Building a stronger health-care system

As of January 1, 2023, the pharmacists’ scope of practice has expanded across Ontario with the ability for pharmacists to assess and autonomously prescribe medications for 13 minor ailments.

While new to Ontario, this process is not a novelty, as pharmacists in other countries and Canadian provinces have been improving patient care through pharmacist-led prescribing for years.

Dr. Nardine Nakhla, a professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy, served on the Minor Ailments Advisory Group (MAAG), an expert advisory group brought together by the Ontario College of Pharmacists to develop the regulatory changes needed to enable this expansion of scope. MAAG was composed of a diverse group of patients and experts in medicine, public health, health systems research and community pharmacy.

Stemming from her work on MAAG as well as her significant research and expertise in the minor ailment space, Nakhla recognized the need for Ontario to build a customized platform specific to provincial regulations to meet the demands created with this new change to pharmacists’ scope. From this need, the Minor Ailment Prescribing Workflow (MAPflow) emerged, a powerful new digital health tool.

Read more on Waterloo News.