Pharmacists raise patient satisfaction in UTI management

JUNE 2021 – When the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy awarded an Innovation Fund grant in 2017 for research on the community pharmacist’s role in the assessment and treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI), it helped open the door for several jurisdictions to expand the scope of pharmacy practice to include this service.

“Since we conducted the study, several other jurisdictions have permitted pharmaciststo prescribe for UTIs,” says lead researcher Dr. Ross Tsuyuki, who is Chair at the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta in Edmonton.

One recent example is Prince Edward Island. While pharmacists in the province were granted authority to assess and prescribe for acute uncomplicated cystitis in October 2020, patients had to pay for the service prior to funding. “We are very pleased to have been able to offer pharmacist management of UTI as a covered service as of April 1, 2021,” says Erin MacKenzie, Executive Director of the PEI Pharmacists Association, noting that the study’sfindings “were certainly referenced in our submissions over the years.”

Get the full story in CFP’s Changing Face of Pharmacy Spring 2021 Report. Email Dayle Acorn (dacorn@cfpnet.ca) to get your copy.