Alberta opens more pharmacist-led health clinics
Posted December 10, 2022 2:40 pm.
New walk-in clinics inside pharmacies are helping alleviate the strain on Alberta’s struggling health-care system.
It’s allowing Albertans to skip a doctor’s visit entirely in some cases.
“You don’t really need to be sitting in an emergency room for a number of hours when we can actually diagnose that here in the clinic and even get you started on the medication you need,” said Pharmacist Raj Bharadia.
The Shoppers Drug Mart in Fort Saskatchewan now features a walk-in clinic. There are also pharmacist-led health clinics in Brooks, Red Deer and Edson.
The patient arrives and fills out an intake form before meeting with a pharmacist, who can assess their needs.
The pharmacist can then provide immediate treatment for illnesses, injuries and chronic pain in one of these private consultation rooms.
Pharmacists can even help patients with blood work requisitions or vaccinations.
“It’s a gateway into primary care, especially for people who don’t have that access right now,” said Bharadia.
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The first pharmacy walk-in clinic of its kind in Alberta opened in Lethbridge in March and now sees an average of 40 patients a day.
The new Fort Saskatchewan location saw 14 patients in its first 8 hours on Thursday.
“It just shows that there is a huge need for these services,” said Bharadia. “That was just people just walking in, so I’m really excited to see the response from the community once we really get the word out.”
The clinic is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.
