When Pharmacists show up to play! Announcing the new Canadian Palliative Care Formulary

Hospice Palliative Care is all about team - and team is all about who shows up to play. Over the years I have noticed the difference when a strong, committed and talented pharmacist shows up to play.

Bruce Kennedy is a pharmacist in Fraser Health. His kids, he says, figure he is “just a pharmacist”. And yet in BC his dedication to HPC, desire to translate his knowledge of medication into language that can be understood by the rest of the team, and his desire to play on the “team” has contributed to the development of the Fraser Health Symptom Management Guidelines http://www.fraserhealth.ca/professionals/hospice_palliative_care. These guidelines provide a strong foundation for the delivery of symptom management. I tribute Bruce and the FH team for these guidelines.

More recently Bruce’s commitment to education and resource development has resulted in the writing of a Canadian version of the Palliative Care Formulary, adapted from the parent edition produced in the UK by Twycross and Wilcock. This book links with the international www.palliativedrugs.com (a website dedicated to disseminate information and stimulate international dialogue about the use of medications in HPC). This book looks to be a fabulous resource and can be ordered in Canada from the CHPCA website http://www.chpca.net/home.html .

A great pharmacist may be a nurses best friend and a most effective advocate for patient comfort. In Dawson Creek in north eastern BC, Nicole Dahlen is one of those pharmacists! Nikki's support is felt locally and her leadership influences care regionally across the north as she helps to integrate and teach the FH clinical guidelines in practice.

Way to go Bruce! Good work Nikki! And way to go pharmacists who show up to play!