TELUS Health and Université Laval partner to bring leading edge technology to future pharmacists

Cloud-based pharmacy management solution enables innovative education methodologies and provides student with hands on experience.

Quebec City – TELUS Health and Université Laval are joining forces to provide state-of-the-art comprehensive simulation teaching facilities to the university’s pharmacy faculty. Through an investment of more than $300,000 from TELUS Health, Laval pharmacy students will gain hands-on experience throughout their academic program, as well as an opportunity to operate leading edge technology: Ubik, TELUS Health’s next-generation pharmacy management platform.

“In support of our philosophy to give where we live, we are providing our most innovative technology to advance the training of our next generation of pharmacists in Québec,” said Paul Lepage, President, TELUS Health. “Pharmacists are a key pillar of our healthcare ecosystem and often the first point of contact for patients. Educating pharmacy students using technology to allow the expansion of their scope of practice to include an increase in the clinical guidance provided to patients, advances our vision of a connected healthcare system, where physician, pharmacist and patients can exchange information electronically.”

The Ubik platform is a patient-centric, cloud-based, and adaptable pharmacy management solution that provides robust messaging and connectivity features. It enables physicians and pharmacists to communicate electronically for things like electronic renewals of their patients’ prescriptions, instead of relying on fax machines or phone calls. The technology is currently being deployed across pharmacies in Quebec and will be customized for use in academic settings at Université Laval.

“This technological support from TELUS Health will enable the faculty to continue innovating in healthcare training,” said Jean Lefebvre, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval. “It will strengthen the expertise of our teaching pharmacists and researchers in learning through simulation – expertise they have developed thanks to the facilities at our professional practice laboratory, Apprentiss.”

“Our simulation activities with students must re-create the reality of a pharmacy as accurately as possible while simultaneously allowing us to teach exemplary practices,” said Marie-Claude Boivin, head of practical training and sector coordinator, Centre Apprentiss Pharmacie. “The new Ubik platform will expand our opportunities in numerous areas, including therapeutic monitoring and file documentation, both of crucial importance to pharmacists.”

The results of the technological modernization of the Apprentiss professional practice laboratory at Université Laval’s Faculty of Pharmacy will be unveiled to students throughout spring 2017. The existing technology, donated by TELUS Health several years ago, will be replaced with newer systems and software.

About Université Laval

Located in Quebec City, a world heritage city, Université Laval is the premier francophone university in North America. It is the seventh-ranked research university in Canada, with $330 million allocated to research last year. Université Laval has over 9,370 employees, including 3,685 professors, lecturers and other teaching and research staff members, who share their knowledge with over 42,500 students, more than 25% of whom are enrolled in postgraduate studies. In 2014, Université Laval was awarded STARS certification, being ranked first in Canada and second worldwide for sustainable development. In 2015, it voluntarily became the first carbon-neutral university in Canada. To date, it has over 277,000 graduates around the world. ulaval.ca

About TELUS Health

TELUS Health is a leader in telehomecare, electronic medical and health records, consumer health, benefits management, and pharmacy management. TELUS Health solutions give health authorities, providers, physicians, patients, and consumers the power to turn information into better health outcomes. For more information about TELUS Health, please visit telushealth.com.

For more information, please contact:

Jacinthe Beaulieu
TELUS Media Relations
(418) 318-6102
[email protected]

Andrée-Anne Stewart
Media relations, Université Laval
(418) 656-3952 C: (418) 254-3141
[email protected]