July • August 2003 - Ontario College of Pharmacists

REPORT
Recommendation #9 to the
Government of Ontario—
Minister of Health and the
College of Physicians and
Surgeons
“Consideration should be given to the
creation of a computer access Internet
program such as British Columbia’s
PharmaNet system. For example by
using a health card that would permit
pharmacies to access a patient’s drug
dispensing records from other pharmacies,
as well as to alert other pharmacies
of a patient’s past attempt to utter forged
prescriptions. Pharmacists should be
required to notify the prescribing physician
of any attempts by the patient to
alter the prescription.”
Rationale: Evidences showed that
several different pharmacies were used
to fill prescriptions. This will give pharmacists
a history of a patient’s
prescriptions.
Other coroner’s reports have
recently made recommendations
regarding a central data base of prescription
and health information to aid
pharmacists and other health professionals
in providing optimal care to
patients. Until such time a system is in
place which provides this information,
while protecting patient privacy, pharmacists
need to continue to enter into
dialogue with their patients, gather as
much information as possible, identify
any potential problems, and intervene
in the best interests of the patient.
Recommendation to the
Government of Ontario—
Minister of Health and the
College of Physicians and
Surgeons
“Physicians should be encouraged to
write out prescriptions in both digits and
longhand to prevent modification of the
quantity by patients, e.g. “40, forty
tablets”.
Rationale: Evidence was introduced
indicating possible quantity changes on
the Physician’s prescription by the
patient. This will prevent a patient from
changing the numerically written
number.
Professional practice staff from
OCP and the College of Physicians
and Surgeons meet on an ongoing basis
to discuss matters of mutual concern,
such as the clarity of prescriptions. The
College’s Executive Committee also
affirmed the recommendation that the
prescribing physician should be notified
of any attempts by the patient to
alter the prescription.
College inspectors also continue to
point out problems regarding forged
prescriptions as they visit pharmacies.
A recent article in the
November/December 2002 issue
(pages 24-26) provides guidelines on
how you can identify a forgery and
what actions to take in the event of a
forgery being received at your pharmacy.
Recommendation to the
Government of Ontario—
Minister of Health
“Health Canada and the publishers of
the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals
and Specialties(CPS) should ensure
that the information for both brand
name drugs and generic drugs reflect the
same information. For example, the
current descriptive entries for Elavil®
(brand name) and Amitriptyline
(generic name), while the same pharmaceutical/medicine,
are noticeably
different with respect to dosage for outpatients.”
Rationale: To provide doctors with
accurate information in regards to
dosage and side effects.
Pharmacist need to stay current
and be aware of dosage and side
effect information. This recommendation
has been forwarded to the
CPhA as they publish the CPS. Pharmacists
should also maintain a variety
of references in their pharmacy so
that they can verify these types of
discrepancies as they often occur in
daily practice. It is also a current
requirement that all pharmacies have
access to an OCP-approved drug
information service. This and an upto-date
reference library will greatly
assist pharmacists in clarifying drug
information and assisting physicians
with patient care.
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