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 reflect on when and how they recognize and respond to red flags in practice. A MISSED MEDICATION ON HOSPITAL DISCHARGE RESULTS IN PATIENT HARM A community pharmacist received a faxed hospital discharge prescription, which was quite faded, for an older patient. The patient’s daughter attended the pharmacy…
An Interview with Jaris Swidrovich, Canada’s first self-identified First Nations Doctor of Pharmacy In September 2019, the College’s Board approved the adoption of three opportunities to cultivate Indigenous cultural competency amongst non-Indigenous Board members, College staff and registrants. This commitment includes identifying ways to address cultural inequities to improve patient outcomes and highlighting resources for registrants to enhance the care they provide to Indigenous patients and communities. As part of this work, the College was…
Recent practice assessments have highlighted the importance of establishing a workflow that ensures that therapeutic checks are being done for both new and refill prescriptions at the pharmacy. Both pharmacy technicians and pharmacists must be aware of their accountabilities for a prescription prior to its release to the patient. PATIENT ASSESSMENTS ARE CRITICAL FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH OUTCOMES For every prescription that is dispensed, pharmacists must ask whether the prescription is therapeutically appropriate. This means that…
By Ian Stewart R.Ph, B.Sc.Phm. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must be aware of the potential and impact of errors of omission, where the appropriate action is not taken. For example, a much needed drug is not provided to a patient or there is a delay in providing the drug. This often occurs when a non-prescription drug is prescribed as the following case highlights. CASE: Rx: Metronidazole500mg four times daily for 14 daysBismuth subsalicylate300mg four times…
As a regulator increasingly focused on health system and patient outcomes, the College is committed to working with stakeholders to enable a collaborative approach to healthcare. The College recognizes the important role that pharmacy professionals play in the broader healthcare system, and has embedded a systems-focus in many of its key initiatives, including Quality Indicators, AIMS and the work to enable expanded scope of practice for pharmacists. OCP recently partnered with Ontario Health (North) and…
Kathy Vu1,2, Daniela Gallo-Hershberg1,2, Sean Hopkins11. Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)2. Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto BIOLOGICS AND BIOSIMILARS A biologic is a complex protein molecule created inside a living cell. This living cell can be a human or mammalian body, a bacterial cell or a cell line from a mammal. For instance, insulins, filgrastim (Neupogen®, Grastofil®, Nivestym®) and peg-filgrastim (Neulasta®, Lapelga®, Fulphila®, Ziextenzo®) are produced in E. Coli cells. Larger monoclonal…
Emergencies can happen at the pharmacy. It’s important to have plans in place to be able to respond in an appropriate and efficient manner that supports the health and safety of everyone involved. The recent ISMP Canada Safety Bulletin: Unauthorized Access to Methadone in a Community Pharmacy Contributes to Death highlighted an incident where an individual died after ingesting a large amount of methadone that had been inappropriately accessed in a community pharmacy. Among the…
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 and the broader pharmacy system to reflect on how they provide care to transgender patients. A Problematic Encounter at the Pharmacy A patient, who is a transgender male, attended a pharmacy for a prescription for Vagifem®. The patient (who uses the pronoun “they”) reported that the pharmacist, who…
By Ian Stewart R.Ph, B.Sc.Phm. The selection of an incorrect drug during computer order entry is a common source of medication errors. The potential for error is enhanced when two drugs have similar names, strengths and directions for use as the following case highlights. CASE: Rx:Hydroxyzine 25mg tablets QID PRNMitte: 30 The above printed prescription was presented to a local community pharmacy for processing. When entering the prescription into the computer, the pharmacy assistant typed…
Karen Ng, RPh, BScPhm, PharmDToronto Academic Pain Medicine InstituteWomen’s College Hospital, TorontoJuno Kim, RPh, BScPhm, PharmDCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, TorontoSandra Veljovic, RPh, BScPhm, PharmDCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, TorontoMaria Zhang, RPh, BScPhm, PharmD, MScCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, TorontoLeslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a public healthcare challenge with significant morbidity and mortality. Opioid-related hospitalizations and death continue to rise in Ontario, with…
