Over his 34 years in the profession, Chris Perentes has seen exponential growth in the scope of responsibilities prescribed to Saskatchewan pharmacists. Perentes spoke with the Leader-Post on Wednesday after Minister of Health Everett Hindley announced a pilot project that will allow select pharmacies to test for strep throat and ear infections, thus expanding the scope of pharmacists once again. This comes just over a year after the province gave pharmacists the green light to independently prescribe medications as well as the ability to order or conduct point-of-care testing outside of a clinic or laboratory setting.
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We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. For example, pharmacists often help patients with extending prescriptions, diagnosing minor ailments, offering vaccines, and other responsibilities that have been added to a growing list. It should allow doctors more time to handle or to take more time with patients that need the extra time. That said, the additional responsibility does increase workload demands on pharmacists. Rural communities will be the focus of the new program, Hindley noted.
According to the Ministry of Health, there are licensed community pharmacies in Saskatchewan and 1, practising pharmacists. With respect to doctors, the minister said he hopes this program will help reduce their workload. As part of the pilot, 10 pharmacies will be able to test for strep throat and assess ear infections, while an additional 50 pharmacies will be limited to ear infection assessments.
