This year’s recipients of grants from CFP’s Innovation Fund will explore a wide range of issues that can help shape pharmacists’ evolving role in patient care, including how to address mistreatment by patients, the impact of minor ailments, and screening for social determinants of health.
Since 2007, CFP has awarded more than $2 million in grants from its Innovation Fund to help finance practical research or innovation in pharmacy practice. The Innovation Fund is a core component of CFP’s commitment to support advancement in the profession of pharmacy for a healthier Canada. This year, CFP awarded grants totalling $123,000 to four recipients.
Few studies have explored patient mistreatment directed toward healthcare providers, yet it is becoming a common occurrence. Mirroring trends in society, rudeness and anger are becoming more common in healthcare settings, including pharmacies.
Jamie Kellar, Associate Dean and Associate Professor, University of Toronto, and her research team will work with staff at Extend Pharmacy to develop Canada’s first training program for pharmacy professionals to manage patient mistreatment more effectively during daily practice. As pharmacists’ roles continue to expand and more patients interact more frequently with pharmacists, such training is increasingly important to reduce pharmacy professionals’ risk of personal harm, poor mental health and burnout. Abuse and harassment also increase the risk of medication errors and professional attrition.
Phase one of the research will interview pharmacy professionals to gather examples of mistreatment, their impact and the effectiveness of past efforts to stop the mistreatment. Drawing from these results, phase two will develop a training program to help pharmacy professionals more effectively prevent or deescalate mistreatment by patients. Phase three will evaluate the effectiveness of the training. The project’s expected completion date is mid-2026.
While minor ailments typically do not require extensive medical monitoring, they are very common and can have a significant impact, particularly among older adults.
Pharmacist-led assessments for minor ailments are now commonplace in Canadian provinces. New research by Jeff Taylor, Professor, University of Saskatchewan, will solidify the need for and impact of these services in the geriatric population. The study will quantify and qualify the ailments experienced by ambulatory seniors in Saskatchewan, assess their impact on daily lives and establish chosen treatment modalities. It will also explore patients’ confidence in managing their symptoms and determine their level of satisfaction with the chosen treatment.
The project will survey 400 adults aged 65 and older. An analysis of the results is scheduled to become available in spring 2025.
Social factors such as income status and education level can result in considerable health disparities and have a significant impact on population health. Research consistently shows that such social determinants of health are key predictors of the use of health services; for example, people living in poverty are more likely to require the healthcare system.
Tiffany Lee, Assistant Professor, Memorial University of Newfoundland, will work with researchers in Toronto and patient-partners to conduct a proof-of-concept study for the SPARK tool (Screening for Poverty And Related social determinants and intervening to improve Knowledge of and links to resources by community pharmacists). This project seeks to leverage the unique frontline position of community pharmacists to screen for social determinants of health. Not only will the findings contribute to a higher standard for community pharmacist health-services research in Canada, but it will also address a topic of significant concern to provincial, federal, and international health services agencies and Ministries of Health.
Researchers will work with pharmacists at four community pharmacy to study the use of the SPARK tool during the provision of primary-care services, such as a medication review. Data will be collected from patients and providers over a six-month period ending July 31, 2025.
Medication errors are a critical concern among elderly patients transitioning to long-term care and retirement homes. Parnian Ghafari, Senior Manager, Clinical Excellence and Professional Affairs, CareRx, is working to enhance medication safety in this population by developing a standardized protocol that uses advanced machine learning and predictive analytics to better document, analyse and prevent errors.
The standardized protocol will be designed for easy replication across different pharmacy settings, promoting widespread improvement in medication reconciliation throughout the pharmacy profession. The study will analyse near-miss incidents and gather error-prevention strategies from pharmacists experienced in providing medication-reconciliation services. Completion of the standardized protocol is expected by mid-2025.
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This free webinar puts the spotlight on how community pharmacies are changing their practice to provide more primary-care services.
