Cancelled exams a bitter pill for pharmacy grads
Hundreds of students putting career on hold as tests get pushed back
Eric Tran was well on his way to starting his career as a pharmacist.
A 2020 graduate of the University of Toronto’s pharmacy program, Tran had two job offers and a plan to begin working on the front lines of COVID-19 in June as soon as he passed his final licensing tests.
Instead, six months later, Tran is working as a pharmacy intern outside London, Ont., unable to take the test he needs to launch his career.
Tran is among 200 pharmacy graduates across the country who have been unable to sit the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) due to multiple postponements because of COVID-19. The OSCE is an interactive test that simulates real-life interactions between a pharmacist and a patient. It is the final hurdle in becoming a registered pharmacist in Canada and has a pass rate above 94 per cent among grads from Canadian pharmacy programs.
Tran was supposed to take the OSCE Nov. 8 in Toronto, postponed from May. He found out 48 hours before that the test wouldn’t be going ahead, after the test administrator cancelled the Toronto exam and reduced the capacity for the Ottawa exam.
The Pharmacy Examining Body of Canada “has done all that it could to work with Toronto Public Health to satisfy TPH that the OSCE can be conducted in accordance with the applicable regulation, and with its partners, made numerous attempts to engage with provincial government officials, but unfortunately our efforts have not been enough and the Toronto administration has been cancelled,” read the email from the test administrator.
In an open letter to graduates, the test administrator and professional organizations said public health officials classified the OSCE as a meeting rather than an educational event, which meant stricter capacity limits.
“I was feeling everything to be quite honest,” Tran said when he heard of the cancellation. “I was disappointed, frustrated, sad, confused and just wondering what’s going to happen in the future. My career was being put on pause.”
The Pharmacy Examining Body rescheduled the exam for next May and is looking at offering an exam in February.
Pharmacy isn’t the only profession that has had to cancel its certification exam during the pandemic. Last month, the Medical Council of Canada postponed a key qualifying exam for resident doctors for the second time, citing “recommendations by Public Health and late-breaking decisions by some contracted third-party exam sites, primarily in university settings.” The council was under scrutiny after at least seven people were potentially exposed to COVID-19 at a differ
ent medical certification exam in Toronto.
Most of the 2,400 affected candidates have been granted provisional licences but will still have to pass the exam. A replacement exam scheduled for February has since been cancelled. The council proposed a new exam date in May and is considering holding virtual exams.
Pharmacy grads haven’t been so lucky. Many, like Tran, are being forced to work as interns while they wait for the chance to get licensed, making about half the salary they would as a registered pharmacist, while balancing high student loans. Pharmacy interns have to be supervised and can’t perform some essential duties like administering COVID-19 tests.
Future pharmacists are being
barred from working at a time when they are needed most, says Michelle Wang, student president of the U of T pharmacy class of 2020. In an Ontario College of Pharmacists survey from the first wave of COVID-19, 81 per cent of Ontario pharmacists reported facing workforce challenges, including work refusal, increased overtime and limited mental health support. Some 62 per cent said they were having difficulty hiring replacement staff. The survey was conducted prior to flu-shot season and COVID-19 tests being offered in pharmacies, which have added extra strain.
“We’ve got front-line healthcare providers stepping up and contributing (during) a pandemic, and there is a need for more fully licensed pharmacists to fill the gap,” said Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, a 10,000-member advocacy and professional development organization.
Wang was able to do the OSCE at McMaster University this month, but she’s advocating for
her fellow grads by lobbying the Ministry of Health and the Ontario College of Pharmacists and encouraging people to contact their MPPs.
Wang says pharmacy grads should be given the option to take a virtual test, or be granted conditional licences so they can practise, something that has already been done in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
“That will solve a lot of problems,” Tran said. “It will allow us to provide to the community because we feel like we’re ready to.”
On Thursday, the Ontario College of Pharmacists, the registering and regulating body for the profession, passed a motion that, if approved by the government, will enable pharmacy graduates to practise during the pandemic under a new emergency registration designation.
Wang called the move a “small win, but not a full win,” noting the government still has to approve the proposal and waive a 60-day public consultation period typically required for regulation changes.
Public health officials classified the OSCE as a meeting rather than an educational event, which meant stricter capacity limits