The NAPRA Model Standards for Pharmacy Compounding of Non-sterile Preparations require pharmacies to have policies and procedures as well as quality assurance mechanisms in place to achieve the intended outcomes of enhancing patient safety and protecting compounding personnel. The gap analysis completed in the implementation Phase 1 may have identified that the pharmacy needs to develop or update existing Master Formulation Records in Phase 2. A Master Formulation Record includes all necessary information and appropriate…
Decisions of the Discipline Committee between November 2020 and February 2021. Shabuddin Syed (OCP #614650) At a hearing on November 10, 2020, a Panel of the Discipline Committee made findings of professional misconduct against Shabbudin Syed, as dispensing pharmacist and/or Designated Manager at MobilRx in Lynden, Ontario (“the Pharmacy”), and/or as director and shareholder of the corporation that owns the Pharmacy, with respect to the following incidents, in or about January-February 2018: READ MORE He…
Prior to administering a treatment “whether for therapeutic, preventative, diagnostic or other health-related purposes” informed consent must be obtained from the patient in accordance with O. Reg 202/94 under the Pharmacy Act, the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA) and the Code of Ethics. The province’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) is not discussed in this article, as consent in PHIPA is related to the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information by health…
The Ontario College of Pharmacists’ legislated mandate is to serve and protect the public by holding registrants accountable to established legislation, Standards of Practice, Code of Ethics and other policies and guidelines related to pharmacy practice. Registrants of the College (also known as Members) include Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Pharmacy Interns, and Pharmacy Students. The College’s Complaints and Reports process exists to protect the public, but it also provides registrants with opportunities to evaluate and improve…
In conducting community pharmacist practice assessments, the College’s practice advisors have noted that there is an opportunity for pharmacists to ensure they are considering clinical guidelines or recommendations regarding opioid therapy and applying them to their practice consistently. This article is intended to walk through what a pharmacist should consider when deciding whether to dispense and how to communicate/educate the patient. SCENARIO A patient of your pharmacy presented a new prescription for OxyNeo® 40mg Sig:…
Nathalie Dagenais, BSc, PharmD1Franky Liu, RPh, BScPhm, MSc2Maria Zhang, RPh, BScPhm, PharmD, MSc 2,31Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario2Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto3Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario BACKGROUND Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting over 298 million people globally1, 2. While its treatment is multimodal, with medications frequently a cornerstone, current pharmacotherapies are limited by delayed onset of clinically significant antidepressant effects and significant relapse rates3. In…
The following is an example of a near miss that took place in a community pharmacy setting. The analysis of the near miss is presented to highlight the learnings that can come from such cases along with possible quality improvements that a pharmacy team may implement into their practice to prevent future recurrence and patient harm. The College’s expectations under the mandatory Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety (AIMS) Program are described in the second…
Practice Insight explores incidents reported to the College that present learning opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. This close up on a complaint highlighted below encourages registrants to recognize and prevent confirmation bias. A Misinterpretation of a Handwritten Prescription Results in the Wrong Medication Being Dispensed A handwritten prescription was presented to a community pharmacy. The pharmacy assistant entered the prescription into the computer system and the pharmacist verified the prescription, including comparing the original…
Decisions of the Discipline Committee between July and October 2020. Maria Musitano (OCP #108758) At a hearing on July 20, 2020 a Panel of the Discipline Committee made findings of professional misconduct against Maria Musitano in that she: READ MORE Sold and/or dispensed certain identified prescription drugs to the patient, [Patient], without lawful or otherwise valid prescriptions; Failed to keep records as required regarding certain identified prescription drugs dispensed to the patient, [Patient]; Falsified records…
As part of our commitment to cultivate Indigenous cultural competency amongst non-Indigenous Board members, College staff and registrants, the College is committed to highlighting efforts by pharmacy professionals and others to enhance the care provided to Indigenous patients and communities. Below, students at the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy share some of the ways they are educating pharmacy professionals and reducing barriers faced by Indigenous patients. By: Max Yaghchi, Past President and…
