When you live on the east coast in Canada, you come to expect that the weather in November starts to get chilly. Temperatures regularly tease with the freezing mark and the occasional snowfall get folks scampering for their winter tires after traffic reports fill up with snarls.

So some friends and family decided to bypass November and head for sunnier climes in Florida…and were hit with torrential rains and single digit temperatures (or state-side, ‘in the forties’). We brought the kids to a magical place which you may have heard about. I went to go meet some famous princesses, and begrudgingly agreed to bring the kids with me. Three of our group were pharmacists and try as we may, conversation often turned to pharmacy topics much to the chagrin of everyone else.

Pharmacists are a passionate bunch, to be sure. Although vent sessions prove popular on occasion, most of the conversation turned to the differences in pharmacy between countries and the many signs of progress we’ve seen in the past 5-7 years. Who would have thought that giving injections for flu or travel vaccines would be in such high demand? I was completely ignorant to this when I graduated and figured that the awareness and growth of this service would be organic, not the year over year explosion that we’ve seen. It’s the same with prescribing; it’s becoming much more intuitive for me today to explore my options when a patient arrives at the counter with an expired prescription or a hospital discharge ordering a non-formulary medication.

Some folks would never see a doctor if they could get away with it. Nurturing and maintaining that circle of care is still very important for monitoring and education. However, I do see inefficiency rear it’s ugly head in the form of one to three-month supplies with no refills for stable therapy that has gone unchanged for years. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that people expect (and often demand) that we extend or re-new their prescriptions. The good news is that now in many instances, we can do just that. Taking on that prescribing liability is a huge adjustment, but as a group we’re warming up quickly to the idea. Contrast that potential liability with buying Prozac off the shelf in a Mexican airport terminal – no danger there of course.

So maybe pharmacy isn’t as magical as say, frozen castles and fireworks (though the apothecary on Main St. serves some magical-tasting sweets), but our ability to adapt in such a short transition period of 3-5 years is pretty impressive. We’re just getting started too: with integrated databases and future ability to request blood-work, some of that maintenance burden may be lifted from general practitioners. They can focus on diagnostics and problem-solving while allowing pharmacists to help screen and respond to T3 and INR values.

We will continue to be pharmacists in other lands. We will be curious to visit pharmacies in other countries and to see how their healthcare system works. What products are available for self-selection and which ones are prescription? Sometimes we see drugs that have not yet been approved in Canada, or an old standby that goes by an exotic name.

Have fun on vacation. Sometimes the time away from the ‘job’ can help rebuild the love for the ‘profession.’

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.