In order to improve access to health care, the Association of Pharmacists of Health Establishments of Quebec (APES) urges Quebec to amend Bill 67, which aims to broaden the powers of certain professionals, to include the concept of specialist pharmacist. Many players in the health sector support this request.
The detailed study of Bill 67, led by the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, begins Wednesday in the National Assembly. The legislative text aims in particular to allow pharmacists to extend prescriptions and prescribe medications in cases of common illnesses, such as urinary infections.
The APES says it is in favor of the bill, but believes that it must go further, underlines its president, Julie Racicot, in an interview with Duty. The title of specialist pharmacist, which does not currently exist in Quebec, must be included in the legislative text and awarded to those who hold a master’s degree in advanced pharmacotherapy, maintains the pharmacist. “We believe that they should have the right to prescribe independently in the context in which they practice, that is to say mainly in health establishments, therefore in more unstable and acute contexts. »
Currently, the approximately 1,500 pharmacists in health care establishments who have this master’s degree must enter into agreements with doctors to be able to begin therapies independently in defined contexts. “We want to get out of these agreements and for the law to simply provide for them a right to prescribe without having to go through these administrative processes which are very cumbersome,” says Ms.me Racicot.
With the creation of a specialist pharmacist title, it would be possible to set the precise parameters of this practice and ensure that its deployment is done uniformly throughout the province, affirms Julie Racicot.
Among the additional responsibilities that these professionals would have, it would be a question of having them play a greater role in the care of patients with complex illnesses who are followed by a multidisciplinary team, she said.
“The pharmacist could prescribe the medication needed to help treat them. Sometimes there can be complications related to the medications given, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. The pharmacist could treat these conditions,” explains Julie Racicot.
The president of APES adds that specialist pharmacists could also carry out certain consultations in the emergency room. “There are a lot of consultations that result from problems related to medications. In this case, it could be, for example, the emergency physician who quickly sees the patient and, as soon as he sees what the diagnosis may be, the pharmacist then takes over and takes complete charge of monitoring the pharmacotherapy until ‘at the patient’s departure. »
Many supports
Mme Racicot believes that the creation of this new title would lead to a reduction in the workload of specialist doctors and family doctors.
Several groups, including associations of health professionals, support the APES’ request to recognize this specialization. Of the lot, the Dr Marc-André Amyot, president of the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ), maintains that “establishment pharmacists could then contribute more to care, which would free up family doctors for other tasks.”
For its part, the Quebec Association of Pharmacist Owners believes that the creation of the title could in particular promote better monitoring of the medication of patients with a complex file when they are followed in hospital. Community pharmacists could easily contact the specialist pharmacists in health establishments designated on file when they need additional expertise, she explains.
Joined by Duty to get your opinion on the matter, the Order of Pharmacists of Quebec affirms for its part that the goal is to ensure that the population has universal access to the skills of pharmacists holding this mastery and to supervise these increased powers, in particular through the monitoring of training . “Specialization would allow us to achieve these two objectives,” raises Jean-François Desgagné, president of the Order.
“Our discussions with Mme LeBel leads us to believe that she is open to these pharmacists doing more. We are convinced that we will be able to find a way to achieve the dual objective, which will allow us, at the same time, to fulfill our mission of protecting the public,” he adds.
Called to make comments, Sonia LeBel’s office maintains that the minister confirmed, during special consultations on the bill, that its goal was “to grant more powers to qualified pharmacists in establishments, in particular by granting them a increased power to prescribe.”
“Beyond the means that will be chosen to achieve this objective, the important thing will be to offer better access to professional services to the population,” he said.