April 29, 2022
Group photo of pharmacy students engaging in Pharmacy Appreciation Month online activities

This year, CAPSI hosted yet another successful Pharmacy Appreciation Month (PAM). Celebrated every March, PAM is a significant month for all members of the pharmacy profession. It signifies the hard work, passion and dedication pharmacists have for our profession. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen many points of progress and change for pharmacy and we hope to continue to be one of the most accessible and trusted health care professionals in our communities.  

PharmD student Michelle Chaung

“PAM is a month to bring all pharmacy students, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and assistants together. It is a time to celebrate all the accomplishments and successes our profession has achieved. It brings awareness to the importance of pharmacy in our healthcare system and it provides us with an opportunity to advocate for more roles for our profession in the community.”

Michelle Chaung (CAPSI Senior 2021-2022)

While the ongoing pandemic meant CAPSI hosted all PAM events online, CAPSI UofT took this as an opportunity to create some new and unique initiatives. We hosted our kickoff event on zoom and streamed live to our PAM Facebook page. We invited student guest speakers from all years to share their experiences and thoughts on various current topics in pharmacy. Topics included Pharmacy in the Future, Blessings in Disguise During the Pandemic, APPE Rotations during the Pandemic, and Experiences with Both Online and In-Person School.

Every year, CAPSI UofT hosts PAM events, and this year was no different! Here’s a few highlights:

  • Kids in Medicine (KIM)
  • Pharmacy Outreach Days (PODs)
  • Interprofessional Education event on heart failure
  • Toronto Next’s Top Pharmacist competition
  • 2022 Evidence Based Practice Competition

Our KIM and PODs were both hosted online this year and we mainly posted educational reels and posts on our PAM Instagram page @uoft_pam2022. We were also able to present one presentation on Safe Drug Uses to Jarvis C.I Secondary School. We hosted various social media contests through our Instagram pages and most of our reels had over 500-600 views. Thank you to the 2T3 CAPSI Reps (Logan Groves and Neil Patel), PODs and KIM committee for their hard work in producing all the infographics and reels! Our IPE event was planned by our 2T4 CAPSI reps, Rafi Mahsin and Pamela Molina, and UTIHI Educational Student Directors. We were very fortunate to be able to invite Professor Heather Kertland to be our guest speaker and expert on heart failure.

Theodora Udounwa

“PAM is important for pharmacy students because it is vital that we set aside time to intentionally celebrate and appreciate all the work of all pharmacy professionals. Given the busyness of school and all other aspects of our lives, this is not something we may do regularly. As pharmacy students who hope to graduate, PAM reminds and instills in us pride and confidence in the roles we can play in the healthcare system and community.”

Theodora Udounwa (CAPSI Junior 2021-2022) 

TNTP 2022 Winner Mackenzie Richardson

Toronto’s Next Top Pharmacist (TNTP)

CAPSI’s Toronto’s Next Top Pharmacist event is always a popular  and this year, we had 4 amazing contestants, Sabih Jamil (2T3), Wei Wei (2T3) and Quoc-Huy Pham (2T4), Mackenzie Richardson (2T5) compete for the TNTP crown. They showcased their unique talents and flashed an amazing catwalk. All the contestants put on a great show with their classy showmanship. Our wonderful judges, Dr. Dubins, Dr. Crandall and Dr. Austin, entertained the crowd with their sassy and fun comments. At the end of the night, they had a tough decision to make and they had a difficult time choosing our TNTP 2022 winner. After tallying the points, with a close win, Mackenzie seized the TNTP title and he will be representing University of Toronto at the Canada’s Next Top Pharmacist competition as part of Professional Development Week 2023 in Saskatoon. Thank you to our CAPSI 2T5 reps, Sasha Mohindra and Ayman Lakhani, for planning a great online TNTP!

 

Evidence Based Practice Competition (EBP)

We ended off our PAM with an exciting in-person competition and CAPSI, UPS Externals and CSHP brought back the Evidence Based Practice Competition for the first time in three years! It is a unique competition that allows students to research evidence-based resources to answer a case question. We had three teams, all from different years, compete for the $200 team prize! In the end, Aya Akrawi (2T2), Basmah Mosharraf (2T2), Sadaf Fatima (2T2), and Aleena Aslam (2T2) won the EBP competition 2022! 

This year, Michelle Chaung and Theodora Udounwa co-chaired a new National PAM committee and we hosted two additional PAM initiatives, including the National PAM Merchandise Sale and the National PAM Virtual Meet and Greet event. Our committee designed two unique designs for totes and toques and raised over $1,000 in sales. Our CAPSI committee decided to donate our profits to Canadian Mental Health Association, in light of the growing mental health issues that arose during the pandemic.

Due to the pandemic, many students missed the opportunity to participate in the annual Professional Development Week conference, so we wanted to offer students another method to meet other students. Through the National Virtual Meet and Greet event created an opportunity for all pharmacy students to socialize and meet online. Overall, we believe that these two events united students across Canada in different ways and we were able to also raise money for a good cause. Thank you to everyone for another great PAM!

Thank you to our sponsors this year:

  • National Bank
  • Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
  • Pharmasave 
  • Ontario Pharmacists Association

More News