Practice Review Program

The Practice Review Program’s Pharmacy Professionals Review is grounded upon Board-approved focus areas that were identified as having the most impact on patient safety. Counseling is one focus area in which pharmacists can use their clinical pharmacy knowledge to directly increase the probability of positive therapeutic outcomes

The Practice Review Program’s Pharmacy Professionals Review is grounded upon Board-approved focus areas that were identified as having the most impact on patient safety.  One such focus area is the Profile Check, which is a fundamental role pharmacists play within the healthcare team as medication experts.

The Practice Review Program’s Pharmacy Professionals Review is based on Board-approved focus areas that were identified as having the most impact on patient safety.  The first of these focus areas is Patient Identification Verification, which is the very first step to providing pharmacy care.

At its June 2017 meeting, the College Board approved the modification of the Pharmacy Professionals Review Focus Areas for Pharmacy Technicians in community practice to make them more applicable to their scope of practice. 

The new focus areas are now aligned with those for pharmacy technicians in hospital practice. 

So far, Compliance Officers have completed over 1000 Pharmacy Professionals Reviews and over 300 Pharmacy Reviews in community pharmacies across BC. As we expand the Practice Review Program into hospital pharmacies, we spoke to some of our Compliance Officers to find out what advice they have for registrants on their upcoming reviews.

Each Compliance Officer has his/her own personal approach to the review process and philosophy on how to work with pharmacy professionals while conducting a review. While a Practice Review should never be a cause for undue stress or concern, having a better idea of what to expect can help you and your staff prepare for assessment.

Occasionally, in community pharmacy practice, prescription products are prepared, but not picked up by the patient or the patient’s representative. During Pharmacy Practice Reviews, Compliance Officers observe how these medications and accompanying patient information are managed.

The Controlled Prescription Program (CPP) is a common staple in community pharmacies to help prevent forgeries and reduce the inappropriate prescribing of selected drugs.

In March 2015, a pharmacist dispensed allopurinol to a patient which interacted with her existing medication, azathioprine.

This installment of Practice Review Program Insights focuses on properly maintaining patient information in accordance with College standards.