Guest Post

Read about past chair Anar Dossa's experience as a member of the Board of the College of Pharmacists of BC. 

There is still space to sign up for the Therapeutics Initiative annual one day drug therapy course being held at Surrey Memorial Hospital on Saturday Oct 27, 2018.

Through community outreach, public and health care professional education, and research and surveillance, the Antibiotic Wise program is attempting to reduce the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in B.C. to ensure we continue to have effective treatments for bacterial infections in the future

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that typically affects the lungs and is spread from person to person through the air by droplets expelled when coughing or sneezing. This disease poses a global public health threat.  In 2016, about 10 million people fell ill with TB and about 1.7 million died worldwide from the disease. Despite efforts to eliminate this disease, TB is now the leading infectious disease killer globally and the leading killer of people living with HIV.

Earlier this month, we spent the week with two UBC Residency Students as they explored the College and learn the ins and outs of what we do as BC's pharmacy regulators. Here's what they had to say...

I read Bob Nakagawa’s recent post commenting on change in our profession and how our job description has changed over the years.  As one of the pharmacy graduates from the class of ‘86, I also remember making powders in the dispensing lab.

Patients benefit when pharmacists work together. Increased pharmacist collaboration results in improved patient health outcomes, patient satisfaction and patient trust in their healthcare team. Lack of collaboration results in patient frustration, confusion and sub-optimal outcomes.

Drug shortages happen, both nationally and internationally, for many reasons. Most are related to manufacturing, shortages of raw materials or distribution issues, but occasionally shortages occur because demand for a drug increases unexpectedly. Drug manufacturers are often limited in their abilities to adjust production quickly, especially for strictly controlled drugs like opioids or other narcotics, or for drugs manufactured through biological processes.

Over 85,000 Take Home Naloxone kits have been distributed across BC since 2012 through the Take Home Naloxone program operated by the BC Centre for Disease Control. In December 2017, the program was extended to community pharmacies to help provide more kits free-of-charge to people who use substances or are likely to witness an overdose.

The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) in Canada continues to work with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) in America to verify applicant credentials for the .Pharmacy Verified Websites Program. The .Pharmacy Program enables qualified pharmacies and pharmacy-related businesses to register a domain name ending in the .pharmacy suffix. The .Pharmacy Program helps Canadian consumers seeking drug information and medications online to find a safe site – a daunting task, especially when online drug counterfeiters are so rampant.