CPhA receives funding to support IPGs with mentorship and practical work experience in Canadian pharmacies
January 24, 2024 (Ottawa): The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is thrilled to announce that we have received funding from Employment and Social Development Canada to lead a four-year project to help support unlicensed International Pharmacy Graduates (IPGs) with mentorship, practical experience and other key integration supports to increase their chances of success at licensure.
Like other health professions in Canada, the pharmacy workforce is feeling the impact of labour shortages. Internationally educated pharmacists make up over 30% of the Canadian pharmacy workforce, but they face many barriers to licensure in Canada, including significant time and costs of credentialling and licensing and limited opportunities for mentorship and work experience.
The CPhA-led IPG Mentorship and Integration Project will improve unlicensed IPGs’ knowledge and understanding about Canadian pharmacy practice, build their professional networks and provide practical experience in pharmacy settings. We’ll achieve this by offering several mentorship and engagement programs and partnering with community pharmacies across Canada to provide mentored work placement opportunities. Through this project we hope to connect IPGs to mentors in diverse settings and locations, including rural and remote areas where pharmacists are needed most.
It is critical to build capacity within the workforce so that pharmacy can continue to meet the diverse and growing health-care needs of communities across Canada. We’re confident this project will help IPGs gain the knowledge, skills and experience to enter the Canadian workforce more quickly and confidently.
Stay updated on next steps
The initial phase of the IPG Mentorship and Integration project, slated for the first 4-5 months of 2024, will be dedicated to project planning and development. We expect to begin delivering project activities by the summer. Sign up below to receive project updates as they become available, including information about how to participate as an IPG, mentor and/or pharmacy placement site. To contact project staff, please email us at ipgmi@pharmacists.ca
This project is part of CPhA’s Pharmacy Workforce Wellness initiative and our efforts to advance pharmacy workforce planning, improve satisfaction and wellness within the pharmacy workforce and support pharmacy professionals’ entry into practice.
About the Canadian Pharmacists Association
The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is the uniting national voice of pharmacy and the pharmacist profession in Canada. As pharmacists undertake an enhanced role in the delivery of health care services, CPhA ensures that the profession is recognized as a national leader in health care, influencing the policies, programs, budgets and initiatives affecting the profession and the health of Canadians.