Pharmacy students are not registered with the College. Can they accept verbal prescriptions or authorize prescription transfers?

Yes. Federal regulations authorize pharmacists to accept verbal prescriptions and to transfer prescriptions. These regulations define pharmacist as a person who is registered or otherwise entitled under the laws of a province to practise pharmacy and is practising in that province.

In Ontario, students enrolled in a pharmacy education program can practice pharmacy under the supervision of a Part A pharmacist without being registered because of an exception in the Regulated Health Professions Act. Since they meet the definition of pharmacist for the purposes of the regulations, they can accept verbal prescriptions and transfer prescriptions.

Verbal prescriptions can be accepted for drugs on the Prescription Drug List (“prescription drugs”) and certain controlled substances — specifically controlled drugs, verbal prescription narcotics, and benzodiazepines & other targeted substances.

For transfers, prescriptions for prescription drugs can be transferred by a pharmacy student to another pharmacy student or to any registrant of the College. However, prescriptions for benzodiazepines & other targeted substances must be transferred to another pharmacy student, intern or pharmacist. Importantly, any of the additional activities permitted by the Health Canada subsection 56(1) class exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act cannot be performed by pharmacy students or interns, because the exemption defines pharmacist as a person “who is entitled under the laws of a province or territory of Canada to practise as a pharmacist.”

For a summary of the legislation and exemption, refer to the Legal Scope of Practice & Authorized Acts chart.