Lucy Feng is a pharmacist with the Hamilton Family Health Team (FHT) and has experience in many aspects of pharmacy practice. She also has recently completed the PharmD Bridging Program through Waterloo Pharmacy.
Where They're Working
Though Lucy began her career in a hospital residency, she knew from her co-op experience that the FHT environment is what she loved best.
“Hospital pharmacists contribute significantly in an acute setting,” Lucy explains, “but I felt like our patient care was largely reactive. I like the communication and interactions with my patients, and at the FHT I do more of that. Together, the patient and I determine how to enact preventative care.”
The FHT’s flexible schedule also gave Lucy the chance to participate in a two year academic detailing program through the Center for Effective Practice, an organization which aims to close the gap between evidence and practice in healthcare.
Academic detailing is a fairly new concept in Canadian healthcare, more popular in Saskatchewan than in Ontario. The goal of detailing programs is to educate healthcare providers about specific topics. They bring together practitioners like Lucy and train them extensively on the most recent academic research in a given area. In Lucy’s case, her detailing project focused on the use of antipsychotic medications for dementia and falls in long-term care facilities.
Lucy at work at the Family Health Team
Lucy and the other detailers worked with prescribers and pharmacist in long-term care settings. They teach the healthcare providers about the topic and answer questions.
“The physicians had a lot of knowledge, but we were able to effectively fill the gaps in terms of recent evidence and the specific patient population,” says Lucy. “About 90% of physicians had never heard of academic detailing, and they were very interested in where the Center for Effective Practice will go next.”
The detailing program ran for two years. Lucy is back to working at the Hamilton FHT full-time, but looks forward to future opportunities for more academic detailing.
“Detailing sessions were one of the best experiences I’ve ever had – I learned how to communicate complex information effectively.”
Alumni Answers
UW: What advice do you have for pharmacists interested in academic detailing opportunities?
LF: Detailing requires three months of upscaling (training) on each topic, which entails reading studies and practicing detailing sessions. Students who are interested should practice presenting in whatever environment you work in. Honing these skills is essential to effective detailing practice.
UW: You also work with North West Telepharmacy as a Community Care Access Center pharmacist consultant. What does this entail?
LF: When hospitals discharge patients, a CCAC nurse visits them. If the nurse thinks the patient has too many medications or is confused about their medication regimen, they refer them to a pharmacist consultant. That’s where I come in. I conduct home visits with patients to walk them through their medications and ensure that drug therapy problems don’t occur. I meet twice with patients and link-up with their family physician and community pharmacist.
Non-Pharm Fun
“I’m currently going through yoga instructor training. I see a lot of patients with chronic pain, and often they experience a negative cycle in terms of medications. Yoga is a very good tool as an alternative form of pain management, but it isn’t always financially accessible. One day, I’d like to be able to teach yoga to my patients and to share something I’m passionate about with my community.”