Continuing Professional Development

The Continuing Professional Development program equips pharmacists, industry professionals, researchers, scientists, and allied professionals to better respond to patient needs. These accredited courses are developed to expand knowledge and improve competency in specialized areas of pharmacy practice.

Upcoming Courses

Canadian Health Care System, Culture and Context for IEHP

This course is designed for internationally educated health professionals who are in the process of becoming licensed in Canada. This course will provide learners with a deepened understanding of the Canadian healthcare system, what Canadian patients expect from their healthcare provides, and how to communicate with patients and caregivers. Participants will have an opportunity to interact with other internationally educated healthcare professionals in a supportive learning environment. There are no prerequisites for this course.

 

Non-hazardous and hazardous sterile compounding

Sterile compounding in pharmacy is essential for providing safe, high-quality products to patients. In this course, you will learn the core principles of safe compounding practices. You will explore the practical application of NAPRA and Health Canada’s directives, as well as policies regarding manufacturing and compounding of medications. You will develop foundational knowledge in compounding methods, safe use of parenteral compounded products, formulation stability and risk assessment. You will come to appreciate the need for organizational investment in new technologies and staff specializations such as informatics and quality assurance. There are no prerequisites for this course.

This course is accredited by the Canadian Council on Continuing Education in Pharmacy. CCCEP number: 1528-2021-3261-B-Z

 

Audience

• Pharmacy Directors, managers and supervisors
• Community pharmacists
• Hospital pharmacists
• Pharmacy technicians
• Pharmacy students
• Pharmacy technician students
• Quality assurance personnel
• Veterinarians

 

Course Dates and Deadlines

Winter 2024 course offering: February 19, 2024 to April 14, 2024

Registration deadline: February 12, 2024

Fees: $1495 + HST

Registration for the course must be completed online.

Register

 

 

Withdrawal Deadlines 

Full refund: withdraw by the end of the first week

75% refund: by the end of the second week 

50% refund: by the end of the third week

Why enroll in the course?

This program is needed for all staff and hospital/community administrators who perform or supervise any activities related to sterile and non-sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounding, including clinical research trials and use of Special Access Programme medications. The compounding landscape is changing, requiring the implementation of the new Canadian NAPRA standards for sterile and non-sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounded products.

This is due in part, to the several serious medication events including patient deaths that occurred in the US and Canada as a result of contaminated intravenous products or inappropriately compounded intravenous and oral products. This program will enable participants to understand current Canadian regulations and risks associated with compounding which can cause serious patients harm including death if not performed appropriately. This program is important as the current pharmacy landscape is changing from manual compounding processes to implementation of new technologies in order to fulfil Pharmacy Colleges accreditation requirements related to process standardization and product traceability.

Trends show that more and more healthcare organizations are committed to implementing new technologies and following new Canadian compounding regulations which includes implementation of safe compounding practices as a part of their quality improvement management programs.

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Adopt and follow safe compounding practices.
2. Help your organization apply and sustain a culture of high-quality compounding practices.
3. Ensure patient safety with respect to sterile compounds.
4. Promote organizational investment in new technologies to support safe compounding processes.

Advanced Knowledge and Skills of Originator and Biosimilar Biologics: For Health Care Providers

About this course

This course aims to provide advanced knowledge and skills for health care professionals on the topic of biosimilars, a class of biologic drugs or medical therapies that are highly similar to an existing originator medication that is off patent.

Biosimilars present a rapidly growing area in pharmaceutical development, treatment options, and patient care that require an evidence-informed implementation approach.

As awareness and use of biosimilars increases globally, this course will provide information and guidance to support the effective and safe use of biosimilars in clinical settings among health care providers.

The course will focus on enhancing knowledge and skills to affect change in attitude and behaviour of health care providers related to biosimilars.

The course will utilize a modular approach to provide content that is accessible and informative to all learners, including pharmacists, physicians, nurses, students and young professionals, industry, and policy-makers.

This course may be eligible for continuing education credits through professional accreditation bodies.

The course will also provide learners with opportunities to develop skills in each of these knowledge areas, with the overall aim of improving patient-provider communication and perceptions of biosimilar use and establishing a consistent foundation among health care providers for communicating with patients about biosimilar treatment.

This course will build off of the material in BSS101 to provide advanced knowledge and skills related to use and implementation of biosimilar medications in clinical settings.

Handbook for health care professionals on biosimilar biologic drugs

Course Dates and Deadlines

• 16 weeks, 3-6 hours per week
• Self-paced
• Free

Register

 

 

Real-World Evidence Bootcamp

Explore Real-World Evidence (RWE) in a 4-day program designed by experts and tailored for professionals seeking to enter or enhance their knowledge in this field. This program is set at a beginner or novice level.  We will cover important basics of RWE, commonly used methods and designs, important data quality and linkage concepts, and explore how RWE can be used in private industry, government, and academia to make decisions, spark innovation, and shape healthcare policies.

Topics covered include:

1. Study Design

2. Data Quality

3. Common Methods

4. Critical Evaluation

5. Applications in decision-making

6. Communication and reporting

The draft curriculum is as follows:

Day	Content
Day 1 June 24 9:00-4:00	Introductions and Registration Review Real-World Evidence (RWE) and its Place in Healthcare Basic RWE: Population-level epi and Phenotyping Study Design and Considerations Networking Lunch Break Minimising Bias in RWE Studies Establishing a PICOT Re-cap and Questions
Day 2  June 25 9:00-4:00	Introduction to Real-world Data Data Quality and Applicability Networking Lunch Break Common Data Model Introduction OMOP Introduction Types of Real-world Data with Examples of What's Available in Canada Recent Examples of Different Studies Using Different Data in Canada Practical Session: Picking the Right Data Re-cap and Questions
Day 3 June 26 9:00-5:00	Drug Utilization Studies Propensity Scores: A Deep Dive Networking Lunch Break Statistacal Tests and Adjustment Pratical Session: Bringing it All Together
Day 4 June 27 9:00-4:00	Distributed Analytics and Network Studies Introduction to Generating Evidence for Policy Networking Lunch Break Quality of Reporting Protocols Reporting Results Generalizability Pratical Issues and Applicability in Canada Canadian RWE Ecosystem Ongoing Initiatives and Ways to Grow RWE at CADTH and Health Canada Closing Session

Speakers

Lisa Lix

Lisa Lix is a Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality, and Director of Data Science in the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. Her research expertise lies in developing and applying statistical and data science methods for administrative health data and electronic registries. She collaborates widely with research groups and organizations across Canada, including Health Data Research Network Canada, Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies, Public Health Agency of Canada, and International Health Systems Research Collaborative.

Tara Gomes

Tara Gomes is an epidemiologist, Program Director of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital and Senior Scientist at ICES. She is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and holds a Canada Research Chair in Drug Policy and Substance Use.  Her research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, drug safety and drug policy, with a specific focus on developing evidence to inform policies that address the ongoing drug toxicity crisis across Canada and that integrate perspectives of impacted communities.    

Dani Prieto-Alhambra

Dani is a clinician academic passionate to improve human lives through the use of health data. He trained in General Practice, Rheumatology, and Epidemiology, and currently works as a Professor of Pharmaco and Device Epidemiology at the University of Oxford and as Professor in Real World Evidence at Erasmus Medical Centre. He is a regular collaborator in the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community, research co-ordinator in the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN), and from 2022 he is the Deputy Director and Development Lead for the EMA-funded DARWIN EU initiative.

Mina Tadrous

Mina is an assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Real-world Evidence and Pharmaceutical Policy. He is also a Scientist at WCH, WIHV Fellow, co-director with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) and ICES adjunct scientist. He completed a PhD in pharmacoepidemiology at the University of Toronto and previously completed a Masters in Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Tennessee, and a Doctor of Pharmacy at Albany College of Pharmacy. He also completed a pharmacy residency in Drug Information and Health Outcomes at the University of Tennessee and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Mina leads research focused on evaluating drug policies and post-marketing surveillance of medications. He works closely with policymakers and uses large data sets to answer questions about medication real-world safety and effectiveness and improving the optimal use of medications.

Course Dates and Deadlines

Date	Activity
June 1, 2024	Pre-Boot Camp Materials Available (Online)
June 24 – 27, 2024	Boot Camp (Toronto/Ottawa)
June 30, 2024	Post Boot Camp Discussion Board (Online)
August 31	Boot Camp Course Closes

 

Course Fees

Category	Early Rate (before April 1, 2024)	Regular Rate (starting April 1, 2024)
Not-for-profit organizations	$2000	$2500
For-profit organizations	$3000	$3500
Students/patients	$500	$1000

 

Refund Policy

• 100% refund until May 26, 11:59pm EDT
• 50% refund between May 27 and June 9, 11:59pm EDT
• Non-refundable beginning June 10, 11:59pm EDT

Register here