Rural Health Care Gets a Boost

Community connections and a wide scope of practice in Alberta make an appealing mix for career opportunities

Health care can be difficult to access in rural communities. row in part-time clinic hours, an Alberta winter or a global pandemic, and those accessibility challenges only become more apparent.

But many services that once required an appointment with a family doctor can now be provided by an Alberta pharmacist — including some prescriptions, referrals, disease screenings, provision of health advice, precision medicine and vaccinations. And pharmacists, along with the students they train, are prepared to serve rural communities.

“Every year I work in a small town, I love it more and more,” said Alma Steyn '10 BSc(Pharm), owner of Gourlay’s Clinic Pharmacy Canmore. “ at connection you get with people — the patients and the other health-care professionals we work with — is unbelievable.”

In rural pharmacies like Gourlay’s across the province, University of Alberta pharmacy students are training in a complex work placement and discovering the benefits of practising in a smaller community.

“Some of the products that I’m compounding here, I've never seen anywhere else,” said Olivia Stephen, a fourth-year pharmacy student completing her final placement with Steyn at Gourlay’s Canmore. “For example, we have di erent compounds and medications that we make for emergency pain management for the ski hills.”

Return to Rural After Graduation

Over their four-year degree, U of A pharmacy students complete 1,600 hours of hands-on training in pharmacies and hospitals, with 10 to 20 per cent of those hours spent in rural placements. Of those students who have found jobs on graduation, 30 per cent choose to return to work in rural areas.

“ e No. 1 thing for me is the seamless care and the ease of communication in rural se ings,” says Preston Eshenko, a recent graduate of the U of A pharmacy program. Eshenko completed three of his placements in rural communities during his degree, and on graduation started work as a full-time pharmacist at Gourlay’s Pharmacy in Ban , sister branch to Gourlay’s in Canmore. He also works a few shi s per month at Ban Mineral Springs Hospital.

“It benefits the patients because we know what went on during the di erent levels of care,” Eshenko says. “It's much easier to find information and communicate between areas of the system when you also work at the hospital and know all the nurses, emergency room sta and acute care team. It’s just a human connection.”

Steyn is one of more than 1,000 volunteer preceptors who give their time to train U of A pharmacy students. She said the training experience benefits her and her patients, as well as the student. Eshenko, who has signed up to be a preceptor and is waiting to take on his first student, agrees.

“I had very good preceptors throughout school, and I wanted to pass that on,” said Steyn. “And I'm looking forward to learning from my students and staying up-to-date on the most recent progressions in health care — because it’s always changing — and being able to change my practice for the be er because of their input.”

Filling a Gap in Care

“Pharmacists are filling a much bigger role than we ever have,” said Steyn. Pharmacies have been one of the only health-care providers that have stayed open to the public and accessible throughout the pandemic, and they are steadily taking on responsibilities that have traditionally been fulfilled at family practices, drop-in clinics or urgent care centres. Alberta pharmacists have the largest scope of practice in Canada, and are the largest single provider of the COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot in the province.

“If your patients know you, like they do in a small town, they’re more likely to trust,” said Stephen, who plans to work in a rural area once she graduates. “And that makes for be er patient care and be er health outcomes.

– KALYNA HENNIG EPP