Achi news desk-
Their line of defense is a desk, and most pharmacists will tell you they want to keep it that way.
But more than 50 per cent of them in Nova Scotia said they had experienced harassment in the past 12 months while on the job, according to the Nova Scotia Pharmacy Association.
Much of it comes from patients.
Alistair Bursey, a New Brunswick pharmacist, believes it’s a national problem.
“Pharmacists are harassed, verbally abused, put under a lot of stress because they are the most accessible healthcare professional. You can walk and talk to a pharmacist anywhere,” he said.
He says there could be several reasons behind the increase in anger.
The first: drug shortages have “exploded” in Canada, which may mean trying to find patient alternatives that may not be as effective, or trying to ensure that a different brand is also covered under patients’ insurance.
“I mean, we found out last week that carbamazepine is going to be in short supply. This is an essential anti-seizure medication in Canada. I mean, it’s not like, you know, heartburn, that you can change. This is carbamazepine. And that is becoming rare in the country,” he said. “I mean, sometimes you sit here and you say to yourself, like, Canada is a very developed country and we’re getting critical medicines going short and it’s not there seems to be a lot of strategy to deal with it.”
Bursey says the country should be considering a strategy similar to that of Europe, where having a year’s supply of critical medicine is standard.
And then there is the ongoing cost of living pressure.
“I think that’s a big part of it. I have seen so many upset, frustrated patients. They can’t get their medicine. They can only get 30 days of medicine. It increases their costs. They are on a fixed budget,” he said. “I mean, it’s just like a snowball going downhill. It’s going to put more and more pressure on patients.”
The Nova Scotia Pharmacy Association has developed a “KindRX” campaign that includes a patient code of conduct and promotional material to encourage people to be kind to their pharmacist.
Kindness is key, says pharmacist Anne Marie Picone.
Acting executive director of the New Brunswick Pharmacists Association, Picone says she also believes the profession is simply seeing more people turning to them for help in the absence of primary care.
“I always say that not everyone on medication has a doctor, but everyone on medication has a pharmacist,” he said. “So if you think about that, you know, there’s a lot of people out there who come into the dispensaries needing and wanting and asking for help. We are there for them. But they also have to be patient.”
Six pharmacy care clinics opened last year in New Brunswick, to treat patients with strep throat or a chronic disease such as diabetes. Nova Scotia launched similar clinics over a year ago, expanding to 25 dispensary locations.
Bursey and Picone say they have been extremely successful in New Brunswick and should be expanded once the province reviews their success.
Picone believes that if more people can access care, the temperature may drop a bit.
“So this has been, you know, certainly very useful to be able to have that. But at the same time it is very unfortunate that our pharmacy professionals have to deal with harassment in their workplace from patients,” said Picone.
