On March 16, 2020, in a joint statement on B.C.’s COVID-19 response, Minister of Health, Adrian Dix and B.C. Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that patients will be able to obtain refills of their regular prescriptions at pharmacies in an effort to avoid non-essential physician visits and free doctors to treat COVID-19 cases.
The Practice Review Program (PRP) has recently introduced community pharmacy review criteria for drug administration. During reviews, Compliance Officers are reviewing drug administration services to ensure that pharmacists are practicing in accordance with the established standards, limits and conditions. Compliance Officers may identify areas of non-compliance, for which they will then work with pharmacy managers to ensure deficiencies are addressed through establishment and implementation of corrective measures.
This article will focus on some of the early findings regarding areas of non-compliance observed by Compliance Officers when reviewing these services.