The heart of pharmacy care evolution at UBC

How healthy is your heart? You could know the answer in less than 30 minutes, and without having to leave campus, thanks to the work of Barbara Gobis, Director of UBC’s Pharmacists Clinic.

A UBC lecturer and self-described social pharmacist, Barbara, along with her team at the clinic, are working on several new initiatives that challenge the view of a pharmacist’s work unfolding entirely behind the drug store counter. One initiative, a free cardiovascular risk assessment project for UBC’s faculty and staff, is currently connecting pharmacists with patients in a way that’s more accessible and supportive than ever.

“I’m a connector,” Barbara explains. “I try to figure out how I can help someone else and how our work can connect with what someone else is doing.”

Helping others and making connections is a theme that runs through Barbara’s work at the Pharmacists Clinic, which she describes as a “catalyst for pharmacist practice change.”

The clinic, part of UBC’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is built on the principle of exploring innovative approaches to pharmacy practice and patient care. In addition to modeling best practices in the field, it’s also teaching a new generation of pharmacy learners while acting as a living lab for pharmacists in British Columbia and around the world.

For Barbara, it’s about encouraging an evolution towards a more patient-focused perspective, which is what led her to pharmacy and, eventually, her role at the clinic.

“I saw this profession that’s in a time of rapid change because of the role medications play in healthcare, how society is changing, how people have increasingly complex health needs and are living longer. It was this massive, messy matrix that I thought was really cool,” Barbara notes.

This future focus led Barbara and her team to connect with UBC’s Health, Wellbeing and Benefits group to create the CAMMPUS (Cardiovascular Assessment and Medication Management by Pharmacists at the UBC Site) project, which offers on-campus cardiovascular risk assessments to faculty and staff. The project allows those working at UBC to meet one-on-one with a pharmacist to become aware of their own heart health status, and to better understand how to take care of their heart through a mixture of lifestyle choices, medication, and medical support.

Those participating in CAMMPUS undergo an initial health assessment to learn more about their current level of heart health, with some participants qualifying for continued care through the project. So far, about 40% of those who take part in an initial heart health assessment have been eligible to enter the ongoing project because of their health risk, highlighting the importance of awareness as a first step towards better health.

“Typically speaking, people are curious, maybe a little nervous, because they don’t know exactly what they’re going to find out,” says Barbara. Yet the initial heart health assessment takes just 20 to 30 minutes and can provide a wealth of information.

“If nothing else, anybody who comes in finally understands what it means to look after your heart for the benefit of your heart,” Barbara adds, noting that most participants want to come back after the initial assessment.

The result is that the CAMMPUS project, along with other outreach programs run by the clinic, is creating a more human and holistic view of pharmacy. “People are saying they had no idea a pharmacist could help me like this,” Barbara points out.

As Barbara looks to the future, she also sees great potential for growth within the clinic and the outreach offered to the UBC community, which already includes hosting wellness lunch and learns, participation in UBC’s annual flu shot campaign, and involvement in the faculty and staff Travelling Health Fair.

Faculty and staff can register for an initial heart health assessment online before May 31, 2016, with costs covered by UBC’s extended health benefits plan.