Saskatchewan to allow pharmacists to draw blood for lab tests, prescribe and more

Saskatchewan has announced it will expand pharmacists’ scope of practice. Pharmacists will soon be able to prescribe some drugs independently, order lab tests and do point-of-care testing, such as drawing blood samples. The announcement is the first step to this expansion, and the Ministry of Health must still make the necessary regulatory and policy amendments. The government said it expects that the changes will come into effect next year. “This is just the next step in really allowing pharmacists to play a role in being partners within the health-care system to build capacity,” Amy Wiebe, president of the council for the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals, told CJME News. Read: Saskatchewan expands opportunities for tech training “I think with not having the ability to independently prescribe, pharmacists were really reliant on practitioners who could prescribe in order to make significant changes to medications people were taking—or even small changes to medications,” Wiebe said. She said it will also allow pharmacists dealing with medication shortages to switch people over to a similar but different medication if the original drug that a physician prescribed was unavailable. “Now that barrier will be reduced, and pharmacists can use their clinical knowledge to make changes such as that in patient medications.” Read: ‘If we don’t understand, we can’t really change’: Studying Saskatchewan mass killer The government said that the changes would allow Saskatchewan’s pharmacists to serve patients better; reduce the pressures on emergency departments and urgent care centres; improve access to care, including care close to home; boost chronic disease management; and take some tasks off the plate of physicians. The proposed changes also include expanding the scope for advanced care paramedics, who will be able to suture minor wounds, cuts and lacerations. They would also expand nurse practitioners’ scope, giving them authority to admit and discharge patients in some areas of the hospital and do more in long-term care, including conducting first examinations of residents, performing emergency care and signing death certificates. “These changes will empower our highly qualified pharmacists, nurse practitioners and paramedics, giving them the opportunity to make greater use of their skills and expertise to further support patient care,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a press release. “Expanding scope of practice in these three professions will serve to strengthen our healthcare teams, improve patient access to health services and help build additional capacity within our healthcare system.” Read: Ontario to expand the scope of registered pharmacy students

Saskatchewan to allow pharmacists to draw blood for lab tests, prescribe and more

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