Luc Charlebois, Rx2017 - Windsor, Chatham and Tilbury
Navigating the region
It was home for me. I had a variety of practice settings and learned a lot at each one. The focus was definitely on clinical learning and not on any technical aspects (except the paperwork after your clinical intervention – which was expected).
I played beach volleyball and spent other time off returning to Kitchener to see friends. Windsor’s transit is not to the same caliber as Kitchener/Waterloo so I found having a vehicle was necessary especially because I travelled to Windsor, Chatham and Tilbury for my rotations.
My Regional Clinical Coordinator (RCC) worked at my family health team rotation so I got to spend some time with her talking about rotations and local pharmacy advocacy (in Essex County). There were some small events planned and support was fantastic! My RCC always answered emails quickly and dealt with any issues promptly and professionally (there were very few issues).
Practice
site descriptions
My first rotation was on the Pediatric floor at Windsor Regional Hospital. I completed rounds with an interprofessional team that included many learners from each profession, dosed medications and made suggestions to physicians, worked through many pediatric guidelines independently and reviewed/compared as a team.
My second rotation was an INR clinic and PGx clinic at Chatham Family Health Team. I helped run a point-of-care INR clinic of over 500 patients, seeing patients independently in the latter half of the rotation. I also analyzed PGx data and made suggestions to physicians. I was able to help with the PRIME study (a subgroup within the IMPACT study with CAMH), we recruited patients for saliva samples to be tested for liver enzymes and receptor levels via GeneSight Psychotropic technology. I aided in data interpretation, drug information research and made suggestions to FHT physicians regarding the pharmacogenetic data. I found the FHT gave me exposure to the workings of primary care practitioners and gave me a sense of the possibilities that collaboration bring for pharmacists. Interprofessional collaboration will be a big part of our healthcare system as we move away from a siloed approach and towards a patient-centred system. The more interprofessional exposure available as a learner, the more comfortable our pharmacists will feel approaching all healthcare practitioners when in practice.
My final rotation was at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Tilbury where I organized, performed and billed MedsChecks including some at home visits and many diabetes patients.
The skills I developed during rotations include confidence in pediatric pharmacy, a much better understanding of antimicrobials and the stewardship role pharmacists play, a better understanding of how hospitals run as a whole, and interprofessional written communication (and some verbal). I strengthened my diabetes and hypertension knowledge the most, and other chronic conditions.
The practice sites had great software support tools, I only used my uWaterloo login for tertiary resources – nothing more was needed.
Advice for future students
I definitely learned more and enjoyed rotations more than I was expecting!