November 7, 2023

 

 

From October 20 to 22, CSHP held Board meetings and its Annual General Meeting in Montréal.

 

Throughout the weekend Board members, Executive members, Branch presidents, and CSHP staff had plenty of discussions on priority topics for CSHP and hospital pharmacy. Keep reading to learn what happened! 

 

Board of Directors changes

 

The Board saw a few changes over AGM weekend. Very notable was the departure of CSHP National Board of Directors stalwart, Zack Dumont; he took his final bows after more than a decade of demanding work on the Board of Directors- and Saskatchewan Branch leadership before that. Throughout his tenure, Zack has touched everything from a pharmacy technician task force to being an expert and speaker for CSHP’s Hospital Pharmacy 101 to being a co-chair of the Vision for the Hospital Pharmacy Profession Task Force, and much more. His dedication and knowledge on top of his unprecedented two-year presidency where he led CSHP through a time of uncertainty. CSHP is incredibly grateful to Zack who remains committed to CSHP with his presence on committees, serving as Saskatchewan Branch’s secretary and, as of AGM weekend, as a proud CSHP Fellow! 

Other moves on the Board include Sean Spina taking up the Past President mantle after leading CSHP through the end of the 2020-2023 strategic plan. Ashley Walus was promoted to the President position where she will be focused on incorporating CSHP’s vision for hospital pharmacy into the next strategic plan. Katie Hollis officially stepped into her role as President-Elect. As for representation from the Branches, CSHP bid adieu to the now-former New Brunswick Delegate Chantal Michaud along with former Student Delegate Abby Krupski and then welcomed New Brunswick’s new delegate Timothy MacLaggan and Student Delegate Jacqueline Tian-Tran from the University of Saskatchewan.

 

Vision for the Hospital Pharmacy Profession Task Force
The Vision for the Hospital Pharmacy Profession Task Force crafted 12 outstanding vision statements unanimously approved by the Board. They are as follows:

1. Pharmacy professionals engage in shared decision-making to provide evidence-informed care that incorporates patients' values, needs, and preferences.
2. Pharmacy professionals provide equitable, culturally appropriate care tailored to the populations they serve. 
3. Pharmacy professionals collaborate to address patients' medication needs across the continuum of care.  
4. Pharmacy professionals engage patients and their caregivers in managing the patient's health and wellness. 
5. Pharmacy professionals optimize patient care by practicing with their full and expanding scope of responsibilities. 
6. Pharmacy professionals develop and maintain leadership skills to benefit their patients, themselves, and the profession. 
7. Pharmacy professionals meet complex practice needs in healthcare systems by engaging in formal training opportunities, including specialization and credentialling. 
8. Pharmacy professionals are engaged in the education and mentorship of peers, future hospital pharmacy professionals, and other health care providers. 
9. Pharmacy professionals pursue innovative solutions to improve access and provide care to patients in the most appropriate location, which may include their homes or local communities. 
10. Pharmacy professionals lead quality improvement and research initiatives with a focus on medication use, pharmacy practice, and resource allocation. 
11. Pharmacy professionals lead and implement rational medication use practices that are fiscally and environmentally sustainable. 
12. Pharmacy professionals promote diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging, both within the pharmacy profession and the broader healthcare system. 

In a task force led by Co-Chairs Zack Dumont and Mary Gunther, these statements were narrowed down over a three-round process through a Delphi panel. On this panel, there were representatives from patient advocacy, IPPC, APES, CAPSI, Technicians, AFPC, 2SLGBTQA+ advocacy, and, for the first time, patients.  

With these statements agreed upon by the Board, this task force has been dissolved and will be replaced with a Vision Implementation Task Force. This new task force will concentrate on a plan to put the proposed work into practice in line with the approved vision statements.

Sustainability Task force
The Sustainability Task Force produced a set of short-term and long-term recommendations covering various aspects of CSHP work. This work will include: 

• Advocacy & partnership 
• Education 
• Policy and procedure development 
• Research and quality improvement 
• Branding.

These recommendations advocate to Accreditation Canada, NAPRA, plus federal and provincial governments for the inclusion of environmental sustainability criteria, standards, and practices.  

They also plan for the creation of a planetary health education series, guideline development for sustainable conferences, and establishing a dedicated sustainability section on the CSHP website.  

This task force was also dissolved and is being replaced by a Sustainability Implementation Task Force. With several fresh faces on board, the new task force will be putting these approved recommendations into action.

The cornerstone of progress

On top of these changes, Board members and Branch presidents were able to take in highly anticipated updates from CSHP’s Year in Review. Topping out the list was continuous membership growth and brand-new non-dues revenue sources. The Hospital Pharmacy in Canada Survey Report is now more accessible than ever through multiple webinars, conference sessions, etc. Hospital Pharmacy 101 program sales continue to climb. These and other promising developments will be presented in CSHP’s upcoming 2022-23 Annual Report – so stay tuned to see how the past year has set the stage for great things from CSHP!