Research on Expanded Scope of Practice for Pharmacists

New research from the University of Waterloo studied non-urgent emergency department visits in Ontario and found that nearly one-third of such visits could have been managed by pharmacists with expanded scope of practice. The report notes that expanded scope for pharmacists in community practice or based in the Emergency Department could reduce crowdedness in EDs and allow for more ED resources to be devoted to care for more acute patients.

Webinar objectives:

• Provide an overview of expanded scope of practice for pharmacists in Canada
• Give a summary of previous research studies that assessed the proportion of unnecessary emergency department visits in Canada and previous research studies that estimated the potential impact of expanded scope of practice on emergency department visits
• Present the methods and results of a retrospective quantitative population-based observational cohort study performed in Ontario, Canada to: (1) Determine the proportion of avoidable ED visits that can potentially be managed by pharmacists within an expanded scope, (2) Determine the most prevalent conditions within these cases; and (3) Determine the factors associated with presenting to EDs with a case that is manageable by pharmacists.

Presenter:

Wasem Alsabbagh, Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo