Alumni Notes

Name: Diabetes Educator Graduate Certificate Program, Basic
Provider: Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, Toronto

I learned essential teaching skills and principles that allow me to effectively teach patients and empower them to achieve optimal health outcomes relating to their asthma. I now have the confidence and credentials to support and promote my expertise in asthma. My asthma certification also allowed me to participate in a multidisciplinary research asthma program as an asthma educator working with physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists in physicians' offices.

Dorothy Pardalis, BSc.Phm, CAE, Proactive Health Strategies Inc., LaSalle, Ont.
Phone: 519-978-3478
Email: dpardalis@sympatico.ca

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Name: Certified Diabetes Educator
Provider: Canadian Diabetes Educator Certification Board, Caledon, ON

The main benefit of having the CDE designation is credibility. That way, when I’m talking to our family doctors... they know I took the time to get certified and now they will call and ask for advice or recommendations or to have a look at a profile. It also means gaining credibility from all other healthcare providers: nurse educators, the hospital, dietitians and fellow pharmacists. When you have this designation and you’re using it, they will rely on you for insight and education.

Rob Roscoe, BSc Pharm CDE, CPT,  Kennebecasis Drugs, Rothesay, N.B.
Phone: 506-847-7581
Email: roscoe@rogers.com

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Name: Certified Diabetes Educator
Provider: Canadian Diabetes Educator Certification Board, Caledon, ON

[This designation] makes me able to help people who have diabetes better manage their therapies and makes me more confident in guiding them through nutrition... it gives me an idea of what they’re doing, what to ask. Diabetes is so broad that sometimes it scares the patient, so when you know more about it you can be confident in helping them reach their target.

Nada Nasreddine, Bsc., CDE, Pharmaprix, Kirkland, Que.
Phone: 514-697-4550
Email: fphx011@pharmaprix.ca

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Name: Menopause Practitioner
Provider: North American Menopause Society, Mayfield Heights, Ohio

You must get the Candidate Handbook, that’s an absolute must. And you have to know that whole book backwards and forwards. There will still be some things in there that through your practical experience you wouldn’t have been exposed to because it’s not your area of expertise...  I think talking to a practitioner in the area, or someone who already has the designation or a family physician, a nurse practitioner or a gynecologist, with whom you could discuss some of the things in your readings is really helpful. It’s a broader perspective than just your world.

Carolyn Whiskin, Brant Arts Dispensary, Burlington, ON
Phone: 905-637-3833
Email: c.whiskin@sympatico.ca

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Name: Certified Geriatric Pharmacist
Provider: Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy, Alexandria, Virginia

If somebody has worked with a lot of seniors or in the geriatrics field, I find the exam is very practical so draw upon practical experiences, although that’s sometimes not enough... look into provincial review courses, talk to colleagues who’ve written the exam... check the CCGEP website for the sample exam you can order. They also have a geriatric review course you can do online... what I did was pulled all of the most recent clinical practice guidelines for all the therapeutic areas then I pulled out my text books and I reviewed each of the disease pathophysiologies so I just made sure I was on top of that.

Rosemarie Patodia, BScPhm, C.G.P.
Shoppers Drug Mart, North York, Ont.
Phone: 416-493-1220 ext. 5991
Email: rpatodia@shoppersdrugmart.ca

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Name: Certified Asthma Educator
Provider: Canadian Network for Asthma Care

It puts you at a level up and above, but a lot of people have it and aren’t necessarily utilizing it. I truly believe that if we’re going to make an impact we have to volunteer to represent the pharmacy profession... by taking a more proactive approach.

Audrey Mc L elland, CDE, CAE, CGP
Safeway #315 and #323, Saskatoon, Sask.
Phone: 306-261-7331
Email: audreym@sasktel.net

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Name: Certified Asthma Educator
Provider: Canadian Network for Asthma Care

I have found the most rewarding part [of having this designation] to be the relationships I have developed with other healthcare providers in the province. It allows you to refer patients to services provided by the health region, know what other people are doing in respiratory care... We are in a perfect position to notice problems like over/under use of medication, misunderstandings on use of medications and to provide educational tools such as blank action plans or symptom diaries to families.

Kathy Hayward, BSP, CAE
Canada Safeway, Calgary, Alta.
Phone: 403-202-0444
Email: kathy.hayward@shaw.ca

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Name: Palliative Care: Medical Intensive Course
Provider: Victoria Hospice, Victoria, B.C.

Do the pre-reads and try to relate that to your own specialty or professional practice. My other suggestion is that while you're there, rather than concentrating on a lot of the pharmacy medication-focused material, definitely keep your ears open to gain from the other specialties. Because it is multidisciplinary, it’s a great forum to do that and sometimes we don’t get enough of that because we are just looking at our own discipline's stuff.

Ayesha Hassan, BSc. Pharm, Royal Inland Hospital, Kamloops, BC
Phone: 250-314-2444
Email: ayesha.hassan@interiorhealth.ca