When people think of pharmacists, they think of men and women wearing white lab coats standing behind a countertop handing out medication. While that is a core component of their job, pharmacists in Alberta can provide their patients with a higher level of care than any other province, so long as they undertake the training to do it.
Rita Lyster, a Barrhead-area pharmacist, said the profession has steadily obtained more responsibility since she first graduated 44 years ago. A major milestone for the field provincially took place in 2007, when pharmacists got prescriptive authority, allowing them to write and refill prescriptions for a wide range of illnesses. That same training program allowed pharmacists to administer vaccines.
“It isn’t automatic, we have to apply for it and prove we have the knowledge and skills to do the work,” said Lyster. “We can’t just give you whatever we want, we still have to do the assessments and make sure it’s appropriate, since we’re assuming responsibility for what we’ve done.”
The flexibility allowed by Alberta’s regulations paid off during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when many medical clinics were either closed or on reduced hours, pharmacies stayed open, albeit with some new PPE.
“Alberta is very lucky, we were able to bail out health care in different provinces because people couldn’t get in to see a health care professional,” said Lyster. “Accessibility is number one; there’s over 5,000 pharmacies in Alberta, and virtually every community has easy access to a trained pharmacy.”
Lyster believes that a major role for pharmacists is to help doctors with the more “mundane” side of health care — studies have shown that pharmacists were more efficient and got better results with small treatments compared to doctors.
“I would frankly call it the mundane, simple things, it’ll free up the time of the physicians we have to do the more complicated things. For example, blood pressure; we had studies where pharmacists managed blood pressure and usual care. We showed a result where pharmacists were more efficient and got better results in that study,” said Lyster.
That desire to increase accessibility and quality of care for patients has driven Lyster’s latest project, which she calls a pharmacist-led clinic. Anyone coming in can see a doctor, fill their prescription, or get continuing care at the newly opened Barrhead Pharmacy and Homehealth.
“We need to work collaboratively with doctors, we don’t want to irritate them, but we can help them,” said Lyster. “Let’s say someone has a chronic disease, they have high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, and they have a heart attack. I can follow them, I can monitor them, make sure their numbers are right. I can look at their labs, I can even order their lab tests. I can look, and if I see a red flag, I can send them (to their doctor).”
Traditional pharmacies can fulfill many of the same roles in the health care field as well. Neire Monteiro, associate owner and pharmacist of the Shopper’s Drug Mart in Westlock and Morinville, said a well-run pharmacy can help alleviate pressure on hospitals in communities lacking a walk-in clinic.
“If someone needs something right away, they go and ask the pharmacist,” said Monteiro, who’s been in Westlock for 15 years. “Especially in rural areas where we have a shortage of doctors. A lot of people rely on the pharmacists.”
Monteiro said the expanded scope of practice pharmacists have in Alberta has a direct impact on their patients. She said she will have days in the pharmacy where she’s almost running a pop-up clinic, instead of just filling prescriptions.
“We review medications with the patients, consult minor ailments, or send them for blood work,” said Monteiro. “Strep throat, we have a machine, and we can get a positive or negative result in six minutes.
“It saves a lot of time for the patient, and it saves government money. They don’t have to go and sit in the emergency room; it plays a big role when pharmacists feel confident and are able to prescribe.”
