A 'pharmacy care clinic' has opened in Edmonton. What is it?
Edmonton's newest pharmacy will double as a "care clinic" that will provide assessment and treatments for minor and common ailments.
Pharmacists at the "pharmacy care clinic," as the Shoppers Drug Mart location in the northeast Pilot Sound neighbourhood is called, will be able to assess and treat conditions such as pink eye, cold sores, strep throat, and urinary tract infections.
Owner and pharmacist Chad Edmonds told CTV News Edmonton the expanded services are going to allow him to "step up the game."
The aim of the pharmacy care clinic is to help alleviate the pressure on Alberta's health-care system.
"We need more family doctors, we need more nurse practitioners, we need pharmacists to step up and take the rein on this and hopefully ease the burden on health care today," Edmonds said.
A health and law policy associate professor at the University of Calgary says these pharmacies would mean quicker health care for waiting Albertans.
But Lorian Hardcastle noted, "There may be an erosion in quality of care given the different breadth of expertise that pharmacists have compared to physicians."
Edmonton intensive care physician Dr. Darren Markland added, "If you have a pharmacist that’s looking after these little UTIs which keep happening and doesn’t find the tumour that’s growing in the kidney that’s causing them, you’ve got a problem.
"And that’s the rare but realistic thing that we’re trained to find out."
Hardcastle is also worried about the commercialization of health services.
"These truly need to be seen as stop gaps while we deal with the shortage of doctors," she said.
"I applaud that people are trying to fix the problem but the bigger problem needs to be fixed by funding primary care, family physicians, care networks. And pharmacists are an important part of that," Markland said.
Shoppers Drug Mart maintains that it is trying to be a part of the solution. It opened Ontario's first pharmacy care clinics in Burlington and Mississauga earlier this year.
"We’re not replacing physicians," Anthony Spina, the brand's senior vice president of national operations and pharmacy transformation, said. "Obviously doctors are tremendously important."
The pharmacy care clinic is located at 5351 167 Avenue NW. It also provides vaccine and counselling services.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Dogs, drones, and word of mouth: How police narrowed in on Luigi Mangione
After UnitedHealthcare's CEO was gunned down on a New York sidewalk, police searched for the masked gunman with dogs, drones and scuba divers.
'Governor Justin Trudeau': Trump appears to mock PM in social media post
Amid a looming tariff threat, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump appears to be mocking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, referring to him as 'Governor Justin Trudeau' in a post on Truth Social early Tuesday.
'I never got the impression he would self-destruct:' Friends of suspect in fatal CEO shooting left in shock
Months before police identified Luigi Mangione as the man they suspect gunned down a top health insurance CEO and then seemingly vanished from Midtown Manhattan, another disappearing act worried his friends and family.
Union dropped wage demand to 19% over four years in Canada Post negotiations: CUPW
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has reportedly dropped its wage demand to 19 per cent over four years, CUPW negotiator Jim Gallant told CTV News.
'Serial fraud artist': Crown wants 8-year jail term for fake nurse who treated nearly 1K B.C. patients
B.C. Crown prosecutors are calling for an eight-year prison term for a woman who illegally treated nearly 1,000 patients across the province while impersonating a real nurse.
Taxpayer-funded Eras Tour tickets returned by federal minister
While tens of thousands of fans packed Vancouver's BC Place for the last shows of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour this weekend, a federal cabinet minister wasn't one of them.
'I was just trying to help her': Ontario woman loses $14,000 to taxi scam
An Ontario woman thought she was helping another woman pay for their taxi ride, but instead she was defrauded of $14,000.
opinion Are extended warranties ever worth buying?
It seems extended warranties are offered for almost every small electronics purchase. Personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains the benefits and drawbacks of extended warranties, and highlights which ones can be useful, and even necessary.
How U.S. tariffs could affect Canada's agriculture industry and consumer prices
As Donald Trump's inauguration looms, Canada's agriculture industry is waiting with bated breath to see whether the sweeping tariffs he's threatened will come to pass.