REGINA — The Government of Saskatchewan is expanding the ability of pharmacists to offer more care to patients with new training that will allow them to substitute medications under specific conditions.
With this new training, pharmacists will be able to prescribe alternative medications under conditions approved by the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals (SCPP) such as during a supply disruption or shortage of a prescribed drug. For example, if a patient's prescription heartburn medication is unavailable, a pharmacist would be able to substitute it with a different appropriate prescription heartburn medication.
Pharmacists will be required to take training and meet competency requirements as established by the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals and follow mandatory guidelines.
Pharmacists will have the ability to prescribe an alternative drug under other circumstances, including when a drug is officially withdrawn from the market; the patient's safety is at risk and the prescriber cannot be reached in a reasonable timeframe; or the patient is unable to take the initial drug and would benefit from a different drug with an alternative dosage or way of administering it, such as by mouth instead of by injection.
To date, nine other provinces and territories have implemented similar policies concerning therapeutic substitution.
Saskatchewan pharmacists were first granted the authority to prescribe for four minor ailments in 2012. Since then, the list has grown to more than 30 conditions. The full list of conditions is available at the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals website.
There are almost 1,300 practising community pharmacists in more than 430 licensed community pharmacies in Saskatchewan.
