Question:
I want to complete my last co-op work term in Alberta. How was your experience there? Was it worth it?
Hi! My name is Lauren Woo and I’m in Rx2020. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta so I actually went back home to do 2 co-op work terms. :)
I worked at a Shoppers Drug Mart and an independent pharmacy as well. I’m guessing that you want to go to Alberta to experience the expanded scope? Unfortunately, not all pharmacists in Alberta put that to use so my tip to you is to contact individual pharmacies and talk to them about what exactly you want to get out of the co-op experience. Some pharmacies are much more clinical based whereas some are purely your traditional dispensary.
The most common prescribing I’ve seen is for Strep since pharmacies that carry the rapid antigen test and if the results are positive, then they are able to prescribe antibiotics for the patient. Another common one is prescribing for UTI’s. One of the best things about Alberta is Netcare - this is an online portal where you have access to almost all of the patient’s health records such as:
Lab tests (everything from electrolytes, GFR, A1C, lipid panel)
Culture results and sensitivity
Bone mineral density
Hospital records (everything from ER to admission to discharge)
Medication records (Drug, dose, quantity, doctor, location it was dispensed)
Vaccination records
Access to Netcare makes life so much easier… not sure how I’m going to survive rotations in Ontario :)
Aside from pharmacy related stuff, Alberta is a beautiful province! Calgary and Edmonton are both promising options if you wanted to stick with a bigger city experience :) Calgary is ~1.5 hours away (Edmonton ~3-4 hours) from the Rocky Mountains and I highly highly recommend going to check them out (maybe even more than once if you can - there is so much to see). Lots of summer festivities and beautiful river valleys in both cities as well.
Feel free to message me if you would like to meet in person over coffee or something to ask more questions!