Introduction

Hey everyone!

I'm John, a pharmacist in BC (graduated from UBC 2015), and am now a software developer at a health tech startup called Shift Health.

I made the career transition after gradually building up interest in the health tech space. I started learning programming while in pharmacy school after taking a health informatics elective. I also built a small desktop app for one of my previous pharmacies to help with workflow.

Now I'll be going back to school to pursue a Bachelor in Computer Science degree from UBC, and I'll be self-learning all about SMART on FIHR, mobile app development, and security & privacy. I'll poke around my network at the same time to see what kinds of problems pharmacies need to solve, and hopefully I'll come out of the other end with some neat prototypes that can help unlock valuable differentiating services for independent/small chain pharmacies.

If you want to chat about some ideas, let me know!

Thanks,
- JL

Hello everyone,

My name is Pierre-Olivier Hallé ( you can call me P-O )

I'm an hospital pharmacist and one of the pharmacist representative of the RSVP Québec (DSQ). I work at Jonquiere's Hospital in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean (region 2h north from Quebec City). I'm really excited to participate in this community. My field of interests are drugs, patient care and technology, specially the new "stay connected" phylosophy. My profession hasn't been more connected with our provincial EHR and local pharmacy or local/regional EMR. As a pharmacist, we have and will have access to information that we couldn't have 10 years ago! The beauty is that it continue to evolve rapidly.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you need information from the "canadian french" side of Canada.

Au plaisir !

pOH

Hello all!

I am Mike Hamilton. I am a community primary care physician as well as Physician Lead with ISMP Canada.

I love drugs! In particular, I am fascinated by what I call the "sociology of medications" - what I mean by that is how we use medicines as therapies, what are our expectations as patients or prescribers when we use medications, how we make mistakes with drugs, how patients take medications and what changes they make on their own to drugs I prescribe, why people think that more pills will make them better, why people think no pill will make them better, why people are frightened by medication side effects but not frightened by their tobacco habit, why do patients not fill prescriptions, why do some patients go to the pharmacy seeking help for every ailment, why do some people avoid healthcare, what do prescribers and patients really understand about medicines and how to take them and how to monitor them.

I also like the pharmacology and physiology aspects of medicines too.

Kind regards to all,

Mike

Hello Everyone,

I've noticed we've had quite a few new members join recently. Welcome! Looking forward to getting to know you better
Please reply to this thread with a few words about yourself, and don't forget to post your picture.

Also, for those long-standing members who haven't posted an intro, I encourage you to do so as well. This will enhance the "community" feel of our group.

Kind regards,
Seema

Hello, my name is Seema Nayani, and I am the Pharmacist Leader with Canada Health Infoway. Community practice has always been my passion. I have diverse experience in retail pharmacy and home care. I also am a Certified Geriatric Pharmacist and Certified Diabetes Educator. I have seen first hand how technology can improve patient care, especially around medication management. I am a new member to this group and look forward to some engaging discussion.

Hello, I'd like to introduce myself and participate in the discussions within this group.

I'm Terry Fagen and I started Medipense a couple of years ago to tackle the medication non-adherence problem head-on. I'm a McGill grad in Microbiology and Immunology, followed by Electrical Engineering and 30+ years working in aerospace, space and information technology industries. The proud father of a General Surgeon resident and a Periodontist. Former caregiver of an ailing father with chronic cardiac and dementia issues, a firsthand witness to the failures and incompatibilities in our healthcare system.

I am developing a new generation, health hub named RxPense for deployment in homes, clinics, residences, and healthcare institutions. Initially designed for medication management, reporting and dispensing of prepackaged, DisPill, Eco-pill or other blister packaged complex (solid)medication regimes. We have extended the feature set to include Bluetooth sensory inputs, remote patient monitoring and telemedicine. We are nearing completion of the first prototype and focusing on software interfaces, compatibility, cloud, security, PHI and access issues.

I am always interested in learning more about medication management issues and how we can improve healthcare, reduce costs and use technology to provide better outcomes and quality of life for our aging population - before I get there myself!