Thanks to the efforts and early successes of the Blueprint for Pharmacy Fundraising Committee (BPFC), the Blueprint for Pharmacy Steering Committee (BPSC) was able to allocate funding to support the following projects:

National Public Relations Campaign

Many Canadians are not aware that their local pharmacist is their most accessible point of care, or the host of services that are available at their local pharmacy. A national public relations campaign will communicate with Canadians about the role a pharmacist can take in their health care. Led by the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), a project Working Group is in the initial stages of planning the campaign.

Pan-Canadian Pharmacy 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. Led by the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores (CACDS), it will enable pharmacists to electronically document patient progress, identify compliance issues, and supply educational materials. This information can then be shared with other health care providers.

Translation of the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada’s (AFPC) Educational Outcomes into French

AFPC’s educational outcomes were developed for use by individual pharmacy faculties to build on and evaluate undergraduate curricula. In 2010, AFPC developed the outcomes, but they are currently only available in English. The BPSC recently approved the support of the translation of these outcomes into French. This will allow for greater adoption within all faculties across Canada.

Experiential Models to Build Capacity for Experiential Education of Student Pharmacists in Canada (Phase 1)

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. This project endeavours to identify, explore, adapt and design new model(s) of experiential learning that integrate pharmacy students into patient care service delivery. Phase 1 includes a one-day workshop of Canadian experiential leaders, external stakeholders and experts from other disciplines. They will explore the capacity implications of experiential curricula from early to mid- to advanced levels, ensuring the early and mid- experience are designed to provide students with the foundational skills and knowledge to then contribute effectively in their final rotations. The results of this meeting will inform future phases of this project.

The BP-NCO will continue to provide updates on the progress of the above projects.