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After tackling drug schedules, the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities has released guidelines for operating an effective pharmacy practice.
NAPRA's Model Standards of Practice for Canadian Pharmacists was released this spring and is expected to be approved by provincial bodies over the next five years. The standards include requirements such as establishing a database, "critically" evaluating the patient's drug therapy, complying with formal adverse drug reaction reporting programs, refusing to provide a product or service when necessary, and resolving problems related to the interchangeability of multisource drugs and formulary and drug plan managements.
"There is no intention for them to be mandatory but they're to help frontline pharmacists," says Barbara Wells, NAPRA's executive director. To help pharmacists turn these goals into reality a series of "tool kits" will be released this fall, on such subjects as implementing a pharmacy care plan, documenting patient assessments and setting up...