FAQ

A patient record must contain demographic information about the patient, a profile of drugs provided, and a record of care provided. See Standard 18 and Appendix A of the Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians for details.

A record of care includes drug-related problems and the actions taken or monitoring plans created to deal with them, a list of any prescriptions adapted and other drugs prescribed, or a list of drugs administered by injection. The record of care also includes other information such as prescriptions that were not filled or summaries of consultations with the patient or other health care providers.

(Appendix A, Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians)

In addition to allowing the pharmacist to identify the patient, collection and use of the PHN will allow for sharing of information in the Alberta electronic health record.

If the patient does not have a personal health number, you may create a patient record without it.

No, a written transaction record is not required for Schedule 2 drugs. Appendix A of the Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians outlines the information that must be included in the patient record, but a written record is not required for the sale of Schedule 2 drugs. However, pharmacists are reminded that when prescribing a drug, including a Schedule 2 drug, they must reduce the prescription to writing in accordance with Standard 11.10 of the Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians.

(Appendix A of the Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians)

Patient records must be retained for 10 years past the last date of pharmacy service provided or for two years past the age of majority (18 years) of the patient if the patient is a child.

See the Record Retention Chart for more details.

(Standard 8.8, Standards for the Operation of Licensed Pharmacies)