Overview
Across Canada, smoking cessation services offered by pharmacists include assessment, prescribing or recommending of appropriate therapies, counselling, and follow-up with patients who are attempting to quit smoking. However, the degree to which these services are delivered and reimbursed vary from one jurisdiction to the next.The National Pharmacist-Led Smoking Cessation Initiative aims to harmonize the scope of practice of pharmacists across Canada and thereby maximize utilization and effectiveness of Canadian pharmacists as providers of effective smoking cessation services.
The initiative is led by Nardine Nakhla, Clinical Lecturer at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. Other team contributors include symposium co-facilitator Rosemary Killeen, Director of Distance Education and Continuing Professional Development, and research assistant Kristi Butt. Through an environmental scan and evaluation of smoking cessation practices by pharmacists across Canada, the Pharmacist-Led Smoking Cessation Initiative aims to maximize utilization and effectiveness of Canadian pharmacists as providers of effective smoking cessation services.
Pharmacists are accessible health care professionals who can play a key role in supporting patients through the challenging process of quitting smoking. We’re working to bring together expertise from across the country to develop an ideal model of a national pharmacist-led smoking cessation program.
Cross-country collaboration
Nakhla and her team have identified and partnered and with pharmacists and key opinion leaders in smoking cessation from across the nation. They have also connected with representatives from Health Canada, Consumer Health Products Canada, the Non-insured Health Benefits program, and the Canadian Pharmacists Association.The team held an initial meeting of these partners in Ottawa in June 2018. This symposium was supported by lead sponsor Johnson & Johnson Inc. Canada, with additional support from Green Shield Canada.
We know that success quitting is more likely when people receive advice from one or more healthcare professionals, and when medication and behaviour counselling are used together.
The White Paper
Enlisting the help of pharmacists could help in the quest to get people to quit smoking, according a white paper released by the University of Waterloo. The paper details ways in which an increased role for pharmacists in the public health effort could help curb smoking rates and aim to reduce the estimated 45,000 annual deaths that occur in Canada from tobacco use.
The services a pharmacist can provide vary across Canada, so the white paper analyzed the scopes of practice of pharmacists in each jurisdiction and proposed a unified framework to support Canadians who are seeking smoking cessation. Counselling on quitting strategies, making self-care recommendations, and prescribing Schedule I medications to help people quit all fall under the umbrella of smoking cessation services, and Canadians can access these services from pharmacists across the country.
In developing the white paper, Nakhla and her team consulted key opinion leaders and subject matter experts in smoking cessation from each province and territory in Canada, as well as advocacy bodies, industry, and government. Based on feedback from this group, the team has proposed a unified framework to guide Canadian pharmacists and is looking to harmonize the tools and resources available to pharmacists to ensure consistent care and support for Canadian patients, regardless of where in the country they reside.