Medications improve health and saves lives, but they are not risk-free. The modern pharmacist is largely responsible for helping patients navigate an increasingly complex and costly health care system, particularly with respect to medications. And with significant changes in population demographics, technology, and the upsurge in the use of health services across the sector, a group of pharmacist-researchers from the Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network is calling for the profession to make fundamental changes to effectively and safely meet society's health care needs.
An overview of these recommendations is captured in a peer-reviewed paper published earlier this month in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal (CPJ/RPC).
"Patients, families and other health care providers rely on pharmacists to support safe and effective medication use and we need to think seriously about how we can shift and adapt our practice to meet changing health care trends," says lead author Lisa Dolovich, professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. "We feel that transformational change in the profession of pharmacy is essential in all practice settings including community, hospital, primary care or other organizations."
Medications improve health and saves lives, but they are not risk-free. The modern pharmacist is largely responsible for helping patients navigate an increasingly complex and costly health care system, particularly with respect to medications. And with significant changes in population demographics, technology, and the upsurge in the use of health services across the sector, a group of pharmacist-researchers from the Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network is calling for the profession to make fundamental changes to effectively and safely meet society's health care needs.
An overview of these recommendations is captured in a peer-reviewed paper published earlier this month in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal (CPJ/RPC).
"Patients, families and other health care providers rely on pharmacists to support safe and effective medication use and we need to think seriously about how we can shift and adapt our practice to meet changing health care trends," says lead author Lisa Dolovich, professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. "We feel that transformational change in the profession of pharmacy is essential in all practice settings including community, hospital, primary care or other organizations."