While some of us have experienced fires and floods, the COVID-19 pandemic affects all of us, personally and professionally. The resilience and commitment demonstrated by pharmacy teams in Alberta is vitally important to individuals, families, and communities. Our college takes our hat off to every pharmacist and pharmacy technician who is on the front-line, doing your best to serve, support, and sometimes console those depending on you. Our college looks forward to supporting you and providing you the tools you need as the status of COVID-19 changes every day.
COVID-19 has rapidly become the number one priority for everyone. It has become the number one priority for ACP; both in taking steps to support social distancing through the decentralization of our office, and taking steps to support your practice in this turbulent time.
COVID-19 website
ACP has created a separate COVID-19 website to serve as your resource for current information about the pandemic. Access it frequently for updates and links to guidance, as the situation changes daily.
Decentralization of ACP office
The ACP office is now closed, and staff are working remotely. It is our goal to protect our team through social distancing, while continuing ACP’s business as fully as possible. This will mean some changes in the availability of certain services. We expect this to last at least until May 1, 2020, at which time we will re-evaluate.
Practice guidance
ACP has developed temporary guidance to better support you to meet the needs of your patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on ACP’s Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians and Code of Ethics, the guidance is meant to assist you to serve your patients and community in extraordinary times.
On the horizon
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across Alberta are identifying new issues daily. Some of those that we are immediately addressing with partners like the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA), the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSA), the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association (RxA), and Alberta Health include:
- pursuing the possibility of a s56(1) exemption from the Office of Controlled Substances to better support the continued care of patients being treated with controlled substances;
- availing access to personal protective equipment (PPE) for pharmacists, particularly those involved in sterile compounding;
- solutions to ensure the availability of drugs, and minimize stockpiling; and
- building pharmacy team capacity through policies to support former registrants return to practice on a temporary basis during the pandemic.
On behalf of Council and the entire ACP team, I thank you again for your extraordinary commitment during this extraordinary time.
