Alberta pharmacists to write prescriptions

EDMONTON, Alberta, March 7 (UPI) -- The Canadian province of Alberta has authorized the country's first 15 pharmacists to write clients' prescriptions, the Edmonton Journal reported.

The new policy excludes prescriptions for such drugs as narcotics, anabolic steroids and barbiturates, but grants the pharmacists liberty in areas of their local expertise in such areas as HIV/AIDS patients or gerontology, the report said.

"Pharmacists are quite highly educated, and to just be stuck doing dispensing-type things, it's not really a good use of our training and expertise," pharmacist Christine Hughes told the Journal.

She said she works closely with doctors and other healthcare workers for people who are HIV-positive, and now has the authority to write various prescriptions to combat doctor-prescribed drugs' side-effects.

"It just legalizes and improves some of the efficiencies of the system," Hughes said.

Pharmacist Nese Yuksel said her area of expertise is helping menopausal women. She's now able to adjust estrogen doses, or add an anti-depression medication without direct authorization of the doctor.

"It's not like I'm diagnosing," she told the newspaper.