July • August 2005 - Ontario College of Pharmacists

EDITOR’S
MESSAGE
Della Croteau, R.Ph., B.S.P., M.C.Ed.
Deputy Registrar/Director of Programs
There are many times during my
career when I have been told that
pharmacists rarely seek the limelight;
mostly working away quietly
providing care to their patients. It is
often the public members on Council
...it is truly exciting to see what
we have accomplished to date.
who will be the first to tell us that they
had no idea of the value a pharmacist
could bring to their health care until
they had worked shoulder to shoulder
with pharmacists on Council’s various
committees.
This edition of Pharmacy Connection
highlights our public awareness
campaign and it is truly exciting to see
what we have accomplished to date. In
2000, Council set a broad objective to
increase public awareness, and the
Communications Committee has
made great strides in achieving that
goal. It is heartening to see that 82% of
pharmacists support the Point of Care
symbol, and that 93% of pharmacists
believe it is the College’s role to
continue to raise public awareness of
the value of the pharmacist-patient
relationship. And, despite our limited
budget, the campaign has made a
sizable impact on the public through
the display of the Point of Care symbol
and education materials in pharmacies,
through our television advertisement,
and above all, through your support.
The public is also hearing more
about pharmacists through the
media and discussions
involving primary health care.
There are pharmacists on many
of the new family health teams
recently created by the provincial
government. Pharmacists will be
playing a key role in the implementation
of any pandemic influenza plan.
Now that the public is more aware
of the role and value of the pharmacist,
there is an opportunity for us to provide
an increased level of care.
The Task Force on Optimizing the
Pharmacist’s Role is developing guidelines
for pharmacists to conduct
one-on-one medication consultations
with patients on complex drug therapy.
The Task Force is also developing a
framework for pharmacists to be able
to accept delegation of controlled acts
in collaborative practices with physicians,
so that pharmacists can monitor
drug therapy, and adjust medication
doses.
For a number of years, we have
been quietly doing our job and
providing pharmacy services, but now
the public is becoming more conscious
of, and the government is hearing more
about, the value pharmacists can bring
to the Ontario health care. Indeed, we
all know there are gaps in patient care
that can be filled by pharmacists.
Now is the time for us to provide
an enhanced level of care to help the
public become fully aware of the
enhanced role we can play in their
primary care.
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Pharmacy Connection July • August 2005