Alberta’s Cardiovascular Health & Stroke Strategic Clinical Network (SCN) has collaborated with primary care providers to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) through completion of CVD risk assessments using the Enhanced Lipid Report (ELR), which is a lab-based CVD screening tool.
Pharmacy teams support the health of Albertans and may play an important role in identifying CVD risk. Now that all laboratories are using Connect Care, ELR is available throughout Alberta. Since November 2023, Alberta Health Services (AHS) has been able to screen more than 21,000 Albertans for CVD risk and have increased treatment by 14 per cent for those where a “statin” is indicated. In addition, more than 3,000 people have accessed AHS’ CVD patient education materials on MyHealth.
The ELR website includes several resources to help pharmacy teams and patients:
- ELR summary,
- infographic,
- ELR project overview video, and
- patient education support resources and videos.
Remember, when ordering lab tests to identify, manage, or screen for disease, pharmacists must adhere to the Standards of Practice for Laboratory and Point-of-Care Testing including:
- Standard 4(b), which states that pharmacists must only order those laboratory tests that the pharmacist is personally competent to use to appropriately identify or manage disease states or chronic conditions.
- Standard 16(c), which states that a pharmacist must interpret the results of any laboratory tests the pharmacist orders or POCT the pharmacist orders or conducts. The pharmacist must consider and interpret the data in the context of if the test is intended for diagnostic or screening purposes.
ACP’s Guidance for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians: Laboratory and Point of Care Testing (POCT) provides further direction:
- Guideline 6(d) states that when a professional relationship exists with a patient in accordance with Guidelines 1 and 2, it may be appropriate for pharmacists to screen patients with preliminary indicators for untreated health conditions.
For more information about ELR, or to arrange an education seminar or webinar from AHS, please contact ELR@ahs.ca.
