Danielle Thomas, Thunder Bay

Danielle Thomas, Rx2018 - Thunder Bay

Navigating the region

Thunder Bay is beautiful – even the air just feels so much more clean, my lungs loved it. Getting to come here

was a great experience and allowed me to see a part of Ontario I probably would’ve never explored. It also gave me the opportunity to work more heavily with the Indigenous population which was a really unique and new experience. The pharmacy community here is also very close, everyone seems to know everyone which I liked and they were all very welcoming and did their best to benefit my learning (especially in the hospital). The students who came up with me too were a big reason as to why I enjoyed my time. Anywhere can be fun and enjoyable if you like the people you are there with.

If you enjoy the outdoors, this is the region for you. My fellow classmates and I came into Thunder Bay with a checklist of things we wanted to do, and we did pretty near all of them. There are lots of hiking trails around such as Sleeping Giant Provincial Park – an exhausting hike that I would recommend doing before it gets too hot as it is quite a long hike, Mt. McKay, Ouimet Canyon, Kakabeka Falls and Marina Park down at the waterfront just to name a few.

There’s also other activities such as digging amethyst, short trips to get to Lake Superior for a swim - it’s freezing but refreshing, a short trip to the Minnesota border where I went to Grand Marais, a cute little town on Lake Superior, and spent the long weekend of August in Minneapolis to see the Mall of America, a Minnesota Twins game and explored around the beautiful city.

Festivals – blues fest, beer fest, festival of India (free) – get tickets fast, they all sell out. I wasn’t able to go to any of these, but have heard they are a great time.

There is also a ton of good restaurants in Thunder Bay. A favourite of ours was The Tomlin which even though is a bit more expensive, the food was incredible. There’s also other good, more affordable places like The Sovereign Room, Red Lion Smokehouse, Daytona’s, Thai Kitchen, and this dive place that became a favourite of ours called Carrie’s Corner – it has the best onion rings I’ve ever had. We used Friday nights to try new places to eat and were never disappointed. Don’t waste your time with chain restaurants and take the time to try these unique restaurants.

It is possible to use transit, but I would recommend the car. I have heard from many in the region that the public transportation is unreliable. That is not to be said that it can’t be done. Nothing in Thunder Bay is farther than 15 minutes by car, so it's nice that all your rotation sites are close to one another.

Uber has yet to come to Thunder Bay, but they have an app similar call uRide that I would recommend

downloading because finding a taxi is difficult.

It’s hard for those in southern Ontario not from the area to know what’s a good area to live in. We’re also a little too far to go for an apartment viewing. Reach out to Angela, the Regional Clinical Coordinator. She knows of past students who have open rooms for students and may be able to help guide you towards a safer area.

I have only had positive experiences with the Regional Clinical Coordinator, Angela. She was always checking in to see how things were going, arranged a few dinners for us and an IPE event at the hospital and did her best to ensure we had a good time in Thunder Bay. She also surveys you to find out your interests and really tries to cater towards that. I’ve also seen what she has in the works for the new students, and she really wants everyone to have a unique experience. 

Practice site descriptions

Academy Pharmacy – independent pharmacy located within a physician’s office and walk-in clinic. At the pharmacy, I had the opportunity to check prescriptions, counsel on new medications, perform medication reviews, INR tests, dispense methadone and suboxone. I also had the opportunity to do pre-screening for the walk-in clinic and family physician to gather information about the patient’s chief complaints and collaborate with the physician a potential care plan.

Shoppers Drug Mart – worked between two SDM locations, mainly performing medication reviews. I worked with pharmacists and pharmacy assistants. I also got to counsel on new medications and answered patient questions and provided OTC recommendations and gave many vaccinations – especially Shingrix.

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centres – 300+ bed hospital in Thunder Bay. Here I worked on a general medicine floor as well as the outpatient renal unit. I worked closely with other pharmacists but what is nice about the hospital is there are many other health professionals around you, so I was also able to collaborate with dietitians for TPNs, physicians for inquiries or discrepancies found in med recs, and the pharmacy team was addressed often with questions from physicians, nurses/nurse practitioners. I spent time performing medication reconciliation, drug information and answering specific questions, as well as therapeutic drug monitoring. MRSA rates are higher in Thunder Bay so there was a lot of time spent dosing vancomycin. I also got the opportunity to shadow many other areas of the hospital including cardiology, antimicrobial stewardship, surgery, and ICU. The pharmacy staff is very welcoming and ensure you get a positive learning experience.

Rotations are great for working or building on those skills that can’t be taught in the classroom. Some skills/knowledge that I gained from my rotations included:

• Confidence – these rotations give you the opportunity to work up a lot of patients and do a lot of tasks on your own. It really made me feel like, wow, I’m about to be a pharmacist, which was nerve-wracking at first, but as I got more comfortable in my tasks and job, I really felt my confidence start to increase and felt like I was able to work individually as a pharmacist.
• The opportunity to work more closely with substance abuse. I had never worked in a pharmacy that dispensed methadone, or suboxone so getting to be involved in the processes involved with these medications was beneficial to me.
• Learning more about the NIHB plan (for status individuals). If you thought ODB was bad, this plan has so many more forms you need to get filled out to get certain medications covered, calling for preapproval numbers, making sure you order in the specific brand that’s covered. Getting the chance to work a lot with this plan I thought was beneficial, as even these tedious tasks are important for making your pharmacy run smoothly and making sure the patient receives their care in a timely manner.
• Dosing vancomycin. It’s basically used as empiric therapy in Thunder Bay, so I’ve had excellent practice in working with this medication which was nice because in community we never really see it (unless it’s oral).

Advice for future students

To me, rotations main purpose was to learn, and become comfortable being a pharmacist – it’s school.

Take advantage of each rotation site – even if it isn’t what you are interested in. I have always been on the community track, hospital has just never been my thing, but due to some changes in employment, I ended up with a rotation at the hospital. I was not very excited for this, I knew it wasn’t for me, but I still went in with a positive attitude and ended up really enjoying my time at the hospital to the point where I could see myself working at one.

This is also your final “class” before graduation so if there are things you would like to learn, ask. If you want to learn more about cardiology, ask to shadow that unit. If you want to become more comfortable checking prescriptions, ask to take on a larger role in that. You’re on these rotations to learn, so make sure your preceptors know that, so you’re not stuck in a room doing MedsChecks all day.

Thunder Bay may be far, but it really isn’t a banishment. Really take the time to enjoy this part of the province that you may never get to see again. There are tons of beautiful places to visit, and the sun doesn’t set until like 10 pm, so not having enough time isn’t an excuse.

You will also be working with a large Indigenous population. This gives the opportunity to learn a lot about their different billing processes, and the difficulties a lot of them have to endure to receive their medications and general medical care. Caring for this population was something I had never been exposed to and it was really eye-opening for me and a great experience.

Finally, have fun. You’re adulting soon begins, so take advantage of this time while you can.