I'm a registered pharmacist practicing at Shoppers Drug Mart Patient Contact Centre, a division of the Specialty Health Network focused on developing adherence to medication for newly diagnosed chronic diseases. In this role, I work with a team of pharmacists and pharmacy assistants to promote compliance by educating and providing counseling to patients in need. Although patient care services are my first priority, my most exciting work to date was developing and launching an Excel-based tracking database to coordinate the daily workflow of our 100+ employees. Before joining Shoppers Drug Mart Patient Contact Centre, I completed my professional training in several different sectors related to pharmacy and was lucky enough to have placements in Ontario, New York, Massachusetts, and Florida. I'm truly passionate about my work and always eager to connect with other fellow pharmacists. While I enjoy all aspects of pharmacy, including patient care, I think my favourite part is to work with a multidisciplinary team and use critical thinking and business acumen to provide the best patient experience using the most economical model. I have a Doctor of Pharmacy from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto. I look forward to connecting with you!

Pharmacist @ - Consult with patients across Canada regarding active drug therapy and drug utilization as prescribed by their healthcare professional - Lead a team of pharmacists and pharmacy assistants that have developed and launched an Excel-based tracking tool to increase the day-to-day efficiency of the workplace - Part of a team of select pharmacists that attended the SDM pharmacist conferences in Toronto and Calgary to educate pharmacists about the impact of patient care services, specifically adherence and compliance - Member of the Social Media and Employee Engagement committees From July 2014 to Present (1 year 4 months) Mississauga, OntarioPharmacy Intern @ - Supervised pharmacy workflow by assessing the patient at the point of triage and delegating tasks to pharmacy assistants in order to increase accuracy of prescription processing and third-party billing, as well as facilitating communication between pharmacist and patients - Daily responsibility of patient counseling through Ontario’s MedsCheck program as well as performing follow-up calls to encourage patient compliance - Enhanced pharmacist and physician communication by introducing a new communication template to improve follow-up time and increase patient safety and satisfaction - Assisted in inventory of prescription drugs, updating price points, and ordering of drug and non-drug products through McKesson and Nexxsys pharmacy software - Improved patient satisfaction by delivering medications or dosette packages personally to patients upon request and performing home MedsChecks for eligible patients - Completed Structured Practical Training (SPT) internship successfully in a retail pharmacy setting within 12 weeks, which included a diabetes clinic where patients were counselled on new monitoring devices and lifestyle modifications From April 2013 to July 2014 (1 year 4 months) Mississauga, OntarioPharmacy Intern @ - Edited an internal grant proposal on the subject of meditation and its outcome on stress in students attending a pharmacy college - Prepared and presented a lecture on the subject of herbal medicine for P3 students taking Complementary and Alternative Medicine - Attended weekly peer-led workshop meetings on subjects relevant to the P1 curriculum, which included designing a workshop on the ethics of the pharmaceutical industry - Assisted the professor in courses offered to post graduate and P2 students on the subjects of research ethics and scientific literature evaluation, respectively From February 2013 to March 2013 (2 months) Albany, New YorkPharmacy Intern @ - Assessed patients upon triage into the emergency department daily - Performed medication reconciliation and verification with direct patient interaction and/or from their primary pharmacy - Completed weekly formal and informal patient documentation using subjective and objective data to assess the patient and implement a strategy for therapeutic or non-therapeutic intervention - Prepared and led a journal club discussion on IV antipsychotic use as an adjunct to benzodiazepines in acutely agitated patients From January 2013 to February 2013 (2 months) Albany, New YorkPharmacy Intern @ - Prepared and presented a strategy to implement a medication error protocol for the hospital using NCC MERP guidelines after performing a five year review of the hospital’s medication error reporting form - Prepared a medication use evaluation on insulin, Lexiscan, and methotrexate for injection to present to the P&T Committee - Ensured proper handling and adherence to USP 797 standards while compounding sterile products From October 2012 to November 2012 (2 months) North Adams, MassachusettsPharmacy Intern @ - Performed several roll calls from Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan list of patients that were eligible for medication therapy management (MTM) services - Performed MTM with patients via telephone and in-person - Incorporated and demonstrated seamless use of mobile technology with the pharmacy’s computer system to increase offsite productivity and monitoring - Compounded medications, including those for veterinary use From August 2012 to September 2012 (2 months) Averill Park, New YorkPharmacy Intern @ - Visited a retirement home in Waterloo, ON to assist a pharmacist with MTM offered to several senior patients - Observed daily-dose packaging using PACMED and consequent verification using PacVision machines prepared for long-term care facilities - Observed hormone replacement therapy preparations in a compounding lab specified to USP 797 standards and used pharmaceutical consultations from PCCA - Observed and reviewed methadone preparation for delivery to the community jail From July 2012 to August 2012 (2 months) Burlington, OntarioPharmacy Intern @ - Prepared and presented drug expenditures since 2010 for the hospital and the cancer center, which included comparison data for top ten drugs and therapeutic classes, projection of spending in 2012 to national standards, and brand & generic efficiency - Aided in creating a root cause analysis of medication error messages using the EPIC software system From May 2012 to June 2012 (2 months) Miami, Florida

Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), Pharmacy @ Albany College of Pharmacy of Union University From 2007 to 2013 Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Biology, General @ University of Toronto Mississauga From 2003 to 2007 Karan Almaula is skilled in: Healthcare, Pharmacists, Pharmacy, Community Pharmacy, Compounding, Medication Therapy..., Patient Counseling, Pharmacy Practice, Pharmacy Automation, Pharmaceutical Industry, Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacy