Kaitlin Bynkoski (BScPhm ’13, PharmD ’17) graduated from the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy in 2013, receiving the honour of the Ontario Pharmacists Association Student of the Year Award. In 2017, she earned her PharmD from Waterloo Pharmacy through the PharmD bridging program.
Kaitlin is the Medication Safety Pharmacist at Health Sciences North, a 450+ bed hospital in Sudbury. In this role, she has introduced innovative safety initiatives such as safeguarding high-alert/critical medications, independent double check procedures, recreation of the hospital’s formulary to incorporate evidence-based inclusion criteria, and much more. In her patient safety role, she consistently promotes pharmacy participation on interdisciplinary teams responsible for quality and patient safety reviews and hospital accreditation and leads patient-centered processes for change.
She also works in community pharmacy, with an emphasis on providing care to patients with substance use disorders. Kaitlin’s proficient and empathetic approach has been critical in building trusting relationships with her patients, and helping to combat the opioid crisis, a public health issue that is particularly severe in Sudbury. Kaitlin also volunteers at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and leads the Pharmacy Journal Club, an initiative which has helped address the educational needs of clinicians in her community.
Kaitlin continues to be involved in the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy as a preceptor for both co-op and PharmD clinical rotations, and as the regional clinical coordinator for the Sudbury and Manitoulin Island regions as she strives to discover and develop unique emerging placements for pharmacy students.
Kaitlin will be formally recieving her award at Waterloo Pharmacy's Reunion event, CE Saturday, September 28th, 2019.