Waterloo Pharmacy grads help close the gap between evidence and practice for primary care providers.
The Centre for Effective Practice (CEP) is one of the largest independent healthcare behaviour-change partners in Canada. CEP’s clinical tools and Academic Detailing Service support primary care providers in closing the gap between evidence and practice. Waterloo Pharmacy alums have been involved with CEP since 2015, providing academic detailing services across Ontario.
What is academic detailing?
CEP’s Academic Detailing Service provides educational discussion about the latest evidence on a clinical topics, making it digestible, practical and impactful for primary care providers and their patients. The academic detailing is relationship-based where a pharmacist meets with a provider one-on-one to understand their practice and tailors the education to their needs. Overall, this service strengthens our rapidly changing health-care system.
Additionally, CEP’s tools and resources are free, open access and support physicians with the delivery of evidence-based care to improve patient outcomes.
“Seeing where the pain points are in primary care, using that information to tailor the topics we provide education on and closing those care gaps is at the core of what we do,” Victoria Burton, Manager, CEP.
Waterloo alums Mat Demarco (Rx2011), Sachin Dugal (Rx2018) and Nicole Seymour (Rx2013) discuss the importance of this unconventional pharmacy career.
Mat DeMarco, Rx2011
Sachin Duggal, Rx2018
Nicole Seymour, Rx2013
Why is this career important?
Sachin Duggal: We provide physicians the tools to improve therapeutic decisions that have a direct impact on the health outcomes for many of the patients for whom they deliver care. One provider we work with can have 500-1500 patients, depending on their practice.
Mat DeMarco: As academic detailers, we translate new evidence and enable access to best practices for health-care providers and their primary care patients. This interprofessional model makes a difference and positive change through a multiplying effect at the community and provincial levels.
What is unique about academic detailing?
Nicole Seymour: This role is unique in that we collaborate with pharmacists from different sectors with a patient-oriented approach. Each detailer brings a different perspective to the table in an upstream environment. Our services are tailored to Ontario specifically and we propel changes to be made based on evidence-based knowledge for a physician’s practice to be proactive rather than reactive. As pharmacists, we have specific training ingrained in us that increases our collective knowledge of the health-care system.
How did the Waterloo Pharmacy program prepare you for this role?
Sachin Duggal: The opportunity to enhance my ability to navigate evidence and critically appraise literature during our academic and co-op work terms helped my problem-solving abilities. The program trains us to be agile to navigate challenging situations and tackle real-world problems.
How has CEP helped your own career as a pharmacist?
Nicole Seymour: I really wanted to be a lifelong learner who makes an impact in pharmacy. We have a unique teaching style as academic detailers where we receive training and then impart our knowledge to the health-care system.
Mat DeMarco: During my co-op work terms I witnessed how important interdisciplinary collaboration is in healthcare. This role fostered my growth in that area and now allows me to step into the shoes of an educator.
What would you like to tell future students who are interested in academic detailing?
Mat DeMarco: I am going to share some advice that my trainer Loren Regier shared with me when I was interviewing for this job back in 2017: you should consider joining us at CEP if you are interested in positively impacting the world of therapeutic decision-making. If you are passionate about supporting and improving best practices in your community, this work will motivate you to make a difference.
Not only do we impart information, but providers teach us in return. They express their limitations about their practice, but they also shine a light on aspects we haven’t addressed that affect a niche group or community they face. This continues our cycle of discussing their concerns with the rest of our CEP team to find solutions.
Waterloo Pharmacy has been involved with CEP for many years now and recently collaborated in a new partnership to strengthen evidence-based patient care through education. CEP currently has their first co-op student from Waterloo Pharmacy working with them this term.