New Opportunities to Impact Healthcare

By conducting cutting-edge research in pharmacy practice and medication use, the CPE develops educational programs and practice innovations that will revolutionize patient care, particularly at the community level. 

Inspired research establishes understanding. Understanding creates new solutions and identifies best practices. Best practices and new solutions lead to enhanced training opportunities and educational programs. 

These complementary focus areas work together to provide pharmacists with the ability to incorporate innovative practices and tools into their daily work, enhancing interactions with patients and improving their health outcomes.

1. Management Education & Training: Educating for Continued Excellence

The field of Pharmacy is ever changing and expanding. To meet the needs of the profession, the CPE offers innovative educational solutions to help students and practitioners remain at the forefront of healthcare. 

Current management education and training offerings available through the Centre for Practice Excellence: 

2. Transformational Research: Revolutionizing Patient Care 

We are committed to developing educational programs and practice innovations that will revolutionize patient care. These programs are built through the CPE’s generation and utilization of leading-edge research in pharmacy practice and medication use. Working collaboratively across professions, disciplines, institutions, and sectors, we bring together researchers, educators, practitioners, managers, and innovators who are committed to transforming evidence into practice. 

Clinical innovation and quality must be paired with managerial innovation, because great ideas cannot survive without effective management. At the community level, the CPE helps everyday pharmacists and pharmacy managers incorporate evidence-informed, cutting-edge practices into their daily work through effective administrative and managerial leadership. 

  • Professor Zubin Austin, the CPE’s Chair in Pharmacy Management, brings considerable leadership in pharmacy practice and outstanding research accomplishments to build the department into a world leader in pharmacy practice research and innovation.
  • The CPE also collaborates closely with the OPEN – Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network research community on advancing pharmacy practice through robust research. 

3. Best Practice & Innovation: Embracing Change & Growth

Diffusing research findings and small-scale pilot projects demonstrating pharmacists’ impact and value to the broader healthcare community requires managerial expertise. CPE works to build a culture of practice innovation and a profession that embraces change.

To sustainably integrate and leverage new practice opportunities and funding streams, CPE addresses questions related to:

  • Workplace design

  • Workflow

  • Integration of information technology into practice

  • Optimizing scope

  • The role of personnel and mechanisms

Outcome measures will include uptake and dispersion of innovations across the pharmacy community and the impact these have had on patient care. CPE coordinates with several groups to provide opportunities for students and faculty to engage with the healthcare community. A detailed description of these programs and contests can be found with our professional development opportunities page.