Today’s Research Is Tomorrow’s Practice: Promoting a Culture of Research

As I stand back and look at pharmacy practice in all settings around me, and I dare compare it with our practice of 10 years ago, what differences do I see? Not enough—despite the fact that most provinces have embarked on approving new professional activities for pharmacists, with the goal of improving patient care. Legally, we now have additional tools to optimize patients’ pharmacotherapy, from renewing prescriptions for chronic conditions, through authorizing laboratory tests to enable monitoring and follow-up, to treating minor ailments. Individually and collectively, we are all committed to the well-being of our patients, trying to achieve optimal outcomes through patient-centred cognitive services and through interprofessional collaboration, regardless of our practice site.1 Yet much of the potential represented by these opportunities and goals remains unrealized