Pharmacists want power to renew prescriptions

From the Windsor (Ont.) Star:
Giving pharmacists authority to fill some prescriptions without a doctor’s order would help patients in our physician shortage-plagued region, a local pharmacist says.

David Malian, a LaSalle pharmacist and past-president of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, is endorsing the recommendation that Ontario pharmacists be given more power to order prescription refills and give people meds for minor ailments without a doctor’s sanction.

“Pharmacists are well-educated, well-trained … and they’re the most accessible health care professional that a patient can see,” Malian said in an interview this week. “Allowing them to expand their scope of practice, in conjunction and in communication with other health care practitioners, only will enhance better health care.”

Last fall, the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council submitted a report to the Ministry of Health that recommends allowing pharmacists to extend or adjust prescriptions, order lab tests and dispense medication for simple ailments like rashes and pink eye. The ministry has said it will study the report and ask for input from health professionals and the public....more