Pharmacists say they’re shouldering a growing share of the Yukon’s health care burden

Territorial government says it’s considering expanding scope of practice for pharmacists

Pharmacists say they’re taking on a bigger role in day-to-day health care as the Yukon struggles with a shortage of family doctors and long wait times at hospitals and clinics.

Sunjin Han, a fourth-year pharmacy student at the University of Manitoba who recently completed a two-month internship at some Whitehorse pharmacies, said she encountered patients who did not have clear instructions on how to take their prescriptions.

“I noticed a lack of empowerment in terms of Yukoners’ health care,” she said. “I found that a lot of individuals were just missing a lot of information about why they’re taking medications in the first place, not really knowing how to use certain things such as inhalers for asthma.”

The Yukon government has been gradually expanding services pharmacists are allowed to provide. In 2019, it passed new regulations allowing pharmacists to administer vaccines. In 2022, the government made permanent some pandemic-era rules that allow pharmacists to extend prescriptions and issue new prescriptions for some minor conditions, such as urinary tract infections and pinkeye.

Edmund Tan, a pharmacist who owns the two Shoppers Drug Mart locations in Whitehorse, said those changes, combined with the fact that pharmacies tend to be open longer hours than clinics, have led to an increase in people seeking treatment directly from pharmacists.

“We’re certainly seeing an increase in patients coming in that are asking more questions, and us supporting them with prescribing for small things, minor ailments, that’s certainly increasing, and I’m really, really happy to see that grow so that we can help support the burden of primary access,” he said.

But Tan said barriers to pharmacy access remain, particularly for communities outside of Whitehorse, where the vast majority of the territory’s pharmacies are located. That often means pharmacists must provide advice over the phone and mail prescriptions out.

And Tan said the Yukon government can go farther in expanding the range of services pharmacists can provide.

“There’s a lot of areas that currently have more scope than what we currently have in the Yukon,” he said.

“So whether it’s more scope to prescribe or more scope to manage medications, they exist in other provinces and other jurisdictions with a lot of impact on reducing emergency room times, reducing doctor visits, reducing wait times, et cetera. ”

Yukon Health Minister Brad Cathers says the Yukon government is “actively considering” expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists in the territory and says he recently met with pharmacists to discuss the issue. The Yukon Party promised during last fall’s election campaign to work with pharmacists to expand their scope of practice.

Cathers says in other jurisdictions, pharmacists are permitted to treat more minor ailments compared to the Yukon.

“We recognize that there’s a very good case to be made that allowing pharmacists to more fully use their training here in the Yukon would be comparable to what’s done in other jurisdictions,” he said. “And has a very solid case to be made that it can reduce some of the visits to the emergency department and the walk-in clinic as well.”

Cathers said he cannot provide specific examples of how the government would expand the services pharmacists can provide, as it still needs to consult with pharmacists and other stakeholders, including doctors.

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: N.W.T. leaders say Ottawa is underfunding Indigenous health-care program by millions, CBC News

Finland: Nearly 700 health and social services jobs at risk in Lapland and South Karelia, Yle News

United States: Senators, including Alaska’s, sound alarm on cuts impacting Indigenous health care agency, Eye on the Arctic