NL Wildfires: Guidance for Pharmacy Professionals

The province has declared a regional state of emergency for a portion of the Bay de Verde Peninsula from Bristol’s Hope to Whiteway. For a full list of all areas under an evacuation order, please visit gov.nl.ca/alerts/

Our thoughts go out to all those who have been displaced or impacted by the wildfires in the province. We would like to thank all pharmacy professionals who have been working diligently to ensure those impacted have had access to the medications and services they need. We understand that this may increase your workload and appreciate your efforts to help your fellow pharmacy professionals and their patients at this difficult time.

Below is guidance for both those who have had to temporarily cease providing services and for those assisting displaced patients.

preparing for a temporary closure

It’s important for pharmacists-in-charge to have a plan in place in case a wildfire or another circumstance causes them to temporarily close the pharmacy.

Please refer to the Temporary Closure section on the CPNL website to review the expectations for pharmacies, including planning for how patients will be notified, how they can obtain their prescriptions and access their care records, how these records will be transferred and kept secure, and more.

preparing to help patients in an emergency

In the event of evacuations or states of emergency, your pharmacy team may be called upon to provide care for these temporarily displaced patients.

Pharmacy professionals have multiple tools at their disposal for providing care to patients:

Transfer prescriptions. Collaborate with the patient’s regular pharmacy and utilize the electronic health record to transfer prescriptions, as needed.
Initiate, extend, or adapt prescriptions. There are many instances where pharmacists can assist with initiating, extending, or adapting prescriptions in accordance with the Standards of Practice – Prescribing.
As duration of an evacuation order may be unknown, ensure that patients have a reasonable amount of medication to ensure continuity of care until they are able to access their medication supply or follow up with their regular healthcare providers. This must be based on your assessment of the patient.
Collaborate with the patient’s healthcare providers as required to obtain prescriptions and communicate any prescribing decisions as necessary.
Utilize exemptions for prescribing and providing controlled substances issued by Health Canada under Section 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) which allow pharmacists to
extend or renew existing prescriptions for drugs regulated under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA),
transfer prescriptions for drugs regulated under the CDSA to other pharmacies,
accept verbal orders for all controlled substances regulated under the CDSA, and
arrange for delivery of prescriptions of controlled substances to patients’ homes or other locations where they may be.

In an effort to protect legitimate patient access to medication containing controlled substances in parts of Canada affected by emergency evacuation, Health Canada has issued a national class exemption.

The exemption authorizes community pharmacists who need to evacuate due to an emergency caused by fire, flood, drought, storm, earthquake, or other natural phenomenon, to transfer controlled substances to another community pharmacy in a Canadian province or territory.

Please review the Exemption for Pharmacists in Canada in Emergency Evacuation for more information, including terms and conditions.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at inforx@cpnl.ca.

Additional Resources

CPhA – Supporting you through wildfires: New tools for pharmacy teams

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