'Another option': Sask. widening scope of practice for pharmacists

The provincial government is widening the scope of practice for Saskatchewan pharmacists with the launch of a new pilot project.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) says healthcare in smaller communities has been greatly impacted by the province’s health system strain.

“It’s not great,” acting President Bill Huber said. “We need more health professionals in rural Saskatchewan.”

That’s why SARM has been calling on the province for years to expand the scope of practice for local pharmacists.

“A lot of people who require service are elderly and often later in the evenings or nights,” Huber explained. “And sometimes they’re sitting in a crowded waiting room in the city for something that could be dealt with in their home community.”

The Ministry of Health announced a new pilot program Wednesday, which will give pharmacists the ability to offer more care for patients with training that will allow pharmacists to test for strep throat and ear infections.

“It’s about making sure we have health care professionals practicing the scope of what they’re trained to do,” Minister Everett Hindley told reporters at an announcement Wednesday.

“This will help relieve some of the pressure on emergency departments and on family physicians,” he added.

There are approximately 1,250 practicing pharmacists at 426 pharmacies in 125 communities across the province.

“There are a number of communities where they might not have a hospital, health centre or long-term care home,” Hindley said. “But they have a pharmacy.”

In total, 60 pharmacies will participate in the pilot program.

Ten sites will have testing for strep throat and ear infections while an additional 50 sites will test only for ear infections.

“This presents another option for rural families where they might be a half-hour, hour or more from the nearest [health] centre,” Hindley added.

The Pharmacies Association of Saskatchewan (PAS) welcomed the announcement.

“[This] is something pharmacies have been asking for quite some time,” CEO Michael Fougere said. “We’re looking forward to the pilot being successful.”

Current pharmacists already have the ability to test and prescribe medication for minor ailments like cold sores, influenza, insect bites and shingles.

The expansion follows in the footsteps of other provinces, like Nova Scotia, who began a similar pilot project last year.

“[PAS] looked at the data in Nova Scotia and the impact it’s had, particularly on emergency rooms,” Hindley said. “We’d want to watch for the same here.”

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The province is contributing $700,000 to launching the project, with $300,000 earmarked specifically for training pharmacists in their new practice.

“This is a brand-new training program,” University of Saskatchewan Continuing Pharmacy Education Director Danielle Larocque said. “It will include some online training and some hands on, physical assessment learning.”

If successful, the pilot could expand later.

“We want to make sure it’s effective and it does what it’s intended to do,” Hindley said.

“We’d all want to see pharmacists practice in the full scope of what they’re trained to do,” Fougere said. “That would mean much better access to health care for everyone.”

SARM hopes pharmacists’ scope of practice continues to grow to include more medical procedures.

“It’s a start,” Huber said. “We’ll see more advancements and added benefits to introduce and give more responsibilities to the pharmacies in these local drug stores.”

Participating pharmacies will be chosen and trained through October and November with hopes the widened scope of care begins in December.