A pharmacist wonders about prescribing medication

An insightful piece responding to the Canadian controversy allowing pharmacists to prescribe medication:

That said, I would trust a pharmacist over a PA or an NP when it comes to managing complicated drug therapy. There is no question in my mind about that.

There would also need to be a better way to keep (and share!) medical records with other providers. It would be awesome if everyone could be on the same page, but this hasn’t happened and won’t happen for a while. As we move towards healthcare as a collaboration and discussion, we’ll gradually see this occur as a positive feedback loop wherein one fuels the other. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wished that I could see a patient’s medical records when answering the question “Why am I on this medication?” Pharmacists can make educated guesses, but if the medication can be used for a million and one different things, and so long as they are kept mostly in the dark, that’s all they are: educated guesses.

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