Canadians will be able to turn to pharmacists for advice about arthritis because of a new health awareness campaign offered by a support group, a research centre and Canada’s largest pharmacy retailer, Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix. Until now, doctors were the main provides of arthritis advice and treatment.
4.6 million Canadians live with arthritis, which is a hundred different diseases that involve joints and sometimes organs, and can even lead to pre-mature death. Women are more prone to get it as are aboriginals. Arthritis can be painful and debilitating but is not a disease that gets much attention.
Cases and costs escalating “dramatically”
“The problem with arthritis is that it’s not going down. It’s going up and the costs are escalating dramatically,” says Dr. John Esdaile, scientific director of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada and professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Joint replacement surgeries are going up by 50 per cent every five years and government statistics suggest that by 2030, seven million Canadians will have arthritis.
Canadians see pharmacists more often
Canadians see their pharmacists eight times more often than their doctors, so it makes sense for pharmacists to provide front line services for those with arthritis, says Esdaile.
Pharmacies at more than 1,200 locations will post signs inviting customers with joint pain to speak to the pharmacist about it. An on-line questionnaire will be offered and the pharmacist can go through it will the customer.
The pharmacist could offer to review the customer’s medications and suggest adjustments. He or she could also put the customer in touch with a physiotherapist and write a letter explaining what has been done to their own doctor.
“Very bad outcomes” could be averted
“I think it’s going to increase awareness about arthritis,” says Esdaile, “and that’s important because what we’ve learned over the last decade is that the key to averting poor quality of life, including very bad outcomes like pre-mature death is early diagnosis and getting the right treatment. I think that’s going to be a huge positive.”
Pharmacists will not be paid for arthritis services for now, but Esdaile thinks that eventually they will press for payment and that provincial governments may agree if they save money through early diagnosis and treatment.
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