A primary for Alberta: Superstore opens pharmacist-led well being clinic in Lethbridge

Lethbridge’s Actual Canadian Superstore is now residence to Alberta’s first walk-in well being clinic led by pharmacists.

The clinic is ready to begin welcoming sufferers on Monday.

Loblaw Firms Ltd. and the College of Alberta have partnered to open the Pharmacist Stroll-in Clinic, positioned on the second ground of the retailer’s solely Lethbridge location.

In response to Jeff Leger, head of pharmacy at Loblaw and president of Customers Drug Mart, the expanded scope of follow for Alberta’s pharmacists means they will present related care to what’s supplied at common well being clinics.

“Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to alleviate among the burden on the province’s health-care system, and this modern clinic will make entry to care simpler for residents in Lethbridge,” Leger mentioned.

“Within the pharmacy world, the attention (is) the difficult half,” mentioned clinic supervisor and pharmacist Justin Jensen.

“We have to develop the attention of what pharmacists in Alberta can do, how far we will really go.”

Alberta pharmacists can’t present emergency care, however are in a position to undertake a wide range of health-related duties similar to assessing sufferers and prescribing drugs for minor diseases and accidents.

“Examples being coughs, colds, (sore throat),” Jensen mentioned. “We may do urinary tract infections. We may do sore muscle tissue and joints.”

As effectively, pharmacists can order and obtain lab outcomes, help with power illness administration and administer medicine by injection.

The brand new clinic was established with the objective of giving pharmacists the area to do these issues, whereas in flip lowering journeys to emergency rooms.

Well being Minister Jason Copping mentioned this can be a small a part of addressing difficulties dealing with many Albertans in accessing main care.

Lethbridge is predicted so as to add 11 extra medical doctors by the top of the yr, however an estimated 33,000 or extra are at present with out a household doctor.

“This is a matter in Lethbridge, and fairly frankly, throughout the province and throughout the nation,” Copping mentioned. “However one factor we now have heard from health-care professionals, it’s not solely in regards to the household medical doctors — they’re extremely necessary — but it surely’s about your complete health-care crew.

“Pharmacists are a part of that crew.”

The pharmacist-led clinic initiative is a pilot program that can be assessed over the following six to 12 months.

“It’s a clinic in an area that we owned, in order that makes it fairly straightforward for us to have the ability to have an extended pilot and actually get to the understanding of what works right here, how can we replicate in different components of the province,” Leger mentioned.

Loblaw has supplied the U of A with a $500,000 grant to permit researchers to help the analysis of the clinic and to have college students prepare and supply care on web site.