From time to time, pharmacy teams may be presented with a prescription written by a health professional who practises in another province or territory. In some cases, the prescriber’s profession may have authority to prescribe in their home province, even though that same profession may not have authority to prescribe in Alberta.
As part of a pharmacist’s assessment of the patient and in determining the appropriateness of the prescription, the pharmacist should consider a prescription written by a Canadian-based healthcare professional to be valid if that healthcare professional is authorized to prescribe in the province or territory that they are registered in and practising from.
It’s important to note that in the new Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, the term “prescriber” is defined as “a regulated health professional who is authorized to prescribe Schedule 1 drugs under the Health Professions Act or similar legislation that governs a regulated health professional in another province or territory.”
For example, if a pharmacist is presented with a prescription written by a naturopathic doctor based in British Columbia who is authorized to prescribe, the pharmacist should consider the prescription valid. This is the case even though naturopathic doctors based in Alberta do not have authority to prescribe. As always, the pharmacist is responsible to assess the patient and use their professional judgement to ensure a prescription is appropriate before dispensing the medication to the patient.
