Canadian Pharmacy Residency Board

The Canadian Pharmacy Residency Board is responsible for establishing the policies of the matching service and for monitoring the implementation of the matching service. Administration and conduct of the CPRB residency matching service is carried out by the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (National) on behalf of the CPRB.

PRAMS performs a computerized match according to an applicant-proposing algorithm; (i.e., it matches first according to the applicants’ choices and secondly according to the programs’ choices). The result of the match is that each applicant and each program receives their most preferred position possible. For more information on how this works, see The Match Explained.

Once the Match has been run, applicants will be able to see their results on their PRAMS dashboard. (If results are not available, applicants are encouraged to log out and back in, thereby refreshing the application). Matched applicants should reach out to representatives of the programs they matched with to discuss next steps. Matches must be accepted / confirmed by the deadline listed on the Key Dates page. After the deadline, programs are free to recruit for remaining positions from any resource. 

Vacant positions. Sometimes, vacant positions will remain after the match, and some applicants will be left unmatched. During the application process, applicants will be asked if they would like their application provided to programs with unmatched positions following The Match, in the event that the applicant is also unmatched. Programs may contact these unmatched applicants to fill available positions.

Obligation to accept the match. If, for some reason, the match becomes undesirable for either the candidate or the program, then both parties should meet at the earliest possible moment to discuss the issue(s). There is no obligation to accept the residency program or the applicant. However the decision to decline a residency applicant or position should be made only for exceptional circumstances and must be carefully considered. After The Match the program has “lost out” on all subsequent potential applicants that it has ranked. Thus, the program is significantly disadvantaged in acquiring “the next best match”.