2022 AND THE WINNERS ARE…

The Pharmacy Practice + Business Awards recognize Canadian pharmacy professionals providing exceptional patient care and demonstrating creativity and innovation in pharmacy practice. We are pleased to introduce this year’s winners.

About The Process

In 2022, we opened the awards for entries in six categories and asked a panel of six judges to review and score each entry. The entries with the highest total scores in each category were declared the winners.

THANK YOU TO OUR JUDGES

Business Innovation

Andrew Schonbe

Breaking down barriers to sexual health services

Why he won: In 2019, pharmacist Andrew Schonbe launched the country’s first-ever online PrEP service to address significant gaps in access to HIV prevention medication and sexual health services. Today, his collaborative PrEP Clinic/Ontario Prevention Clinic + pharmacy have helped more than 5,000 Ontarians and counting. Plus, in addition to providing in-person services in Toronto, he and his team offer satellite physical locations in Ottawa and Brampton to underserviced community members in collaboration with local AIDS service organizations. To ensure easy access to services, there is a late-night phone line, text and email services, walk-in, evening and online options—and a multilingual pharmacy team. The pharmacy also ships free harm reduction tools and offers naloxone counselling services.

What one judge said: “The Prep Clinic is reaching a muchunderserved community and breaking down barriers to access.”

Schonbe says pharmacists are “the literal glue that hold the team together” and are fully embedded in patient care. They work in an augmented clinical role and are the key point of contact for patients, while leading interprofessional practice with pharmacy technicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and social workers on the team. With a more appointment-based model, pharmacists can also have private, thorough one-onone consultations. This has maximized patient care levels while elevating respect for the profession and role of the pharmacist.

Q&A with Andrew Schonbe

What do you most enjoy about what you do?

I love the spontaneity and freedom to be creative in this space. I really feel like it is limitless. Almost daily, I think of new ideas or ways to engage with the community and can very quickly bring these to fruition. It’s very rewarding to be able to quickly improve the lives of patients with new programs and services—to just go out and make it happen.

What is your biggest challenge?

Spreading myself a bit too thin at times and having focus in too many directions. It can be difficult to balance the limitless nature of innovation that I love with the realities of how many things you can do at once. It’s really a balancing act but organization, delegation and teamwork are essential to navigate this.

Is there someone who mentored you, or served as a role model?

While I have not had a mentor or role model personally, I have taken my learnings and experiences to be a mentor to my current pharmacy team. It has been rewarding to inspire and uplift those newer practitioners.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give a young pharmacist who wants to make a difference in their career?

Keep an open mind and look beyond your horizons. Sometimes we get comfortable within four walls of a “safe” role or employer, which prevents us from conceiving something outside the box. This stunts innovation potential that could be hiding deep inside you. Attend events and conferences, read what others are doing, and reach out to pharmacists in spaces that are interesting to you to share their experiences and open a dialogue.

What’s next for you—any goals or dreams you hope to achieve in the future?

I hope to continue to grow the pharmacy-clinic and reduce barriers to access for even more Ontarians. This includes an increased focus on rapid PrEP starts, preparing for the launch of injectable PrEP, and integrating doxy PrEP/PEP into practice.

What’s your favourite way to spend time outside of work?

I’m pretty much always on the go with work these days but I would say taking care of my pup (and our pharmacy mascot) Achilles. He forces me to take those pauses and go for a breath of fresh air—literally.

PRACTICE INNOVATION Dean Elbe

Why he won: Dean Elbe has developed formalized psychiatry resident/fellow rotations, which he precepts as a clinical pharmacy specialist in child and adolescent mental health. Being on rotation with Elbe for four to six weeks, with a sole focus on managing pharmacotherapy for multiple patients, has given psychiatry residents some much-needed repetition to make the transition to prescribing much easier for attending physicians, and shown them how to effectively collaborate with pharmacists after they enter practice.

Since starting these rotations in 2016, 15 child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) fellows have completed the rotation—usually alongside a pharmacy student or resident—and the rotation is in high demand.

What one judge said:

“Very unique and creative idea. To have a subspeciality of medical residents undergo a pharmacyspecific rotation prior to graduation is unparalleled. Well done!”

CAP fellows are expected to provide pharmaceutical care services, patient monitoring, respond to clinical inquiries and drug information requests, participate in journal clubs performing critical evaluation of pharmacotherapy trials, and deliver a case presentation to the pharmacy department during their rotation.

For both the psychiatry fellow and the pharmacy learner there are many opportunities for co‐teaching and the chance to learn and understand the perspective and skills of the other profession. This has encouraged a more collegial working relationship overall.

Q&A with Dean Elbe

What do you most enjoy about what you do?

In terms of clinical care, I enjoy seeing a patient be discharged with improved functioning compared to how they were at the time of admission, and knowing that the medication management services performed by me or my residents in training made a difference. Occasionally, former patients will come by the hospital to let the care team know they graduated from university or are working in their chosen industry, and that always puts a smile on my face. In terms of teaching, I most enjoy witnessing that “a-ha!” moment for pharmacy residents and psychiatry fellows when I’m able to help them gain clarity on a medicationrelated concept they were struggling with, that they turn around and put into action to improve patient care.

Is there someone in particular who mentored you, or served as a role model?

So many pharmacists have mentored me during my career and served as role models over the past 30-plus years. To name just a few: Doug Danforth (Westminster West End Pharmacy), Dr. Peter Jewesson and Dr. Nilu Partovi (both at Vancouver General Hospital), Helen Lee (Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services Informatics) and Dr. Ric Procyshyn (BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute).

What’s your favourite way to spend time outside of work?

It’s a three-way tie between playing late-night hockey with the Pharmacy Line (my linemates Malcolm, Benny, Iqbal and Chi are all pharmacists), playing bass in our 90s alternative rock band, Bitter Pills (https://www.youtube.com/@ bitterpills4108) and exploring new restaurants around Vancouver with my wife Lisa.

What’s next for you—any goals or dreams you hope to achieve in the future?

I am so excited to launch www.drugnutritioninteractions.com in 2023. Having worked and presented with a prominent U.S. dietitian in this area for a number of years, I really feel like launching this site is a kind of culmination of my clinical work and my interest and passion for information systems and website design.