Saskatchewan Pharmacists Under Pressure Says Corporate VP – Saskatoon | Globalnews.ca

COVID-19 The pandemic has put pressure on pharmacists.

Chris Cheev, Vice President of London Drugs Pharmacy and Healthcare Innovation, says the pandemic has overworked the industry and the shortage of new pharmacists is making it difficult for current pharmacists to complete the increasing number of tasks they need to do. To do.

“We don’t have more people, but we have more errands. It’s nice to shovel things into our yard, but it takes people to get things done,” Auclair said.

“We have some people who have either taken early retirement or are just taking a break…,” Cheev told Global News.

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Michael Fougere, CEO of the Pharmacy Association Saskatchewan, says Saskatoon isn’t seeing a huge drop in pharmacists, but Regina is.

Fougere says the exact figures and numbers about the extent of the deficiency are not known.

“They may work longer hours, they may close earlier. I don’t think that has affected anything in terms of quality or the type of service people receive. I haven’t heard anything from the public or the pharmacist myself,” Fougere said.

Fougere says that with fewer staff, hours of operation have been affected across the province.

“Less staff, fewer hours at pharmacies.”

Fougere says there are more than about 1,200 pharmacies in the province, as well as pharmacists in other settings.

USSq, near Saskatoon, has a pharmacy college that produces graduates each year. USsk College of Pharmacy and Nutrition associate dean academic Yvonne Shevchuk says they have room for 90 students each year.

“We track how many students we graduate every year, it’s in the high 80s. We don’t have any high volatility or anything like that in terms of student shortages,” Shevchuk said.

New pharmacists must pass their licensure exams before entering the workforce, and any foreign workers are required to have Canadian pharmacy experience, which can take a year or two.

“There is still a gap here in waiting for new grades. But that doesn’t solve the whole issue, which is people who have retired and gone into part-time jobs because they don’t want to work as much,” Cheev told Global News on Zoom.

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Shevchuk says that there has been a shortage of pharmacists in the past, so this is not a new thing.