New Standards and Professional Practice Policy Now In Effect
New standards for prescription product preparation, final check and patient identification are now in effect. After approval at the November 2016 Board Meeting and subsequent filing with the Minister of Health, the new standards came into effect on January 20, 2017. A new Professional Practice Policy for patient identification, which support the new standards, also came into effect at the same time.
PATIENT IDENTIFICATION
Patient identification requirements were already in place for scenarios where there is face-to-face interaction between a patient and a registrant. However, none existed for scenarios where registrants do not have face-to-face interaction with their patients. These instances occur most frequently in hospital and residential care settings.
The new standards and Professional Practice Policy-75 were developed to address this gap in legislation in order to protect public safety during the patient identification process.
The policy outlines acceptable ways of identifying patients based on Accreditation Canada’s Required Organizational Practices Handbook 2016. Amendments to the Health Professions Act (HPA) – Bylaws, Schedule F, Part 2 and Part 3 and Professional Practice Policy-75: Patient Identification (PPP-75) were approved by the College Board at the November 2016 Board meeting.
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- ReadLinks: New Standards and Professional Practice Policy for Patient Identification Coming Soon – Dec 16, 2016
PRESCRIPTION PRODUCT PREPARATION AND FINAL CHECK
The College’s existing bylaws included prescription product preparation and final check, however there were no requirements stating what these tasks involve.
The new standards were developed to address this gap in legislation in order to effectively mitigate the risk of patient harm during the dispensing process.
The new requirements are based on the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities’ Model Standards of Practice for Canadian Pharmacy Technicians. Amendments to the Health Professions Act (HPA) – Bylaws, Schedule F, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 were approved by the College Board at the November 2016 Board Meeting.
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NEW STANDARDS SUPPORT THE COLLEGE’S PRACTICE REVIEW PROGRAM
These new standards and Professional Practice Policy-75 will support the College’s Practice Review Program and will apply to all registrants.
Clear requirements for the preparation and final check of prescription products, as well as patient identification requirements for when there is no face-to-face interaction were needed to effectively support practice reviews.