Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate
Before starting my degree at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, I had a relatively limited understanding of the pharmacy profession. I was under the impression that there were two main paths to choose from upon graduating: community and hospital pharmacy. However, after joining the PharmD program, I quickly realized that there were many other, less-traditional avenues within the pharmacy profession, and I was excited to explore all that I could. Although I have had very positive and rewarding experiences working in both the community and hospital pharmacy settings, I was interested in experiencing a non-clinical setting as well. I got my first opportunity to do so at the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA) working as a pharmacy student in the Professional Affairs department.
In the profession of pharmacy, we are always thinking about how we can help and advocate for patients, but it is also important to think about how we can help and advocate for our own profession. My three months at the OPA enabled me to concentrate on supporting pharmacy professionals through advocacy efforts, practice support, and various association-related responsibilities.
One of the projects that I was able to help support was on the topic of vaccines. Pharmacists are essential to supporting vaccine administration and public health promotion in Ontario. They have the authority to administer a comprehensive range of vaccines, and the potential to contribute even more in the future through initiatives such as expanding the number of publicly funded vaccines that pharmacists can administer. However, there are still other barriers to patient access to vaccines that are important to address. One potential barrier is the coverage of vaccines by private insurance plans. As not all vaccines are publicly funded, if patients are not able to receive coverage for other vaccines through their private insurance plans, this may pose a cost barrier affecting patient access to vaccines. During my time at the OPA, I had the opportunity to investigate this issue by engaging in the preliminary work to gather more information on this potential barrier. This work allowed me to see first-hand the early stages of advocacy work and the research required to inform advocacy efforts.
In addition, as the pharmacy profession continues to evolve, it is also critical to promote the important role that pharmacy professionals play in our health care system and improve public perception/recognition of the profession. This could be done through large-scale efforts, such as publicly facing campaigns, or through smaller scale initiatives that target specific communities or groups of individuals. During my work term, through a partnership with a local public health unit community program, I had the privilege of creating a presentation to raise awareness of pharmacy services and to help community members get to know their pharmacy team. The presentation specifically outlined the role of pharmacy professionals in the healthcare team, the importance of medication management and the different services that the pharmacy team provides. This work was especially meaningful because it enabled me to channel my passion for pharmacy into promoting the profession and facilitating connections between patients and appropriate healthcare services.
Beyond advocacy work and promoting the profession of pharmacy, I had the opportunity to partake in many other association-related tasks throughout my time at OPA. For instance, OPA actively supports its members through the provision of practice tools and the resolution of practice-related issues. As part of my responsibilities, I reviewed and edited a vaccine tool, updated practice support webpages and forms based on government policy updates and contacted appropriate individuals to address coordination of claims issues in community pharmacies. I was also given the opportunity to attend various external meetings with relevant stakeholders, such as the Ontario College of Pharmacists and Ontario Health. Overall, this work permitted me to have a behind-the-scenes view of the tireless efforts taken to support Ontario’s pharmacy professionals.
I am deeply thankful for the time I spent with the Professional Affairs department, as well as the rest of the OPA team. It is one of the most supportive and welcoming work environments that I have experienced in my pharmacy career. I was given the time and space to ask questions, share opinions, and contribute ideas. With each submission, advocacy initiative and practice support tool developed by OPA, the future of pharmacy is advanced, and I am privileged to have been a part of it.
Written by:
Sasha Thomson, Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate, Class of 2026, University of Toronto
Sasha is a third year Doctor of Pharmacy student at the University of Toronto. Having a background in community and hospital pharmacy, this was Sasha’s first exposure to association and advocacy work. She worked in the Professional Affairs department during the summer of 2024.
