Dispensing Drugs Policy Approved

New supports for patient protection

Following consultation, Council approved a policy that provides guidance to physicians who dispense drugs in their practice.

The Dispensing Drugs policy retains the previous version’s core expectations, but additions were made to help support patient protection through expectations related to patient counselling and monitoring of recalled drugs.

Dispensing is generally a limited practice among physicians, occurring in areas where patients lack reasonable access to a pharmacy (e.g., remote communities) or in a limited number of other circumstances (e.g., for point-of-care administration).

The policy and its Advice to the Profession document were developed in collaboration with the Ontario College of Pharmacists.

Consultation feedback was broadly supportive of the draft policy, with most respondents agreeing the draft is clearly written, easy to understand and reasonable.

The Advice to the Profession provides guidance for physicians around how to meet the policy expectations, such as charging a dispensing fee, labelling, procurement, secure storage and minimizing dispensing errors.