BRIEF OVERVIEW

Many students checked-in on Friday afternoon, as the morning events schedule could be described as, "skippable", with nothing too memorable being presented. Saturday is an all-day affair, starting with a breakfast symposium at 7AM, with events going on all day until the Gala dinner—a semiformaleventfeaturingdinner,dancing,andeveningentertainmentintheform of a musical improv duo known as the “Dueling Piano Kings”. Sunday morning included a breakfast symposium and several more talks, before closing remarks and check-out at noon. It sounds brief, but it felt like a packed weekendthatwasasexhaustingasitwasexciting.

only 30-minute

AttendingDr.WillFlanary’skeynotespeechwasmost definitely a highlight of the conference. Dr. Flanary is an Opthamologist by day and part-time comedian/social media celebrity by night, going by the stage name, "Dr. Glaucomflecken", where he creates medically-themed shorts on social media that have racked millions of views. But more than that, he is a husband, father, and two-time testicular cancer and cardiac arrest survivor. He spoke about his experience as a patient from a physician’s perspective, battling testicular cancer twice, his cardiacarrestatage30,andtheimpactonhisfamily, especially his wife, Kristin Flanary, who saved his life by maintaining CPR for 10 minutes until EMS arrived. In characteristic “Dr.Glaucomflecken” fashion though, he is always able to find humour in dark situations, and encourages others to embrace humor ineverydaylife.

Overall Impression:

Pawan offered the unique perspective as the only first year in attendance, and she thought the CSHP conference was a great opportunity to network with professionals and meet hospital pharmacists in order to learn from their experiences. Her advice to first years is, if you are interested in hospital pharmacy and would like to get to know more about the profession, attending theCSHPconferenceisagreatstartingpoint.Shefelttherewasa lotofflexibilityandfreedom,asyoucouldchoosewhichtalksyou wanted to attend or not. On that same note, you get out of it as much as you put in, and each individual’s experience is unique depending on how much you are willing to explore. But overall, she gave the thumbs up and would encourage more first years to reachoutsidetheircomfortzoneandcheckitoutnextyear!

Aside from being a fun weekend getaway in Banff, I learned a lot from this experience. I think being introduced to such a large professional development experience early on as a student was a good choice, because it introduces you to the world of continuing education, networking, and appreciating the evolving nature of science and best practices. For me it reinforced the importance of being proactive in staying up to date in order to provide the best clinical care for patients. It also showed me that professional development conferences are not as boring, dry, and didactic as I had thought, as I personally had a really fun time. It was also cool seeing some of the big names in our profession in-the-flesh, and of course, meeting the legendary Dr. Glaucomflecken was the cherry on top. If you are someone curious about hospital pharmacy and continuing education, I would highly recommend considering attending the CSHP Together Conference. If anything (at the veryleast),you’llhaveablastofaweekendinthemountains.

Cost Breakdown Details

Hotel (x 2 nights)

Transportation

Banff Centre Hotel - $378 (CSHP group rate) Bow View Lodge$528

Peaks Hotel & Suites - $610

Gas: ~$120 round trip

$0. All 3 meals are included if