Pharmacist prescribing

By Alexandra Dupéré and Tanya Quirion

The College Journal, March 24th

Health system has always been in a state of reflexion. Presently, the Quebec’s Governement is thinking about allowing pharmacist prescribing. Some provinces of Canada already allow this kind of prescribing, but the question is : Should Quebec province follow them ?

Pharmacist prescribing consists of giving medications to treath minor diseases or to renew prescriptions without consulting a doctor. It doesn’t mean that pharmacists could give drugs to anyone without a good reason, but they can give medications for minor illness if they considere that they have the competencies. Alternatively, they have to refer the patient to an other health professional.

The Quebec Governement does not know on which side take position ; allowing pharmacist prescribing without a doctor diagnostic or give the totally of the rights to prescribe to doctors.

On one side, the Canadian Pharmacists Association(CPhA) think that it would a good thing to allow pharmacist giving medications over-counter. They think that it will be useful for the young and busy part of the population, because the access of health service is long and not easy to get. By example, is someone need immediatly his pills for his headache and he get no more left, he does not necessary have the time to wait for a medical appointement to renew his prescription. He should have the possibility to obtain his medication without a new prescription.

Who could be against this ? The Canadian Medical Association are the only opponents to this project. They think that they are the only one who have the competencies to give medical ordonnance and also that it will be overload job for the pharmacists. Is it the only reason why they want the entire control ? Some people says that they want to keep their medical power and get more credit. A member of the CPhA says : « Medecine has still got a long way to go in terms of