My name is Philip Shaheen and I have been a pharmacist in oncology for 14 years and a long-standing CAPhO member. After being awarded a wild card travel grant to attend in-person at the CAPhO Conference in Moncton, I hope that you will understand two things from this summary:
- I am a BOAT, and
- (Perhaps to Sean Hopkins’ chagrin), this report was NOT AI generated.
We east coasters have earned a reputation as warm, welcoming, and helpful folks; all traits we as oncology pharmacy practitioners share as well. We are trained and focused to help others (e.g. our patients, caregivers, family members, colleagues, etc.) above and often ahead of the attention of other things, most notably ourselves. The last few years have shown us we need to be ‘lifted’ and the choice of Francoise Mathieu as a keynote speaker to not only help us recognize this fact, but provide us the energy, renewal and that ‘lift’ to make a positive impact on our own mental health which is reflected in the theme.
I have become a large proponent of the Common Sense Oncology movement; it serves as a reminder that we need to continue to analyze and translate data to patients, and look even deeper to find the real outcomes that matter. Co-founder Bernard Marini discussed the initiative and provided examples of how we can continue doing this for our patients to ‘lift’ them to treatment choices that are most reflective of their individual needs.
During the concurrent sessions, we learned the impact of many of our colleagues in helping to ‘lift’ others to better care both here and abroad. Thomas Joly-Mischlich’s team in Quebec is developing a communication portal to empower their patients towards managing toxicities and optimizing outcomes. Tara Leslie had the opportunity to discuss her personal experience in Uganda and the opportunity we have to assist others to much higher levels of care we often take for granted.
The focus of Dr. Maya Leiva in helping us to better understand the needs of 2SLGBTQI+ patients, as well as the impact of Dr. Jaris Swidrovich and Jeanette Bear’s session focusing on the care of Indigenous Peoples, will affect my practice in ways I didn’t anticipate.
In ways YOU may not anticipate, the clinical pharmacy Key Performance Indicators (cpKPIs) for oncology pharmacy that have long been in development at CAPhO, and are imminent to be revealed, are going to ‘lift’ our specialty to even ‘higher tides’ than ever before.
I don’t believe I fully appreciated the process of selecting a theme for a conference until the 2024 conference. As a non-conference planning committee member, it seems like a straight-forward task. Perhaps it involves a commonality in the types of educational topics being offered, frame it in an oncology pharmacy context, and try to add some local flavor to showcase the host city. It is clear to me now whilst the theme “Rising Tides Lift All Boats: Partnering to Advance Oncology Pharmacy” checks those boxes, it absolutely placed the underlying passion of the conference team at the center of everything that was offered this weekend. This was reflected in the un-matched energy provided by the in-person experience.
To Glenn Myers, the conference planning committee, the entire CAPhO organization, and to the ‘old’ and new friends I was amongst this weekend, I conclude by saying: you ARE that rising tide, I am that boat, and you have lifted me.
Thank you.