CPhA Celebrates Pharmacist Awareness Month, Expanding Role of Pharmacists
February 26, 2016 (Ottawa): March is Pharmacist Awareness Month (PAM) in Canada, a month long period to celebrate and educate Canadians about the contribution that pharmacists make in the delivery of health care. This year the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is celebrating the changing role of pharmacists with the theme: Pharmacists: Doing more. For you.
“Pharmacists across Canada have had a widely expanded scope of practice in the past ten years,” said Carlo Berardi, Chair, Canadian Pharmacists Association. “From renewing prescriptions, delivering vaccinations, providing medication management services and prescribing for minor ailments and conditions, Canada’s pharmacists are doing more for their patients.”
Pharmacist Awareness Month provides a key opportunity to inform and educate patients and all Canadians about the significant strides that pharmacists have made in their ability to deliver patient-centred care. It’s also an opportunity to highlight the essential role that pharmacists play in our health care system.
CPhA will be kicking-off PAM 2016 with Making the Case: The Value of Pharmacy Services to Sustainable Pharmacare, a sold out presentation on March 2, 2016 to the Economic Club of Canada on two much discussed and debated issues—the future of pan-Canadian pharmacare and the value of pharmacy services in Canada.
In addition to some exciting PAM activities planned from provincial pharmacy associations, individual pharmacists and pharmacy students, CPhA will be releasing new reports and studies throughout March highlighting the vital role of pharmacists in our health care system and in the lives of Canadians.
For more information about Pharmacist Awareness Month, and for ideas and resources to help you get involved, visit www.pharmacists.ca/pam.
Quick Facts:
- Pharmacists are the most accessible health care professionals in Canada, dispensing and providing advice on 600 million prescriptions a year.
- There are nearly 39,000 pharmacists in Canada working in over 9,800 community pharmacies and 285 in-patient hospital settings.
- Pharmacists consistently rank as one of the most trusted professions by Canadians.
- While pharmacists’ scope of practice varies by province, many pharmacists now provide convenient access to vaccinations, offer smoking cessation programs and support, prescribe for minor ailments and conditions, order and interpret lab tests and offer chronic disease management services.
About the Canadian Pharmacists Association
The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is the uniting national voice of pharmacy and the pharmacist profession in Canada. As pharmacists undertake an enhanced role in the delivery of health care services, CPhA ensures that the profession is recognized as a national leader in health care, influencing the policies, programs, budgets and initiatives affecting the profession and the health of Canadians. More information is available at www.pharmacists.ca.