St. Joseph's Health Care London

*Accreditation-Pending*

Note - Once accreditation is gained by a program, it becomes retroactive to the date that the application seeking accreditation was filed with CPRB. Therefore, programs with Accredited or Accreditation-Pending status may confer a credential such as “Accredited Canadian Pharmacy Resident/ACPR” upon their graduates.

Address:
268 Grosvenor St,
London, ON
N6A 4V2

Director:
Andrey Andriets, B.Sc.Phm., R.Ph,
Director, Pharmacy Services,
Email: andrey.andriets@sjhc.london.on.ca
Phone: 519-646-6100 ext. 65526

Coordinator:
Denise Kreutzwiser, BScH, BScPhm, PharmD, ACPR, AAHIVP
Pain Management Program Pharmacist 
Email: denise.kreutzwiser@sjhc.london.on.ca 
Phone: 519-646-6100 ext. 61741

For more information, please visit the program website at: https://www.sjhc.london.on.ca/

Program

Type: Ambulatory Care

Focus: Post-acute and chronic disease management with a focus in pain management, rehabilitation, and mental health care

Established In: 2023 (new program)

# Position(s): 1

Application Deadline: October 14, 2022

Starting Date: September 2023 (ideally, the Tuesday after Labour Day weekend, but negotiable)

PRAMS (Additional PRAMS requirements to complete the Pharmacy Residency Application and Matching Service (PRAMS) application should be sent through PRAMS when applying by the application deadline):

  • Please provide a program specific cover letter that includes a 300-word explanation of why you would like to pursue a pharmacy residency at St. Joseph's Health Care London.

Est. Stipend: ~$38,000 

Benefits: in lieu

Vacation/Holiday leave: 2 weeks

Education/Conference Leave:

The resident will be registered to attend the Annual Resident Clinical Conference (happens each September), as well as the London hospitals 'Therapeutics in Action' conference that happens locally each October and 'Drug Therapy Day'  conference that happens each spring in London.

The resident will also have choice in which one major conference they wish to attend (e.g., CSHP's Professional Practice Conference in February, a disease state specific conference, CPhA's Canadian Pharmacy Conference in June, the Ontario Pharmacist's Association Annual Conference, etc.). The Pharmacy Department will provide time away and financial support for the resident to attend the conference.

Minimum Required Credentials: Entry-level PharmD or Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy Degree (or equivalent) from an accredited school of pharmacy

Other Eligibility Requirements: Licensed or eligible for immediate licensure as an intern or pharmacist with the Ontario College of Pharmacists. Ability to meet corporate Occupational Health requirements.

Program Affiliation: University of Waterloo

Program Highlights:

St. Joseph's Health Care London is one of the most complex health care organizations in Ontario. They provide care through a leading teaching hospital and a unique mix of clinical settings across our community. Their research arm, the Lawson Health Research Institute, continues to direct their research to the development of new knowledge that is continually being applied directly to patient care.

St. Joseph's Health Care London Pharmacy Services offers a 52-week residency program that aims to prepare graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to establish a future collaborative interdisciplinary practice in ambulatory care. The emphasis is on developing the skills needed to provide evidence-informed pharmaceutical care to patients in an ambulatory care environment and the confidence to pursue innovative and sustainable pharmacy initiatives rooted in a full-scope practice.

The goal of the program is to give the resident a hands-on approach to learning in an environment where everyone's contribution is recognized and appreciated and in which we all learn from one another. St. Joseph's Health Care London is known for having a "secret sauce" and the recipe is time-tested and steeped in history, tradition and subtleties difficult to define. Keeping the core ingredients, together they add to it, strengthen it, and grow as an enviable place to work, to receive care, provide uncompromising excellence in quality and safety, build purposeful partnerships, as well as deepen our competency in equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. This "secret sauce" provides the resident with a learning experience that cultivates some of the oft overlooked elements of a pharmacy residency, the compassionate and empathetic lens in which meeting patients where they are at is central to developing practical and sustainable treatment plans and looking at the problems from a systems approach and how the patient travels throughout an integrated health system.  

Refinement of problem-solving and critical thinking skills is at the forefront of this residency program. The resident will gain experience providing evidence based direct patient care as a member of inter-professional teams under the supervision of model practitioners in a variety of ambulatory care settings. The resident will learn about the operations of a hospital-based pharmacy in an ambulatory care environment including distribution, medication therapy management and program planning. The resident will participate in patient and staff education, present lectures, case presentations, and journal clubs. The resident will be involved in various teaching activities, including mentoring pharmacy students. The learning environment at St. Joseph's Health Care London also provides the opportunity for interaction with undergraduate and post-graduate students and trainees in a variety of health disciplines. The resident will develop project management, research and writing skills and will be expected to complete a research project manuscript suitable for publication at the completion of their training.

Core Rotations: 

  • Orientation (1 week)
  • Evidence-Based Medicine (1 week)
  • Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy (1 week): The resident will spend a week at Prescription Shop 1 (St. Joseph's Hospital site) to learn about the pharmacist role in the delivery of medication services to patients attending the various ambulatory clinics within our organization.  While Prescription Shop 1 delivers many services, unique features are that it provides a number of ophthalmic medication services for patients of the St. Joseph's Hospital Ivy Eye Institute (the main referral centre for eye disease in western Ontario) and also services the long-term care arm of our organization (Mount Hope). Exposure to the long-term care aspect of pharmacy services will help the resident develop a better understanding of how aging and loss of independence impacts patients and how the pharmacist contributes to the overall management of patient care in this setting. The resident will also develop a better understanding of the complexity of delivering care during transitions of care to and from the long-term care setting.
  • Inpatient Pharmacy Medication Distribution (2 weeks): The resident will receive basic training in a computerized provider order entry system, unit dose and IV additive operations, manufacturing, packaging, narcotic distribution and closed looped medication administration so they are better able to appreciate the complexities of the medication distribution system and the role the inpatient hospital pharmacy plays in the provision of medications for select ambulatory procedures/clinics (e.g., outpatient day surgeries, IV infusion clinics, urgent care, allergy testing clinic, etc.) The resident will also be exposed to peri-operative medication distribution related considerations, with learnings also touching on inpatient surgery protocols. 
  • Pharmacy leadership (1 week, longitudinal): During this rotation, the resident will shadow the Director of Pharmacy. While the content of the rotation will vary based on the Director's schedule and issues at hand at the time, this rotation is intended to serve as a window into the oft behind-the-scenes elements of the pharmacy profession. The resident will be invited to attend a Pharmacy and Therapeutics meeting as well as a Quality Council meeting and a Quality Improvement or Accreditation meeting. Through assigned readings, focused discussion, and observational and participative experiences, the resident will gain knowledge and skills related to the key principles utilized in both pharmacy and overall health systems leadership. This rotation will also include the opportunity to interact with individuals who hold various leadership posts within the organization to learn about the implementation of quality improvement and change management strategies. 
  • Teaching (1 week, longitudinal)
  • Research project (8 weeks, longitudinal)

Core clinical rotations (29 weeks in total):

  1. Pain Management Program at St. Joseph's Hospital (12 weeks):
    • This rotation will highlight the role of a pharmacist in a large collaborative interdisciplinary team that provides both individual and group-based programming using in-person and virtual delivery methods. One of the unique features of this rotation is that the resident will have the opportunity to learn about the roles of other healthcare providers by participating in the 10-week pain management group program that is co-facilitated by the psychology, social work, and occupational therapy team members and for which the 4th week of this program is delivered by the pharmacy team. In addition, the resident will develop a greater appreciation of how mental health struggles, the social determinants of health, and behavioural change are factors impacting chronic disease management and medication adherence and/or success. The resident will also have the opportunity to deliver the medication components of our 10-week depression treatment group program, as well as any theme based group workshops happening throughout their residency. Trainees at various levels in their training and from a wide array of disciplines rotate through the pain clinic, which provides an opportunity for the resident to also learn from trainees in other disciplines and to explain what a pharmacist can contribute to the advancement of patient care and team functioning. https://www.sjhc.london.on.ca/areas-of-care/pain-management-program/services 
  2. Rheumatology Centre at St. Joseph's Hospital (4 weeks):
    • This rotation will provide the resident with an opportunity to educate patients about biologic medications and understand the complexities around obtaining funding for high-cost medications.  
  3. Mental health rotation (5 weeks):
    • This rotation will provide the resident with the opportunity to build on the mental health knowledge and clinical skills developed during their time at the Pain Management Program.  During this rotation, the resident will be exposed to both inpatient and outpatient mental health pharmacy services via interaction with our inpatient mental health care pharmacists and during time spent at Prescription Shop 2 (the outpatient retail pharmacy located at the Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building site).  During this rotation, the resident will learn about the importance of supporting patients living with mental health challenges as they transition from care in the inpatient setting to acquiring the skills needed for independent living in the community. The resident will learn about the different tools and resources available for assisting patients during these transitions. The resident will come to understand the role of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in providing specialized intensive community-based services and learn about the various mental health resources used to support patients requiring differing levels or aspects of mental health care.
  4. Inpatient rehabilitation rotation at Parkwood Institute Main Building (4 weeks):
    • The resident will have some choice in the specific rehabilitation sub-population this rotation will focus on.
  5. Palliative care at Parkwood Institute Main Building (4 weeks):
    • The resident will learn about the final spectrum of a patient's life journey during this rotation and recognize how the goals of therapy change from functional improvement to a comfort and symptom management focus. 

Elective Rotations: 
Total of 8 weeks for elective rotations (ideally 2 blocks, each 4 weeks in duration). The resident can choose from a diverse range of elective rotation options based on the clinical and/or research program offerings at St. Joseph's Health Care London or other local healthcare institutions (provided an agreement is in place or can be put in place with the institution desired). As 2023 will be the first year of this residency program, elective rotations will most likely happen in the spring of 2024 and can be selected once the resident begins the program and gets a feel for the various opportunities that exist within our organization.

 

Organization

Type: Multi-site academic tertiary health care centre delivering acute care, ambulatory care, specialized geriatric care, long-term care, mental healthcare, rehabilitation care and research.

Number of Beds: 

  • 1042 inpatient beds (across 5 sites)
  • 944,424 outpatient/outreach visits annually
  • 41,592 urgent care centre visits annually
  • 21,624 day and short-stay surgeries annually

Site(s):

  • St. Joseph's Hospital (268 Grosvenor Street London, Ontario, N6A 4V2)
  • Parkwood Institute Main Building and Mental Health Care Building (550 Wellington Road South, London, Ontario, N6C 0A7)
  • Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care (401 Sunset Drive, St. Thomas, Ontario, N5R 3C6)
  • Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care (21 Grosvenor Street, London, Ontario, N6A 1Y6)
  • St. Joseph's Family Medical and Dental Centre  (346 Platts Lane, London, Ontario  N6G 1J1)

Affiliation: Western University & Fanshawe College

 

Graduates

(new program starting September 2023)