaching Opportunities:

Undergraduate teaching

Opportunities in teaching and evaluation of Y1 pharmacy residents

* Funding not available from AHS

Credit for previous rotation(s): No

Research and Publication Opportunities:

Major research project Antimicrobial Stewardship leadership project Educational newsletters in infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship

Non-Clinical Activities:

Attendance at a major infectious disease focused conference (e.g. AMMI) Academic half day sessions with ID fellows Attendance of local or regional CSHP conferences Professional committee involvement Board certification as an ID/AMS specialist by BPS (https://www.bpsweb.org/bps-specialties/infectious-diseases-pharmacy/)* Quality Improvement Course (ed. https://www.bpsweb.org/bps-specialties/infectious-diseases-pharmacy/, https://www.coursera.org/learn/quality-healthcare)*

Skills and knowledge gained as part of this residency will be transferable to other practice environments.

We are looking for individuals who have made a career decision to become leaders in health-system or institutional pharmacy practice. Individuals should hold high professional ideals, are committed to continued learning and wish to become experts and leaders in infectious diseases.

Required Rotations:
(Credit will not be given for previous rotations) this applies to all required rotations.

Adult general inpatient infectious diseases (8 weeks or 2 x 4 weeks)

Prospective audit and feedback antimicrobial stewardship service (8 weeks or 2 x 4 weeks)

Antimicrobial Stewardship Leadership Project (longitudinal)

Research (longitudinal)

Precepting (4 weeks)

Medical Microbiology (1-2 weeks)

Elective Rotations (pending preceptor/site availability):

Pediatric general infectious diseases

Solid organ transplant infectious diseases

Hematologic malignancy and hematopoietic stem cell transplant infectious diseases

Ambulatory HIV therapy

Cystic fibrosis

Tuberculosis

Limited Specialty Clinical Activities

• Sexually transmitted disease clinic
• Travel and tropical medicine clinic
• Outpatient IV antibiotic therapy clinic

Organization

Type: Alberta Health Services (variable, tertiary, quaternary)

Number of beds: Variable, depending on sites

Sites: Foothills Medical Centre, University of Alberta Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital, and possibly others

Graduates

2022-2023	Teagan Zeggil
2021-2022	Sarah Drost
2020-2021	Anish Krishnan
2019-2020	Jackson Stewart