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There are many scenarios where it might seem convenient for pharmacy team members to provide professional services to members of their family, close friends, coworkers, or even themselves. These services might include a regulated member conducting assessments, writing prescriptions, dispensing medications, and administering a vaccine.
While this convenience may seem appealing, this is a reminder that ACP’s Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians (SPPPT, Domain 2) forbid regulated members from providing professional services to themselves, family members, or anyone else with whom the regulated member has a close personal relationship. This includes pharmacy team members whom the regulated member works with, whether they are regulated or non-regulated employees.
Keep in mind, when you’ve been working closely with someone in a small space, such as a community pharmacy dispensary, it’s not uncommon to develop a close personal relationship with your coworker. Regulated members must be aware of, and consider, these developments before deciding if they can continue to provide a coworker with a professional service.
There are two exceptions for this standard. Providing professional services to oneself, a family member, or someone with whom the regulated member has a close personal relationship is only permitted if the professional service is provided in an emergency (as defined in the SPPPT) or when another regulated member is not readily available to provide the professional service.
This standard was updated as part of the launch of the current SPPPT in 2025 to help mitigate the bias that may exist if a regulated member is considering providing a professional service to themselves, a family member, or someone close to them. These relationships make it difficult for the regulated member to provide care in an objective manner and may introduce increased risk to the patient.
If the situation is not an emergency (i.e., a situation where a professional service is needed to prevent imminent mortality or morbidity) and another regulated member is readily available to provide the professional service, the patient must be referred to another regulated member who is not a family member or in a close personal relationship with the patient.
While “readily available” is not a defined term, regulated members must apply this term reasonably and in the best interest of the patient. In urban centres, there is almost always another regulated member who is readily available to provide the professional service.
