When Sumani Vij (Rx2023) began her residency, she wanted to grow personally and professionally. She spent a year at the St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) pharmacy department in the novel year 1 ambulatory and post-acute care pharmacy residency program developed by Waterloo Pharmacy alum Denise Kreutzwiser (Rx2011).
“It feels like just yesterday that I started Waterloo Pharmacy, let alone be finished School and my residency,” says Sumani. “I was part of the Rx2023 class that faced unique challenges during peak pandemic time. Regardless of the barriers, we were exposed to a variety of clinical areas and made an impact as front line workers. I had the opportunity through my various co-op experiences to explore different opportunities and continue to network. I knew after my co-op experiences that I wanted to focus on ambulatory and post-acute care pharmacy.”
Sumani wanted a residency that struck a balance between community and hospital pharmacy with a focus on interdisciplinary work.
“I chose St. Joseph’s residency program because of its one-of-a-kind approach to patient care. The focus on catching and resolving drug therapy problems that occur at transitions of care in a holistic way interested me the most,” she says. “The different rotations further drew me to the program – pain management, forensic mental health and rehabilitation to name a few.”
St. Joseph’s intensive, one-year program is one of few in Canada providing hands-on training in team-based, post-acute care and outpatient hospital care for chronic diseases and conditions. With placements at all five St. Joseph’s sites and in a variety of clinical settings, the pharmacy resident completes core training within the Pain Management Program, Rheumatology Centre, Palliative Care Unit, Rehabilitation Program, and Mental Health Care Program. The resident also undertakes up to eight weeks of elective rotations, with the current options ranging from forensic mental health to perioperative care, infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, and women's health with a focus on sexual assault and domestic violence.
Each rotation in the residency allowed Sumani to learn continuously and gave her the opportunity to grow her independence as a pharmacist. Each rotation looked a little different day to day but overall Sumani spent her days providing care for patients alongside her preceptors and healthcare team. She provided recommendations or highlighted updates relevant to the whole team, continued to work with patients to answer their questions about their medications, had therapeutic discussions with preceptors about clinical topics in detail to see how best to apply the therapy to the patient and if time allowed, to work on her own research project.
L-R: Denise Kreutzwiser and Sumani Vij. Photos credit: St. Joseph’s Health Care London
“The way the program is built is that you’re given the core knowledge at the beginning to apply and build on throughout the rest of your residency,” she says. “Being able to learn from all the pharmacists and preceptors I met helped me grow professionally and helped strengthen my critical decision-making skills to apply to different cases. The entire team at St. Joseph’s holds such a wealth of knowledge and are so passionate about the clinical area they work in and their patients.”
One of the biggest challenges Sumani faced during her residency was completing her national licensing exams right at the time she started her residency. “It was a hard time, but I got through it. Having a strong support system was key. Additionally, being the inaugural resident of the program was an incredible experience but quite challenging at times. It’s nice to have co-residents or previous residents to leverage their experiences and to connect with. I’m looking forward to being that for the next resident.”
Sumani adds that being the first resident in a new program helped her advocate for herself and future residents and was given the space to communicate what she wanted from her residency experience.
Her time with Denise as her preceptor during her 10-week outpatient rotation was an amazing experience. “Denise is a great role model. She is a passionate teacher and open to integrating new concepts into the program based on the resident’s feedback,” Sumani says. “Having someone so open to talk to was amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing how the residency program grows and Denise’s impact on future pharmacy learners.”
Sumani completed her research project at St. Joseph’s Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, alongside her preceptor and pharmacist Brandon LeBlanc. Her project titled, Impact of Short-acting vs. Long-acting Antipsychotic Use on Time in Seclusion on a Forensic Assessment Unit: A Retrospective Chart Review, was a great experience that deepened her understanding of the research process - from ethics approval to data collection, and final manuscript preparation.
“Given the limited research in forensic mental health settings, I really appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the existing literature in this area,” Sumani says.
In addition, Sumani authored her first peer-reviewed article:Analgesic medication considerations for chronic pain management post-bariatric surgery. Sumani’s article was published in Expert Opinion of Drug Metabolism and Toxicology the last week of her residency training.
“St. Joseph’s is very fortunate to have had Sumani as our first pharmacy resident,” Denise says. “Being the first resident evokes a unique sense of resilience, determination, adaptability, and resourcefulness. While being the first can be daunting, it means you set the stage and break down barriers so the future is brighter for those who come next. Sumani embraced this challenge. She soaked up an array of amazing opportunities and the supportive environment St. Joseph’s provided to develop into a proficient pharmacist skilled in a multitude of domains. Her hardwork, perseverance, and growth mindset were obvious throughout her residency year. Sumani has a very bright future and I look forward to seeing her career as a pharmacist flourish.”
After her residency, Sumani will be exploring a primary care setting, and is looking forward to bringing her skills and experience to a family health team. Maintaining a health work/life balance is important to Sumani. She is learning how to swim and enjoys finding ways to unwind from her busy days such as visiting coffee shops and farmers markets on the weekend.