Registrants participating in ACP’s Annual General Meeting on June 11 voted on two resolutions via electronic ballot on June 16 and 17. Both of the amended resolutions were passed. Council will consider them at its next meeting in October.
1. Resolution to re-affirm the need to transmit complete prescription information via Netcare
This resolution was put forward to help facilitate a process whereby pharmacists enter the medication name, strength, directions for use, and other data as required in the Pharmaceutical Information Network to allow identification of complete prescription details.
The sponsors of the resolution highlighted three reasons why taking action is important:
- Many pediatric patients receive prescriptions for oral liquids that are not commercially available which require a pharmacist to extemporaneously compound ingredients in order to fulfill the prescription order, and
- There are no uniquely assigned designations for these compounds, and a generic “dummy” DIN is assigned by convention when transmitted into Netcare’s Pharmaceutical Information Network (PIN), and
- These prescriptions often do not contain drug name or strength, leading to greater potential for medication errors in a very vulnerable patient population.
The original resolution asked that ACP work with RxA and the Integrated Clinical Working Group (ICWG). AGM participants recognized that ACP and RxA contribute to many committees within Netcare, and felt the resolution should reflect this. Therefore, the resolution was amended accordingly, and all references to the ICWG were replaced with Alberta Netcare committees.
2. Resolution to mandate all drug sampling be done via drug sample cards dispensed from licensed pharmacies
This resolution generated questions about drug sampling in general.
- Why should sample card practice continue when pharmacists may now offer trial prescriptions?
- How do we ensure that drug sampling information is recorded on Netcare?
- How do we capture complete drug information when sampling occurs?
After considering these questions, the resolution was amended to request that ACP work with the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) to discuss the whole practice of drug sampling.
