Q&A with Pharmacy U presenter Ajit Johal: ‘The future of pharmacy is chronic disease management.’

We at PharmacyU.ca had an opportunity to catch up with upcoming Pharmacy U presenter Ajit Johal to discuss his forthcoming sessions at Pharmacy U Vancouver on Nov. 2nd. You are presenting three sessions at the Pharmacy U Vancouver conference! Tell us a bit about your presentations and what attendees can expect. I have been a presenter at Pharmacy U since 2018, where I gave a presentation on travel medicine. I have always been impressed with the event attendance and, specifically, engagement from attendees to elevate their practice. My first session on travel medicine is called The Travel Clinics of the Future: What does this mean for pharmacists? This session was inspired by the most common question in pharmacy practice regarding travel medicine: is there a quick and easy resource to look up what vaccines and prophylactic medications are recommended for my travelling patient? While such a “holy grail” reference to support every possible travel patient and their unique itinerary does NOT exist, pharmacists can get close to it during the session. I will use my popular AI-powered patient avatars and supporting large language models to make clear recommendations for the most common travel patient cases. Attending pharmacists will give a great insight into the knowledge and skills needed to provide this service in pharmacy practice. And get inspired, too! That sounds interesting! Your travel medicine presentations are always well received, so I’m sure pharmacists will enjoy this one. You’re also doing a presentation on influenza. Community pharmacists provide the most adult influenza vaccination in the country compared to any other provider, which is a significant topic. Pharmacists are well versed in discussion, administering, and setting up an excellent workflow for influenza season. This year, I am trying something new based on how extraordinary pharmacists have done with seasonal influenza vaccination and their potential to support primary care in this country. There will be a very brief update on influenza but more of a focus on how effective influenza vaccination is as part of a chronic disease management strategy and doing a deeper dive into supporting these patients. The future of pharmacy is chronic disease management, and the experience from influenza vaccination has primed pharmacists to play a more significant role this area. With expanding the scope to include diagnosing minor ailments, prescribing medication renewals, and ordering routine lab tests to pathway is set, and I look forward to stoking the fire for attendees to start thinking about this in their practice! And what about your last presentation on RSV? RSV stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus and has been a problem for decades in neonates (infants less than 1) and older adult populations. We now have some fantastic interventions to protect both populations! There is another excellent presentation on RSV happening at Pharmacy U, as well as maternal and older adult vaccination, and mine is a nice complement to that one, focusing on monoclonal antibodies for infant protection. There have been some exciting announcements in this area, so this will be an essential update for pharmacists. Plus, this presentation has some unique perspectives on implementation which I think is so vital for pharmacists when they return to their practice after the conference. I'm looking forward to seeing your presentations come to life at Pharmacy U at the JW Marriot in Vancouver, BC, on Sat., Nov. 2nd! For more updates and clinical pearls, follow Ajit on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/ajit-johal-b71382a1

Q&A with Pharmacy U presenter Ajit Johal: ‘The future of pharmacy is chronic disease management.’

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