International Pharmacy Bridging Program

Pharmacist Manager Wal-Mart Pharmacy, Alberta Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Kashif A.
	I always wanted to live in Canada because of her peaceful society, amazing ability to be the ‘mosaic of cultures’ {not melting pot}, its natural beauty, lower crime rate and balanced international policy. My close relatives in Canada also always had positive things to say about this beautiful country inviting me to move to this ‘dreamland’. Hence I moved to Canada from NY after successfully completing my Masters degree in Pharmacy and working in retail pharmacy for more than three years. I had excellent references, strong communication skills, methodical approach, and strong organizational skills. My emotional bank was also brimming with golden dreams, rainbow of hopes and resolute faith. I thus had ALL the possible ingredients for success!! Or so I thought!! My first wakeup call came when despite spending two months visiting various pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies, dropping resumes and meeting people I did not get a single interview call – On follow up I was told that I was either ‘over-qualified’ or lacked Canadian experience!! Visits to career centers and placements agencies also did not bear fruit!! The biggest shock was the demoralising attitude of other international professionals - doctors, engineers, pharmacists - who had been very successful professionals in their countries of origin but who had given up all hopes in Canada. They were either driving cabs or delivering pizzas or living off welfare with no actual desire to seek work!! They probably meant well but their conversations always alluded to me joining THEM (either deliver pizza or go on welfare). None of these options were acceptable to me as I felt that these would be an antithesis to who I am and what I stand for! After two and half month I ended up working as a (unpaid) volunteer in a retail pharmacy gaining valuable Canadian experience for a few months before finally landing an actual job in Edmonton. I was happy to be back in a professional environment and busied myself in preparing for the pharmacy licensing exam – my preceptor; a pharmacist with more than 20 years experience was a very kind person and wonderful human being. I also started spending lots of time and most of my money buying books for the exam (in addition to paying the hefty fee). However success seemed to elude me despite my hard work and efforts. I did identify FIVE key challenges. First - lack of proper roadmap on approaching the exam which not only included information but also needed structure and format. Second was the overcoming the feeling of doom and loss due to the pressure, hefty fee and the negative vibes coming from those who had given up. The third was a lack of a platform where I could interact with Canadian grads and also do mock scenarios. The fourth was ambiguity about the ‘rights and wrongs’ - I could spend hours ‘finding’ answers to problems/ issues but had no means of knowing if those were indeed the correct answers ! The biggest challenge was the loss in self confidence and self respect that comes from a person becoming NO-BODY, being jobless and object of either ridicule or pity!! Bredin Institute’s International Pharmacy Bridging Program provided solutions to lot of my challenges. The structured class room setting provided me with the roadmap to concentrate my effort and energies. A combination of hard plus soft skills in an environment where there were others in the same boat as I provided the sense of balance and the ‘ground’ to stand up on. It also provided a platform of interacting with Canadian grads and Canadian University instructors as well as a practice lab for MOCK scenarios honed my professional skills. These also provided a direction and lessened the ambiguity and uncertainty about correctness or otherwise. The biggest advantage was the rebuilding of self confidence and self respect which indeed is the most powerful ally for an able professional. I worked very hard, completing all my assignments and focussing on the appropriate areas of opportunity and was finally successful in realising my dream of becoming a licensed pharmacist. I received job offers from ALL companies that had interviewed me and finally decided to accept a management position in a brand new pharmacy in a location of my choice! I would like to see this bridging program flourish and grow and hope that all other professionals in Canada also get access to programs like these so they too could realize their dreams and serve the society in a much more productive manner fortifying not only their own lives and the lives of their loved ones but also their fellow Canadians!

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Ghotbaddin Hassanpoor
	Since starting this program, I had a chance to review intensively therapeutic choices about different medical conditions. I became more familiar professionally communicated in a real pharmacy practice, patient counseling, employment readiness and pharmaceutical care management. Most importantly, I had a chance in a pharmacy lab, Mock OSCE to have feed back so I can correct my mistakes and be a better and competent pharmacist in the work place. I would like to say Thanks to all Bredin Institute’s staff and management that worked so hard to make all learning possible for us to be a competent pharmacist. You did an excellent job!!

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Parmjit Virdi
	During my time as an International Pharmacy Graduate at Bredin Institute, I found the program to be most helpful in several different areas such as pharmaceutical care, Therapeutics and Ethical issues in Pharmacy care. From my point of view, this is one of the best programs available in Canada. No program in Canada is providing 3 Mock OSCE’s before their final OSCE program. Due to this program I was able to find my placement at Wal-Mart. Furthermore, instructors are really friendly and they provided you help in every area of pharmaceutical care with real life examples. So there are a lot of things to learn; which I would not have learned if I had not joined this program.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Sukhpreet Kaur Birdi
	Bredin Institute has one of the best programs available in Canada. During my time as an international pharmacy graduate at Bredin Institute, I found the program to be very helpful. I had a chance to review therapeutic choices about different medical conditions. I become more familiar professionally in communicating in a real pharmacy practice and in patient counselling. Bredin Institute provided 3 Mock OSCE’s before their final OSCE program. Thanks to all of Bredin Institute’s staff and management, I am ready to write my exams.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Heba Al-Rayyes
	It is a fact that Bredin Institute made me ready to be a pharmacist in Canada. The Pharmacy Bridging Program was very useful in assisting me to face the challenges of the PEBC exam and knowing the way of the licensing exams and how to study. It was useful in many other ways such as: Therapeutic review in improving my communication and counselling skills, studying Canadian law and ethics in preparing me to face my exams to practice pharmacy in Canada, studying Alberta College of Pharmacists laws and code of ethics, getting to know other international pharmacists taking the program and listening to their experience, creating a good resume for the Canadian employment market which will help in finding a job and starting practice in a Canadian Pharmacy.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	A.A.
	It is really risky to do the qualification exams without enrolling into this program.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	S. Hanna
	The program that I have taken at Bredin Institute was very good. It offers an opportunity for international pharmacy graduates to improve their practical skills of experience. I was very impressed with the comprehensive coverage of certain areas related to pharmacy like therapeutic review, pharmaceutical management, and pharmacy professional practice. Thanks for all the efforts done to make this program successful.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Amal El-Mabhouh
	The most helpful thing about this program is that it prepared me for the challenge of being a pharmacist here in Edmonton and overall in Canada. It opened the door for me to know what exactly I am expected to do to be a good pharmacist, what is my role of a pharmacist in the community, and how do I fulfill my duties. The program saved me a lot of time in networking as it provided me with an environment of colleagues and different experienced international pharmacists who were in different stages of their registration. It was a window that opened to me to assist me to understand the Alberta Health Act and the Federal Act. I ended up working in a pharmacy where I didn’t have to ask, ‘What do you mean by ---?’ because I just felt that I was well prepared with the techniques from this program to be a good pharmacist. The program has changed the path of my life to a better destiny and one with more options. Bredin Insitute’s staff is very friendly and supportive and the Institute is equipped with many valuable resources such as the most updated books in the field – for example CPS. The Canadian pharmacist letters put us in the present dynamic of the pharmacy knowledge and even the photocopy machine saved me money and time! Even my resume has the touches of a skilled team who guided me to write and put together a very strong resume. If there is anything I can do to say thank you enough to Bredin Institute, I would be more than happy to. Your support significantly made a difference in may life. I am now in the field working and enjoying being an internship pharmacist.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Tariq Chughtai
	OSCE INTENSIVE REVIEW PROGRAM: Excellent! The International Pharmacy Bridging Program and this course covers the needs of IPGs. Keep it up!

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Amal El-Mabhouh
	OSCE INTENSIVE REVIEW PROGRAM: This course is very much hands on experience. It includes practice drills of working within a limited time and exercising critical thinking on the spot. I recommend this course for any pharmacist preparing for the OSCE- After taking this course, you will know exactly what is expected from you on the exam day and how to perform under stress and under tight timelines in the exam.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	Swapna Akinapally
	OSCE INTENSIVE REVIEW PROGRAM: It’s a really nice experience and would be most helpful for all of the international pharmacy graduate students going for the OSCE.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	A.A.
	OSCE INTENSIVE REVIEW PROGRAM: The OSCE intensive course within this program is really useful and worth engaging in.

Program Area: International Pharmacy Bridging Program	H.S.
	OSCE INTENSIVE REVIEW PROGRAM: I always thought that the OSCE exam preparation means just hard studying and practicing. Bredin Institute’s program and this course opened my eye to some other important areas that I never thought of. Thanks to Bredin Insitute and to all the other contributors of the program!