Dear 

Welcome to a new season and with it the Fall newsletter. With the Fall comes NOPS, taking place November 14^th to 17^th at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver. Be sure to register, and participate in the CAPhO Annual General Meeting and the Town Hall Meeting taking place during the Symposium. Remember: attendance at the AGM means your name goes into a draw to win a NOPS 2015 registration!

In this issue, we have an update provided by the Education Pharmacist Committee on the newly revamped "Education and Resources for Oncology Pharmacy Practice" page on the CAPhO website and also the new initiative "Clinical Pearls of Practice".

Read on about MASCC Travel Grant recipient Nikki Ryan's experience at the 2013 MASCC/ISOO International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer that took place in Berlin, Germany this past June.

Also, we have posted information on The Truth of It, which is a series of videos where Canadians share their personal experiences with cancer, on the News & Events page of the CAPhO website. By providing candid accounts of the personal impact of cancer, the video series serves as an educational resource for health care professionals as well as patients, survivors and others with a personal connection to cancer.

Lastly, as part of a member recruitment campaign, CAPhO members were asked to recruit colleagues and friends to join the association with the chance to win complimentary registration for NOPS 2013. Congratulations Elizabeth Quinn for winning the contest.

Sincerely
Christopher Ralph
Communications Committee Chair
communications@capho.org

P.S. CAPhO shares association news through this e-newsletter as well on our website's News and Events page and the CAPhO Compass (our blog). See the left sidebar for recent postings and make sure to check out capho.org for updates.

Communications Committee Members:
Kim Hugel - kim.hugel@albertahealthservices.ca
Nikki Ryan - nikki.ryan@albertahealthservices.ca
Pamela Yafai - pedmunds@dal.ca
Amy Smith - amy.smith@saskcancer.ca

President-Elect Position

Joan Fabbro, current President-Elect, will be assuming the position of President at the CAPhO Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, November 16^th in Vancouver during CAPhO's annual Symposium, NOPS. CAPhO has received one application for the open position of President-Elect from Mark Pasetka, Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator, at Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto.


Mark Pasetka completed his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy in 2004 at the University of Manitoba. After practicing in the community, long-term care, and military settings for three years, he returned to study for his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. Upon graduation in 2009, he served as a clinical and research fellow in oncology for two years at the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre under the mentorship of Carlo De Angelis. Mark is currently the Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator for Oncology at the Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto.

Please click here to view the Mark's reason for running for the President-Elect position.


Awards Committee Chair

Victoria Kletas, will be leaving the position of Awards Committee Chair. Coleen Schroeder has volunteered for the role, which begins at this year's AGM.


Coleen Schroeder graduated from the University of Manitoba in 2002 and completed a Hospital Pharmacy Residency with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority in 2003.  She then moved to Montreal and started working as an oncology pharmacist at the McGill University Health Center on the Montreal General Hospital site.  Coleen received her Board Certification in Oncology Pharmacy in 2008.  She enjoys spending much of her free time with her family.







Education Committee Chair, Technician/Pharmacy Assistant

Yvonne Dresen, will be leaving the position of Education Committee Chair, Technician/Pharmacy Assistant. Colleen Thurber has volunteered for the role, which will begin at this year's AGM.

Colleen Thurber graduated with a Pharmacy Technician Certificate from SIAST in 1998 and started her career with the Royal University Hospital pharmacy department in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan the same year.  She has worked as an oncology pharmacy technician at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre since 2004 and moved to a senior technician position in 2009.  Colleen is also the co-chairperson of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee at the cancer centre.

New Education Web Page:

The Education Pharmacist Committee encourages all CAPhO members to visit the new Education and Resources for Oncology Pharmacy Practice page on the CAPhO website.  It has links to providers of online CE's, oncology textbooks, learning modules and more.
 
Clinical Pearls for Practice:

In collaboration with the Communications Committee, The Education Pharmacist Committee members are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of "Clinical Pearls for Practice".  Every few weeks, a CAPhO member with a clinical practice will share some valuable information with their CAPhO colleagues using the CAPhO Compass Blog. Each "Clinical Pearls for Practice" will showcase important clinical knowledge, practice tips, or notable publications that impact pharmacotherapy in the author's specific practice environment. We believe this series will not only share knowledge, but will allow CAPhO members to identify other pharmacists that are practicing with specific tumour groups; maybe similar to their own!  We are hopeful that "Clinical Pearls for Practice" will be educational and initiate networking between members with similar interests or patient populations.   

Check out our first edition "Tamoxifen: is 10 years the new 5?" by Melanie Danilak posted on the CAPhO website. Melanie will provide a brief discussion of the current literature and controversies surrounding appropriate duration of therapy for tamoxifen.  As the Pharmacy Clinical Educator for the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Melanie maintains a clinical practice in the outpatient Breast Cancer Endocrine clinic.  Melanie is an active member of CAPhO; serving as a member of the Education Committee and the Co-Chair for the Undergraduate Oncology Pharmacy Education Task Force. Thank you Melanie, for leading off this exciting series!

If you are interested in authoring a "Clinical Pearl for Practice" please email me.

Tara Leslie

Education Pharmacist Committee Chair

educationpharmacist@capho.org

Education Committee Members:
Melanie Danilak - melanie.danilak2@albertahealthservices.ca  
Carlo De Angelis - carlo.deangelis@sunnybrook.ca  Kristi Hofer - Kristi.Hofer@cancercare.mb.ca
Sally Waignein - sally.waignein@bccancer.bc.ca
Kim Stefaniuk - kimberley.stefaniuk@uhn.on.ca
John Wiernikowski - wierniko@HHSC.CA 

CAPhO is embarking on a renewal of our Strategic Plan. We want your input! We invite you to answer the questions provided via Survey Monkey. Your responses will help inform the CAPhO Executive Committee when they meet at NOPS to draft a new 3-5 year plan. The survey will close on Tuesday, November 5^th.

MASCC 2013 - Report from Nikki Ryan 

 

This past June I was given the opportunity to travel to the annual MASCC/ISOO symposium that was held in Berlin, Germany. This conference delivered top-notch education and covered a vast collection of topics on supportive care. The MASCC motto, "Supportive Care makes Excellent Cancer Care" possible was definitely represented over the many sessions. The level of education along with the fact that the event was held in a remarkable city rich in history and culture provided an unforgettable experience that I am very thankful for.

 

Being a clinical pharmacist in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic, I often see patients struggling with toxicities from their high-dose chemotherapy. I've had to consult MASCC guidelines numerous times in this position for guidance on how to manage the adverse effects of treatment. I felt that this conference would be a great opportunity to see the latest research in the area of supportive care and would also make me aware of new interventions for patients who are refractory to measures already outlined in the guidelines.

The conference was a multidisciplinary event with presentations tailored for all health care professionals who work in an oncology setting. My favorite presentation was "Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy" which explained that as mechanisms of this type of neuropathy are being revealed, research is shifting gears to focus more on topical treatment. I have shared the information in this talk with oncologists in our clinic and we have had success with using some of the strategies discussed in this presentation.

I also enjoyed a presentation that provided an overview of skin toxicities from chemotherapy and targeted agents. In this session the speakers reviewed the presentation of various rashes, the importance of prophylaxis, and treatment options for rashes of different grades. Gaining knowledge on the mechanisms behind these skin toxicities gave me a better understanding of how the interventions work in managing each type of rash.

Another highlight of the conference was a session on drug interactions. One speaker presented a study on recurrence rates of breast cancer in patients who had concomitant use of antidepressants and tamoxifen.  Another presenter focused on interactions with TKI's and stressed the important of avoiding strong inhibitors with imatinib as this medication requires a very specific minimum concentration to have maximum efficacy. The panel also discussed the challenges with inconsistent information in compendia regarding the severity of drug interactions and methods that pharmacists can use to identify which interactions have clinical significance.

These are just some of the many education sessions that I was able to attend. The conference provided a lot of valuable information that I was able to bring back and share with the nurses, pharmacists, and physicians I work with. I was also able to interact with other oncology health care professionals on an international scale and get a glimpse of the research that is up and coming in the area of supportive care.  I am very thankful to the CaPhO awards committee for granting me this opportunity and I would urge any member who is interested in the area of supportive care to apply for this travel grant in the future as it is definitely a worthwhile conference to attend.

Nikki Ryan
Pharmacist
Tom Baker Cancer Centre
Calgary, AB

 

The NOPS program has been updated with a new plenary confirmed for Saturday morning. Please click here to view the current program and check back regularly for further updates. Click here to register.

Future NOPS venue and dates

2014 - Attend ISOPP 2014 , April 2-5, 2014, Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, QC
NOPS 2015 - Spring, dates and venue to be confirmed
NOPS 2016 - April 14-17, 2016, Sheraton on the Falls Hotel, Niagara Falls, ON

 

The CAPhO Compass blog is open to members to provide content to. Click to see the most recent posts. Please email any content ideas to Christopher Ralph at communications@capho.org.