Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals Atlantic Canada’s pharmacists want more responsibilities to ease burden on hospitals

If someone chooses to seek care at a pharmacy instead of a doctor's office or walk-in clinic, it typically comes with an out-of-pocket cost of about $25.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the value of pharmacies in the health-care system, but they can do even more to help ease the burden on Atlantic Canada’s hospitals, say pharmacists across the region.

Pharmacists in Atlantic Canada have the ability to assess and treat more than 30 minor ailments, including cold sores, nausea, minor sleep disorders and nicotine dependence. But if someone chooses to seek care at a pharmacy instead of a doctor’s office or walk-in clinic, it typically comes with an out-of-pocket cost of about $25.

With lengthy emergency room wait times across Atlantic Canada and a family doctor shortage, pharmacist associations are advocating for public funding so their members can treat ailments within their scope of care. They said they would also would like to see pharmacists take on a larger role in chronic-care management, particularly for people with diabetes or hypertension.

“It’s an opportunity for the system to be more efficient and deliver care where people are at,” Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia CEO Allison Bodnar said in a recent interview.

“COVID has shone a light on the health-care centre that pharmacies are and the role pharmacy teams play beyond the important role of dispensing medication,” she said.

About 1.35 million COVID-19 shots have been administered in Nova Scotia’s pharmacies, which remained open alongside emergency rooms when other health centres _ like walk-in clinics and family doctors’ offices — shuttered during the early part of the pandemic in 2020.

Prescription renewals in Nova Scotia pharmacies started to be covered by the province in 2020, as did assessments and prescriptions for uncomplicated urinary tract infections and for birth control. That regulatory change kept some 40,000 people out of emergency rooms and walk-in clinics, Bodnar said. That same year, pharmacists did “several hundred thousand” prescription renewals, she added.

In January, neighbouring New Brunswick added UTIs and prescription renewals to its list of pharmacy services covered by the province. Newfoundland and Labrador’s pharmacists are funded to renew some prescriptions and Prince Edward Island pharmacists are covered to treat UTIs.