Carole Goodine named Pharmacist of the Year

And the winner is …. Carole Goodine, a project lead at Doctor Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, N.B., has been named Pharmacist of the Year by the Canadian Pharmacists Association. “The most rewarding part of my practice is when I discover that I’ve made a difference,” she said in a news release from the CPhA. “As a clinician, it’s wonderful to help someone feel better or to explain information in a way that makes sense to them. As a researcher, it’s rewarding to present project results and add to scientific knowledge. I feel proud to be a pharmacist when I hear stories about the impact that pharmacists have on patient care.” Over a pharmacy career that has spanned three decades, three provinces and various areas of practice—from community pharmacy to acute care and research—Goodine has shown how dedication, compassion and perseverance can drive positive change in healthcare. In her current role of project lead at the Doctor Everett Chalmers, Goodine is focusing on a research study evaluating the impact of a care transition pharmacy service on patient experience. Prior to this role, she was the hospital’s clinical pharmacy manager, a role that saw her working directly with seniors on the inpatient geriatric and rehabilitation unit, monitoring medication use in hospital and preparing them to manage medications safely at home. Goodine said her work with older adults has given her insight into how medication overload, or polypharmacy, can create the potential for patient harm as well as opportunities for pharmacy innovation. Read: It takes passion to make change happen “Medication changes often happen during a hospital admission that need to be communicated when patients return to the community,” she said. “It is so important for pharmacists to help patients understand their medications, and we can play a critical role in removing barriers and helping facilitate the transition home.” As a researcher and innovator, Goodine managed a 20-member multidisciplinary team that developed a polypharmacy app—now known as MedReviewRX—that supports deprescribing medications for patients living in nursing homes. The software collects data on patient medical history and medication information and sends it to MedSafer, a an online site that cross-references this information with medical conditions to produce a deprescribing opportunity report that highlights medications that could potentially cause harm, or that could be tapered or stopped. MedReviewRX is currently being piloted at five nursing homes in New Brunswick. Goodine said she believes technology can support pharmacists as they take on greater roles in primary care. “People are living longer with chronic health conditions, medication regimens are more complicated, patient care is more complex and technology is changing the way health care is delivered,” she said. The CPhA award is not Goodine’s first. In past years she was the recipient of the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association’s Award of Special Recognition and a CSHP National Success Story Prize for leading the development of a toolkit of standardized and educational materials for warfarin patients. In 2018, she received a CBC Viewers’ Choice Award for developing the MedReviewRX prototype. Goodine, who has presented her research findings at several conferences, has also received research funding from New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s R3 Research Innovation Awards. Read: Celebrating a pillar of pharmacy

Carole Goodine named Pharmacist of the Year

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