NAPRA Sterile Compounding Exemption for Palliative Care Patients
Council approved an exemption for pharmacies in the province to draw up comfort care medications for palliative care patients in a setting that does not meet the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) model standards for sterile compounding. The provision for an exemption is in place until January 1, 2021.
Council has approved guiding principles regarding this exemption to the NAPRA Model Standards for Hazardous and Non-Hazardous Sterile Compounding.
The guiding principles are:
- The medications should be non-hazardous and non-high-risk (i.e. not non-sterile ingredients)
- The products should be single manipulation
- There is no viable or closely equivalent commercial preparation available
- Risk vs. benefit favours rapid access to drawn-up product versus requiring product from a compliant sterile facility
- A patient must be registered with the palliative care program
- All possibilities of training caregiver or family member to draw up medication should be exhausted first before contemplating this option
- The physician determines that this is the only viable method of effective treatment of the patient
- The patient or agent needs to sign a waiver/release form to acknowledge the risk associated with this option
- The product must be stored appropriately at the pharmacy and education provided to the patient’s agent on storage at home
- The product should be monitored for signs of potential contamination at draw-up, and further education should be provided to the patient’s agent to monitor before administration
- Preparation should take place in as sterile an area as possible to similar standards for preparing immediate use preparations (see NAPRA Model Standards for Sterile Compounding)
- Limits for the draws, if done outside NAPRA compliant areas, have a maximum expiry of three days
Update on Prescribing Authority Table
The College has updated its Prescribing Authority Table to reflect recent changes in the scope of practice of different health care professionals around the province.
Please note that medical residents can now be approved by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (CPSM) to prescribe and are listed in the CPSM Educational Directory with an asterisk beside the name. They are issued a prescriber number, which must be indicated on prescriptions and entered into DPIN instead of the supervising physician’s license number.
Supporting Implementation of Safety IQ in Community Pharmacies
While the June 2021 implementation deadline for Safety IQ may seem a long way off, multiple program elements must be in place to ensure a smooth transition in your pharmacy. User-friendly, accessible resources are a cornerstone of managing organizational change over time, and the College has developed several documents to support pharmacy professionals.
The Safety IQ Implementation Quick Facts document provides a two-page overview of the phases of implementation and the elements of the program. If you need additional information about Safety IQ, the program FAQ offers in-depth information on topics ranging from program requirements to safety culture. Both documents are available on the Safety IQ webpage: https://cphm.ca/practice-education/quality-assurance/safety-iq/
All members are encouraged to review and discuss the Safety IQ resources in preparation for the final implementation because patient safety is everyone’s responsibility. Please direct any feedback or questions to safetyiq@cphm.ca.
Staff Update
The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba welcomes Ms. Anja Sadovski, joining the staff in the role of Communication Coordinator. Anja is a graduate of the Red River College Creative Communications program, where she specialized in public relations and communications management. She recently completed an internship and summer placement in the Communications Department with Women’s Health Clinic.
Anja brings enthusiastic energy to her position. She is eager to make a meaningful contribution to the College.
The College is pleased to have Anja on staff!
UM College of Pharmacy Call for Preceptors and Sites for 2nd Year PharmD Experiential Rotations
The UM College of Pharmacy is excited to have welcomed the second class of PharmD students on the last day of August this year.
Additionally, the inaugural PharmD students enter their second year of the program and look forward to commencing their first community pharmacy rotations in early 2021! The College of Pharmacy Office of Experiential Education would like to invite all community pharmacists interested in precepting these energetic and engaged students for 4 weeks from January 4th to 29th, 2021 in their Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) to send an email to oee@umanitoba.ca for more information on this opportunity.
National Pharmacy Technician Day
The Canadian Association of Pharmacy Technicians (CAPT) would like to recognize pharmacy technicians by proclaiming a National Pharmacy Technician Day on the third Tuesday of October each year.
On October 20, 2020, this health promotion day will highlight the critical role pharmacy technicians play within a pharmacy team and help raise public awareness of their role as an integral part of patient healthcare.
Professional Development
For current professional development opportunities, click here.