Shoppers Drug Mart partners with Associate Family Physicians Clinic on pilot project

Swift Current is the proving ground for a new pharmacy pilot program.

Shoppers Drug Mart will be the first pharmacy in Saskatchewan to allow for select patients to utilize the pharmacists within for specific medical treatment and upkeep. Shoppers are partnering with Associate Family Physicians Clinic in Swift Current in the Pharmacy Care Pilot Project. 

Patients of Dr. Emmett Harrison and Dr. Janna Cuthbert will be able to receive care for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), underactive thyroid, and Warfarin medication management.

Saskatchewan Minister of Health, Everett Hindley, is thrilled to see this program get up and running in the testing phase.

Everett Hindley, who is also the MLA for Swift Current. 

"It's a pretty exciting day," said Hindley. "This is something that's not necessarily new; it's being tried in a couple of other provinces. For this year, this is an opportunity to really capitalize [...] and expand scope of practice."

With the program launching today, this first step in spreading the work of caring for patients more into the hands of highly trained pharmacists hopes to free up family doctors' time for more pressing, immediate concerns with their patients. 

For Harrison, it means more quality care for patients as his time will be less consumed by management and adjustment. 

Dr. Harrison has been a practicing physician in Swift Current for a few years now, and is constantly asked about availability and openings for new patients. He hopes this program addresses those concerns in some manner.

"It should improve our workload," said Harrison. "Of course, there's going to be still the pieces of communication for those that are outside the parameters that we've agreed upon. If there's concerns in the pharmacy, we'll be making ourselves available to them and make sure that care is safe."

Additionally, this program will also include select patients from Dr. Yasir Ahmed for mental health support and management.

Attending the grand opening on his behalf was Registered Psychiatric Nurse Amanda Mozol. For herself and her fellow nurses, she pointed to the fact that they will also be able to provide more in-depth care with a lesser workload placed upon them.

All the gathered parties from the ribbon cutting on opening day. 

"We'll definitely be able to do more care," said Mozol. "We'd be able to do more intensive assessments in real time if other partners are working with [the pilot program]."

Paul Bazin, owner and pharmacist at Shoppers Drug Mart, is both honoured and excited to offer the proving ground for this program.

Paul Bazin speaks before the room, thanking everyone for attending. 

"Obviously, it comes with a lot of weight on our shoulders," said Bazin. "We want to make sure that we show that this pilot, and this project as a whole, is going to be successful. We're confident that we can do that, but yes, definitely we're excited."

Patients registered in the trial, which will last one year, will have the option to call in for their needs or to have walk-in treatment once cleared to do so. This offers them a readily available resource, especially for those undergoing mental health management.

The pharmacy is open later, is more accessible, and will be able to address concerns that fall into those longer hours more readily.

Should any major concerns arrive, be they mental or medical concerns, the staff at Shoppers will be able to call Dr. Harrison and Dr. Cuthbert as well as Dr. Ahmed. Working together, they can react to patients' needs, and adjust course with active cooperation.

If this pilot program is a success it may very well extend to the rest of Saskatchewan. For Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan CEO, Michael Fougere, this is a pivotal moment in the future of healthcare and pharmacy practices. 

Michael Fougere acknowledged that this program needs to be profitable in order to succeed. He is confident that similar programs operating and expanding in other provinces means there is hope for it in Saskatchewan.

"I think that this operation here is going to do a couple of things," said Fougere. "It is going to provide more services to patients, so greater capacity for the system and it will build over time. We'll also demonstrate how other pharmacies from the province can take advantage of this and spread this across the province."

For now, only time will tell if the benefits will indeed outweigh the issues the program encounters. This small, controlled, and very new instance will have to conquer unknown variables, as well as provide a quality of care acceptable to the patients. The goal is to meet their needs, and indeed provide a greater variety of options for care. If it works, the whole of the province may someday have similar arrangements in a majority of its pharmacies. For now, everyone will have to wait, see, and learn. 

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