In each edition of The Tablet, we ask contributors appearing in the edition a question about a topic important to the pharmacy profession in British Columbia.
In the Summer 2024 edition, we asked: How receptive do you think pharmacists in B.C. would be to operating pharmacy clinics?
Hafeez Dossa
Hafeez Dossa is the pharmacy manager at CareRx Parksville.
“Pharmacy clinics would provide pharmacists the opportunity to focus on meaningful conversations with patients about their medications. From my background in LTC, and with a focus on deprescribing initiatives, I believe that this proposed environment would enable us to have structured discussions about the necessity, efficacy, and safety of all medications being taken. This would help with identifying drug therapy problems, while contributing to a more preventative and holistic approach to overall patient well-being.”
Mona Kwong
Mona Kwong is a partner of Pharmasave Howe Street and Pharmacy Advisor; Pharmacist Consultant at Infinity Medical Specialists Clinic, and Director, Interdisciplinary Clinical Addiction Fellowship Program — Pharmacy Stream at the BCCSU.
“Pharmacy has an integral role in each community and we all want to increase access to care within our challenged health-care system. Pharmacy clinic implementations continue to need more exploration in terms of workflow and balance of service needs within each community. A clinic setting to allow us to utilize our full scope as a health-care provider will be absolutely welcomed.”
Tamiz Kanji
Tamiz Kanji is the Director of Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“I believe many pharmacists in B.C. would be very receptive to this opportunity. They maintain a high standard of competency, skills, expertise, and continual professional development and learning that is conducive to this type of health care provision. Appropriate resourcing, compensation, and sustainability are imperative to the model’s success.”