The #COVID19 pandemic is showing how pharmacists have a bigger role to play in Canada’s healthcare system. Pharmacists are an easily accessible source of essential medications, advice, and referrals.
“In the confusing early days of the pandemic when many family doctors’ offices unexpectedly closed to in-person appointments, phones started ringing off the hook at pharmacies across the country. Pharmacists were the only healthcare provider the patients could still see in person,” said Kaitlyn Watson, a pharmacy post-doctoral fellow with the Epicore Centre at the University of Alberta’s department of medicine in Edmonton.
Watson and other healthcare researchers say the pandemic has demonstrated how pharmacists can and should play a bigger role in Canada’s healthcare system because they’re not only a readily accessible source of essential medications but also medical advice and referrals.
