THE CARE PROVIDED BY YOUR PHARMACIST IS CHANGING
The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy as of November 27, 2014 is offering courses to change the level of practice of Pharmacists. The innovative new Minor Ailments program at the Leslie Dan faculty of Pharmacy equips participants with the skills, confidence, and tools needed to successfully advance the treatment of minor ailments in their practice.
Led by highly skilled pharmacy instructors and practitioners from Canada`s leading pharmacy educators, this program includes opportunities to:
1. develop your clinical decision-making skills
2. develop a structured framework for conducting minor ailments assessment
3. use tools and processes to effectively and confidently assess and treat patients
4. learn to apply evidence-based information to select safe and effective medication therapy
The Minor Ailments program allows you to enhance the skills you already use to provide better, more up-to-date care for your patients now, and prepares you to be ahead of the curve in incorporating minor ailments prescribing into your practice when a more expanded scope of care is introduced.
Changes in life are constant. Shortly after I graduated in Pharmacy in 1954 from the faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto at a meeting of the Ontario Pharmacist Association (O.P.A) the question of having the Ontario College of Pharmacists (O.C.P.) register and supervise a new category called a “Pharmacy Technician” was discussed.They would assist the pharmacist in his dispensing duties. The outcries coming from the overwhelming majority of pharmacists was negative, absolutely negative. They were afraid that in the future, the government would replace the pharmacist with this new designation. It was impossible at that time, to see clearly how the practice of pharmacy would need this very change, to enhance the practice into the direction acted upon by O.C.P now. Yet even still to-day, there are pharmacists afraid to head into the future.
You cannot operate a pharmacy without it being under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. At this point, that is the only part of the pharmacist`s agenda that is not undergoing slow but sure change. These major changes require more and different elements in pharmaceutical education, and also for the physician to be accepting of this new health world. The physicians especially the general practitioner, regard the new parameters,of the professional work done by the pharmacist as usurping their traditional practice. When one looks dispassionately at the G.P. it was inevitable that their work would change. Some of what they do is routine, not too demanding and with the demographics that are inevitable in the near future, (many seniors) the province could not afford to continue as before,and lowering physician`s pay for the same effort is not politically feasible.
The bottom line is money. The province wants to pay less for a similar service. A few examples are in order. Many physicians demand a return visit of the patient to his office, at an extra fee to repeat a prescription. The pharmacist will be allowed to repeat a prescription. The patient wants a quick fast visit for a flu shot . The pharmacist can inject flu vaccines at a lower cost with a quick appointment. If a person wants to stop smoking. The pharmacist writes a Rx. A patient`s M.D. away on holidays and the patient leaving for holidays needs the medicine. The pharmacist writes the Rx. No strength of the drug on the Rx. Pharmacist writes the missing strength. Doctor writes for an antibiotic capsule. Patient cannot swallow that size of capsule and wants a liquid. The pharmacist writes the Rx. There are many other instances too numerous to mention but whatever action is taken by the pharmacist it is his or her responsibility, and the pharmacist must make the decision. If a call to the physician is necessary, it is the responsibility of the pharmacist to make it. Independent decision-making is the new norm for the pharmacist.
None of these changes are possible without a Pharmacy Technician . The government is on side, the economy needs it, and hopefully the pharmacists will see the opportunity to enhance the profession, and his or her part in the health care of Ontario. A problem in reaching this elevated level of practice are the corporations where many pharmacists practice. At this point the corporations benefit from this extra level of care provided by the pharmacist and the extra remuneration goes to them, a situation that must be changed. Pharmacists providing this service must have a billing number,as do the doctors.
WHAT MINOR AILMENTSWILL PHARMACISTS BE ABLE TO ASSESS?
The list includes 32 minor ailments This is the New Brunswick list which is nearly identical to the one used in Nova Scotia and far more comprehensive than Ontario.
Allergic Rhinitis (hay fever) ~ Calluses and Corns~Contact Allergic Dermatitis ~ Cough~Dandruff ~ Dysmenorrhea ~ Dyspepsia ~ Emergency Contraception ~ Fungal infection of the Skin~Heartburn ~ Hemorrhoids ~ Herpes Simplex ~Impetigo~ Mild Acne ~ Mild Headache ~ Mild Eczema ~ Mild Acne ~ Mild Headache ~ Mild Ecczema ~ Mild Iticaria(hives,bug bites and stings) ~ Minor Joint Pain ~ Minor Muscle Pain ~ Minor Sleep Disorders ~ Nasal Congestion ~Nausea~ Nicitine Dependance ~ Non-infectious Diarrhea ~ Oral Fungal Infection (thrush)Oral Ulcers (canker sores)~ Sore Throat ~ Threadworms and Pinworms ~ Urinary Tract Infectioon (uncomplicated) ~ Vaginal Candidiasis (yeast infection) ~ Warts (excluding facial and genital) ~ Xerophthalmia (dry eyes)
A WIDE RANGE INDEED
