March is Pharmacy Appreciation Month
If one of my patients gets home with their prescription and thinks of a question, they know they can call the pharmacy and ask me. There’s a good chance I’ll even be the one answering the phone.
Pharmacists are the most accessible health-care providers, and as president of the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association (NBPA), I want to mark the start of Pharmacy Appreciation Month by thanking the 900+ pharmacists and 200+ pharmacy technicians who are there for New Brunswickers every day, every night, and on weekends and holidays.
While we all know the health-care system is in crisis, pharmacists have been working hard to educate patients and the provincial government on the services that are already available at pharmacies in New Brunswick, as well as additional services we are qualified to provide but which the provincial government does not cover.
Public coverage
Here in New Brunswick, patients have public coverage for 11 common ailments, including urinary tract infections, pink eye and shingles. However, there are over 20 additional common ailments that pharmacists are already qualified to assess and treat that are not publicly covered when performed by a pharmacist. A full list of services covered and not covered is here.
There is a national trend toward an expanded role for pharmacists in the health-care system. More and more provinces are giving patients public coverage for services pharmacists are already qualified to provide, and it’s having a direct impact on the health-care system in those provinces. A pilot project in Nova Scotia, providing full coverage for all services within the pharmacists’ scope of practice, has expanded to 48 pharmacies and has contributed to a 9.2 per cent reduction in emergency department visits for less urgent conditions.
Pharmacist Care Clinics
Following the lead of the Nova Scotia pilot, six of our New Brunswick pharmacies worked with the New Brunswick College of Pharmacists and the provincial Department of Health to launch a similar pilot, enabling patients to receive chronic disease management for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, as well as assessment and prescribing for Strep A. These pharmacies funded the year-long pilot themselves, at no charge to patients and with no contribution from government. The final report on the pilot from the New Brunswick Institute of Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) shows the pilot was very effective at increasing access to health care for patients, particularly chronic disease patients without a primary health-care provider.
The data shows 88 per cent of patients got an appointment within two days, and 100 per cent of patients surveyed said they would recommend a Pharmacist Care Clinic to family.
I want to thank the six pharmacies who led our pilot and demonstrated with unequivocal data the impact an expanded role for pharmacists can have on improving access to health care for New Brunswickers. Our hope is that the provincial government will review this data and engage with NBPA in a meaningful discussion about the role pharmacists can play in collaborative care.
In closing, while I want to thank all of our pharmacy professionals during Pharmacy Appreciation Month, I also want to thank our patients. Pharmacy is a helping profession, and when you have a question or concern or just need more information about something, we are proud that you turn to your pharmacist, and we will always be happy to take the call.
Paul Bowman is President of the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association and owner of Bowman’s Pharmasave in Fredericton.