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Ontario is considering further expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice by adding to the list of minor ailments they can assess, allowing them to administer more vaccines and order some lab tests.
CTV News reports that while pharmacists see the proposal as progressive in easing some of the burden on other aspects of the healthcare system, doctors are raising concerns.
In early 2023, the government granted pharmacists the ability to assess and treat 13 minor ailments, including pink eye, hemorrhoids and urinary tract infections. Six more were added to the list in the fall of that year.
The government is now thinking of expanding the list to include sore throat, calluses and corns, mild headaches, shingles, minor sleep disorders, fungal nail infections, swimmers’ ear, head lice, nasal congestion, dandruff, ringworm, jock itch, warts and dry eye.
The government is also considering funding pharmacists to administer tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, pneumococcal, shingles, and RSV vaccines for adults, as well as COVID-19 and flu vaccines.
However, doctors are pushing back on the scope expansion.
The president of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Dominik Nowak, said, “The bottom line here is that pharmacists are not doctors. Doctors are trained for years and thousands of hours to diagnose and treat conditions
