The Phar Side
Internal news for Memorial University's School of Pharmacy
Updated March 1, 2012
Events and dates to remember
- March 1 - PANL's PAW Reception at the SOP
- March 4-10 - PAW (Pharmacy Awareness Week)
- Friday, March 16 - St. Patrick's Pharmacy Mixer
- Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 5:30pm in the Student Lounge
Faculty/Staff Appreciation night being hosted by MUPS - March 26-30 - Winter Fun Week
- Friday, March 30 - Shriner's Club (Topsail Rd) - SOP Spring Dance
Click here to view the MUPS Calendar in Google.
SOP News
PAW Activities
Students from the School of Pharmacy will be out and about in the community next week in celebration of Pharmacy Awareness Week. Some of their planned activities include:
- Sunday March 4th: SOP students will work with a local Brownie troupe in the school's Professional Practice Lab to talk about what a pharmacist does and show them how to compound a simple lip balm
- Tuesday March 6th: SOP students will do CDLI presentations at local junior and high schools
- Thursday March 8th: SOP students will visit students at Mary Queen of the World Elementary to talk about pharmacy awareness and Operation WashUp; then stduents will be working with a local Pathfinders group in the school's Professional Practice Lab; and other students will be visiting seniors at Hill Crest Estates for a session on Stretching and Keeping an Active Mind.
- Friday March 9th: SOP students will do CDLI presentations at local junior and high schools
SOP Research Poster Competition Winners
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Annual School of Pharmacy Research Poster Competition that was held on February 15. There were five undergraduate and two graduate posters presented in this competition. The presentations were judged by three independent judges who reported their rankings separately. The winners:
- Stephanie Hewitt (class of 2014) will receive the CSPS 2012 National Summer Student Research Program Award Sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Inc. for her poster "Analyzing the potential neuroprotective effects of antioxidants."
- Sarah Way (class of 2012) received the AFPC-Pharmacy Student Research Poster Award for her poster "Home visits – Optimizing Medical Care in the Elderly (HOME Study): A pilot study on the effects of an inter-professional primary care program on emergency room visits and hospital admissions in the frail elderly: Phase 1."
- Catherine Orr (class of 2013) received the School of Pharmacy Undergraduate Research Poster Award for her poster "The effect of repeated exposure to vaporized ethanol on long-term motor coordination."
Congratulations to everyone for their excellent work and presentations! Click here to view the photo gallery from this event. (Mar 1)
New Public Services Librarian and Library Liaison for the SOP
Karen Hatch has recently joined the Health Sciences Library as a Public Services Librarian. Part of her responsibilities inlcude Librarian Liaison for Pharmacy. Below outlines the goals and objectives of the program and its services. She'd be happy to meet with you individually or as a department to overview what the Health Sciences Library has to offer as well as any ideas to further enhance the library's relationship with the SOP. The purpose of the Library Liaison Program is to establish and build upon partnerships with teaching and clinical faculty. The liaison, as a discipline's formally designated contact, can answer questions about the library and inform faculty of library services, programs, workshops, and resources.
Program Goals and Objectives:
- To identify faculty perceptions and informational needs
- To increase use and awareness of the library and its collections and services
- To improve the quality of the library collections
- To provide the services of information consultants to academic disciplines
- To communicate and interpret library policies
- To further the inclusion of information literacy skills in knowledge into learning and practice.
Some of the services available include:
- Designing workshops, demonstrations, or tutorials for you, your students, your department, or division;
- Building effective literature searches to support research, pedagogy, and practice;
- Accessing journal articles, books, grey literature, subject-specific resources, and other relevant information;
- Creating journal table of contents alerts, RSS feeds, and article alerts;
- Developing relevant and effective course assignments on subject specific information access, retrieval, and evaluation;
- Developing collections and resources to ensure relevant discipline specific titles and user-friendly access;
- Utilization of new technologies including social media and handheld communications;
- Information use, information ethics and information evaluation.
Karen looks forward to working with you and can be reached at Room 1646C, 709-777-6238 or hatch@mun.ca (Feb 22)
Want to reach physicians in NL with your news and/or research?
The deadline for the Spring 2012 issue of Nexus, the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association's (NLMA) quarterly newsletter, is March 5, 2012. Please keep your submissions to 400 words or less and, where available, feel free to submit a photo, graphic or other illustration to complement the article. All articles will be considered for the print issue of the newsletter, but due to size restrictions, not all articles will be used. However, all submissions may be included in Nexus Online, the NLMA e-newsletter, and posted to their website. Deadlines for the remaining issues this calendar year are Summer issue - June 11; Fall issue – September 4; Winter issue – November 13. (Feb 8)
MUN News
A diversity celebration
Memorial's Aboriginal Resource Office, in partnership with the St. John's Native Friendship Centre, is hosting an Aboriginal Diversity Awareness Celebration on the St. John's campus on Friday, March 2. Read more. (Mar 1)
University Bookstore will close at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, for year-end inventory
The University Bookstore will be closing at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, for year-end inventory count and will reopen on Monday, April 2, at 8:30 a.m. Please note that the last day to place special orders for the current fiscal year is Friday, March 16. For further information on special orders please contact Pam Reid at (709) 864-7441 or visit our departmental orders page at www.bookstore.mun.ca/?page=orders.html.
Course Evaluation Questionnaire pilot study
As part of a pilot project recently approved at Senate, Course Evaluation Questionnaires (CEQs) will be available online at Grenfell Campus as well as at the School of Music and the Faculty of Education on the St. John's campus this semester. CEQs will be filled out online between March 22-April 8. Faculty who do not wish to participate in this pilot project can opt-out by notifying their administrative head and use the traditional form. For more information on the pilot program, please visit www.mun.ca/ceq/OnlinePilot.
C&C upgrading to protect you from malicious software
C&C is upgrading the software that runs in your web browser and helps protect you against malicious software threats. For over a year now, thousands of computers on the St. John's campus have been running SiteAdvisor from McAfee and have enjoyed the extra protection that it provides when browsing the internet. SiteAdvisor is designed to warn you about malware risks before they can infect your computer, guiding you away from websites known to contain risks. On Monday, March 5. C&C will be updating SiteAdvisor to its most current version. If you'd like to learn a little more about SiteAdvisor and what it does, please visit our website here: www.mun.ca/cc/news/mcafee_siteadvisor_update.php. Questions or concerns? Please contact the C&C Service Desk at 709-864-4595 or help@mun.ca. We'd be happy to assist you.
MUNSU's WalkSafe service revamped
The Memorial University of Newfoundland Students' Union (MUNSU) is thrilled to announce that the WalkSafe Service was revamped and is now operational and able to offer accompaniment to all students, faculty, staff and guests of the university. WalkSafe is a service that enables students to actively foster a safe and supportive environment for their peers on campus. It is a student-run program that offers members of the campus community accompaniment when walking around campus after dark. Designed, implemented and run by student organizers and volunteers, the primary purpose of WalkSafe is to provide individuals with a safe walk to any on-campus destination. In addition to providing this direct, free and friendly service, WalkSafe workers and volunteers work to build and maintain a safe, supportive campus community by developing and implementing innovative campaigns around such issues as anti-violence, anti-oppression, sexual assault prevention, and other personal safety concerns. WalkSafe hours of operation are 7 p.m.-12 a.m., Sunday-Thursday. You can request accompaniment by calling the WalkSafe office at 1-709-864-6464 during hours of operation or by simply visiting our office located in the Campus Time space on the third floor of the University Centre (UC-3007D).
Computer Purchasing Centre year end ordering deadlines and inventory count
Departments are encouraged to place orders for the current fiscal year as early as possible to allow sufficient time for delivery and billing before year end. The last day to place orders for the 2011-12 fiscal year is Friday, March 16. Exceptions will be made after the deadline to accommodate emergency and air shipment orders up to Friday, March 23. Items in stock at the Computer Purchasing Centre will be available for purchase until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28. CPC will be closed for year end inventory count March 29-30. Updated product and pricing information can be found at www.mun.ca/cpc.. (Mar 1)
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Students and Instructors. Literally a Brain Changing Practice
Facilitator: Dr. Michael Newton, Grenfell Campus
Location: ED5013, Education Building, St. John's Campus (via video conference from Grenfell Campus)
Date/Time: Thursday, March 8, 12:00 p.m.–1:30 p.m.
Mindfulness based practices have been around for about thirty years and many studies have shown its effectiveness in dealing with various conditions. The presentation will briefly look at the scientific research on the clinical applications of mindfulness including work done on MRI brain scans as well as results from teaching mindfulness to students at Grenfell. A simple practical demonstration of the basic practices involved in mindfulness will set participants on a path of discovering the usefulness of mindfulness for themselves and their students. To register, contact Arlene Power, instrdev@mun.ca or 864-3028.
Pharmacy News
Pharmacists to receive $20 for each prescription renewal (Calgary Herald)
Pharmacists will earn $20 each time they renew a prescription starting July 1 as the government brings in a new compensation model that aims to save people money and improve access to care. Read more. (Feb 22)
Others should follow Ontario's oxycontin lead, experts say (CBC / Canadian Press)
Addiction experts are applauding Ontario's new restrictions on OxyContin and the drug replacing it, but say the country needs a national strategy to tackle widespread abuse of prescription painkillers. Read more. (Feb 22)
A wirelessly controlled pharmacy dispenses drugs from within your abdomen (Popular Science)
In the future, implantable computerized dispensaries will replace trips to the pharmacy or doctor's office, automatically leaching drugs into the blood from medical devices embedded in our bodies. These small wireless chips promise to reduce pain and inconvenience, and they'll ensure that patients get exactly the amount of drugs they need, all at the push of a button. Read more. (Feb 22)
Doctors and pharmacists debate a growing trend: vaccinations by pharmacists (Vancouver Sun)
Since a recent story about the explosion in popularity of vaccinations given to customers by pharmacists, a healthy debate has ensued amongst health professionals. While B.C. was the first province to give pharmacists the authority to vaccinate against influenza, Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have followed suit. Government reimbursement for the service is about $10 in each province. About 100,000 BC residents have received their flu vaccinations from pharmacists since late last fall. That's 100 per cent more than the number the previous flu season, so clearly, it's a popular concept for consumers. But, as the debate between doctors and pharmacists – and even amongst members of each profession attests – it is controversial. Read more. (Feb 22)
Drug cap affecting bottom line for pharmacies (The Canadian Press)
A cap on generic drug prices is gradually affecting the bottom line of pharmacies across Nova Scotia, says a lobby group for pharmacists. Allison Bodnar, executive director of the Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia, said anecdotal evidence suggests pharmacies have begun to reduce store hours and full-time hours for some employees since the cap was implemented in July. Read more. (Feb 15)
Survey: Pharmacists under unsafe strain (The Oregonian)
A recent survey by the Oregon Board of Pharmacy reported that more than 350 chain pharmacists — more than half of those responding — said their working conditions don't promote safe and effective patient care. Many complained it is getting worse. "I feel that we are operating on the edge of disaster," wrote one. "It is a danger zone for us and our patients." Read more. (Feb 15)
New/Updated Product Monographs
- This is to inform you of revision to the PARIET®* (rabeprazole sodium) Enteric-coated Tablets Product Monograph. Please find attached the updated Product Monograph, as well as a summary of changes. (Feb 8)
Related Pharmacy News Links
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