November/December 2009 - Ontario College of Pharmacists

president’s message
Stephen Clement, R.Ph., B.Sc. Phm.
President
As I begin my year as President
of the Ontario College
of Pharmacists, there is
much change in the profession. We
anticipate the final reading of Bill 179
which will give legislative authority
for an advanced scope for pharmacists,
as well as remote dispensing.
We will be incorporating the feedback
we have heard from you as we
travelled the province this fall, to develop
regulations supporting these
new authorities. Once the regulations
for all new activities have been
developed and approved by Council,
they will be circulated to the members
for comment and feedback, and I ask
that each of you read and familiarize
yourself with what is being proposed.
In addition to the expanded scope
for pharmacists, we expect that the
first set of regulated pharmacy technicians
will be registered early in 2010.
The timing of the regulation of pharmacy
technicians couldn’t be better
for supporting pharmacists. As pharmacists
begin to take on a greater
scope and responsibility for patient
care, registered technicians will be
able to focus on many day-to-day
technical duties.
As a community pharmacist for
more than 30 years, I personally find
these changes both exciting and intimidating.
We will be able to play a
greater role in helping our patients to
manage their medications, but are we
ready? Have those of us who graduated
a number of years ago kept up
our skills and knowledge so that we
can build on them to take even a
greater role? Now is the time to take
stock of our skills and knowledge,
and to prepare ourselves to take on
adapting, modifying and extending
prescriptions, ordering lab tests, and
administering medications by injection
and inhalation for the purposes of
patient education. It is our duty to be
vigilant in the area of self-evaluation.
We must help all members identify
not only their strengths but their
challenges, so that they can better
prepare themselves for the proposed
changes. There are many intensive
continuing education workshops being
offered and I challenge each of
you to take in as many of these as
possible in the next year. Along with
this advanced scope, there will be
other practice expectations such as
documenting patient care, and having
a place in your pharmacy where you
can consult patients privately about
their personal health information.
And to top off all this change,
technology is advancing at a rapid
pace. Our goal, as a council, is to push
ourselves to keep up with it, embrace
it and use it to make the regulatory
changes needed to fulfill our mandate,
maintain our standards, and to ensure
that our members provide the
public with quality service and care.
A major advantage of technology is
that it provides us with better access
to patient health information and we
must be ready to use this information
to help patients manage their medications.
This advanced scope will
position pharmacists to take more
responsibility for patient care and to
work collaboratively with the doctors,
nurses and other health care professionals
in our communities.
At the College, we have developed
a dynamic communications program
that is designed to communicate these
important changes to the public.
The program encourages the public
to consult their pharmacist as a key
member of their healthcare team.
Watch for print advertisements in
select consumer magazines this fall.
Our ability to make a difference
in our patients’ medication therapy
management has never been greater.
I look forward to developing this new
practice along with all of you.
4 pharmacyconnection • November/December 2009