Stronger together
Canada’s pharmacy associations work together on key, critical issues affecting the profession in support of strong associations, exceptional pharmacists and healthy Canadians. This CPJ feature highlights some of the work happening at pharmacy associations across the country.
Alberta Pharmacists’ Association (RxA) | rxa.ca
RxA’s vision is to be the voice of a unified, innovative and inspired profession. WE ADVOCATE – RxA is the recognized voice for pharmacist advocacy in Alberta. We play an integral role in expanding pharmacists’ practice and we continue to work with government and industry leaders to advocate for excellence in patient care. WE EDUCATE – RxA offers member-exclusive, accredited courses, programs and conferences for pharmacists. Whether a recent graduate or a seasoned professional, our online and in-person courses offer comprehensive professional development to give pharmacy professionals the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. WE SUPPORT – RxA is dedicated to empowering pharmacists by providing them with the resources they need to build successful practices, meet patient care goals and improve the health care system through pharmacist-delivered care.
Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC) | afpc.info
Electronic prescribing, which enables e-prescription data transmission and e-communications between prescribers’ electronic medical record systems (EMR) and pharmacy management systems (PMS), is being implemented across Canada. Adoption of PrescribeIT, Canada Health Infoway’s national e-prescribing service, is expected to increase significantly in 2021, as most pharmacy chains have now signed agreements with Infoway. Demand has also increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To support safe and effective e-prescribing, AFPC has launched an innovative, free online CE course for practising pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, nurse practitioners and dentists. A second course will be available soon, focusing on workflow integration and efficiency.
Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires (AQPP) | aqpp.qc.ca
Pharmacies in Quebec played a prominent role in the 2020/21 flu season following new legislation introduced in June 2019 and passed in March 2020 that allows pharmacists to administer flu shots for the first time. In preparation for an active flu season, the province of Quebec ordered 25% more doses of the flu shot and more than 2000 pharmacists received training to give vaccinations. It is anticipated that throughout the flu season campaign, Quebec pharmacies will administer more than 750,000 doses this year, which is double the number of doses administered in Quebec pharmacies last year.
Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) | pharmacists.ca
Throughout the fall, CPhA continued to focus on providing pharmacists with information, tools and resources to support patients during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020/21 influenza season. We launched our fall webinar series, Virtually Together, in September and hosted 6 sessions on critical issues, including discrimination and racism in pharmacy, opioid stewardship and pharmacy’s role in public health. The recordings are CCCEP-accredited and are freely available on our website. Recordings are also available for our Women in Pharmacy Leadership Empowerment Panels, which focused on the impacts of COVID-19 on women in pharmacy and strategic networking for women in leadership. Special thanks to Emergent Biosolutions, Abbvie, Pfizer, Shoppers Drug Mart and Amgen for their generous support of our education programs and virtual events.
New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association (NBPA) | nbpharma.ca
As 2021 begins, the NBPA continues to focus efforts on supporting pharmacists and their teams during the COVID-19 pandemic while also working toward association goals. After an extremely busy flu vaccination season that saw tremendous innovation by New Brunswick pharmacists (including safe and efficient drive-through flu clinics), the new year brings renewed focus on ensuring that pharmacists are involved in a more formal way with the necessary changes to New Brunswick’s health care system, working with the provincial government to expand public services provided by pharmacists, new communications initiatives including a new website and increased efforts to engage members and grow our membership.
Pharmacists’ Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) | panl.net
PANL held its Annual General Meeting virtually on October 4, 2020 and is pleased to announce our Executive Committee for 2020-21: Janice Audeau – President, Dr. Tiffany Lee – Vice President and Stephen Gillingham – Executive Member. PANL would like to thank our exiting Board members for their support over the past year. After several years of lobbying, pharmacists in Newfoundland and Labrador are part of the NL Government’s Universal Flu Vaccination Program starting this year. With pharmacists located in health care centres and more than 200 community pharmacies throughout the province, pharmacists are ideally situated to help the government achieve its vaccination rate goal of 85% of the population. Our members are certainly stepping up, with pharmacies reporting having vaccinated more residents within the first weeks of the program than in total in previous years.
Pharmacists Manitoba | pharmacistsmb.ca
In October, Pharmacists Manitoba helped prepare our members and the public for flu season by establishing an Influenza Resources page for pharmacists on our website. The page includes resources from the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba, Manitoba Health, CPhA and other relevant sources. These resources support pharmacists in adapting to changes in the vaccination process due to COVID-19 and helps them communicate these changes to patients. Pharmacists Manitoba also shared messaging via social media to enhance public awareness of the changes implemented this year. Public messaging also included an appearance on CTV Morning Live at the end of September to answer the public’s questions and to emphasize the importance of getting a flu shot this flu season.
Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia (PANS) | pans.ns.ca
PANS has moved into the third stage of its Prescription to Thrive Demonstration Project. Building on the learnings from Phase I and II of the project, participating pharmacies receive personalized support from a PANS facilitator to improve dispensing efficiency and to design and implement a financially sustainable model for all clinical pharmacy services (assessing and prescribing, injections, medication reviews, chronic disease management and more). There are currently 14 pharmacies in the evaluation phase of the project and many more have expressed interest in participating. Another round of applications will be accepted in 2021. This 3-5 year project is funded through a fund that PANS negotiated in the pharmacy tariff agreement with the Nova Scotia.
Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan (PAS) | skpharmacists.ca
Pharmacists in Saskatchewan continue to be busy with influenza season and the pandemic. PAS provides support for pharmacists as they work through the season with tools, public messaging and weekly information updates. Thank you to all pharmacy teams in Saskatchewan for the excellent care and service you’ve been providing to residents! Before and after the election, PAS implemented a public advocacy campaign, calling on the province to negotiate a fair contract for pharmacy in Saskatchewan. The campaign included some media coverage, social media, more traditional ads to reach rural audiences and a call to action for members to reach out to their MLAs. PAS is hopeful the campaign will help put some due pressure on the province for a sustainable contract with pharmacy.
Prince Edward Island Pharmacists Association (PEIPhA) | peipharm.info
PEI pharmacists continue to play an important role in supporting a healthy public. In an already challenging year, pharmacists worked tirelessly to find safe and innovative ways to administer flu shots to their patients, making vaccines more accessible in their communities. From the beginning of this flu season, pharmacists in PEI emerged as the immunizer of choice for Islanders, providing more vaccines in the first month of the program than they did in the entire previous year.
Yukon Pharmacists Association (YPA) | yukonpharmacists.ca
The 2020/21 flu season was the first time Yukon pharmacists were involved in the public health vaccination program, which began on October 16 for high-risk individuals. The following week the program was open to the general public. Pharmacists underwent intense training on the use of Panorama to record the vaccine administration, as required by Yukon Public Health. In November, YPA entered into negotiations with the Yukon government for an increase in fees paid to pharmacists to reflect additional costs of PPE during the pandemic and to recognize the time required to enter records in Panorama. Currently the influenza vaccines are the only publicly funded vaccines available to pharmacists to administer. Yukon Public Health will roll out other vaccines available to pharmacists in 2021, starting with Shingrix.
