Prescription tracking will help prevent drug abuse, fraud: Yukon pharmacist

Yukon is making progress towards tracking prescriptions throughelectronic records, and pharmacists saythat's good news.

"It will certainly help prevent drug abuse, by allowing pharmacists to see what medications have been filled in other pharmacies," said Josianne Gauthier,president of the Yukon Pharmacists Association.

Gauthieralsosays the Drug Information System still at least six months awaycouldhelp toprevent fraud.

The system was recommended last year by Yukon's chief coronerafter a35-year-old man died from mixed drug overdose.

A coroner's report said the manhad "a history of multi-doctoring," and had visited multiple clinics for prescriptions to obtain drugsat severalpharmacies.

An electronic system wouldprovide "a complete list of medications andprescriptions a patient has received. Even if they fill them in different pharmacies," coroner Kirsten MacDonald said.

Gauthier says the new systemcould also prevent unintended mixing of drugs, as could happenwhen an unconscious patient is brought to hospital in the middle of the night.

"When a patient is admitted to the hospital or the emergency department, it's quite difficult to determine what the patient is taking," hesaid.

"We currently have to phone around and fax to request medication profiles from the pharmacies. Whereas with the drug information system, available online 24/7, we will be able to see all their prescriptions."

Catching up

The Drug Information System is just one of several initiativesthat are part of a $10 million project to digitize Yukon health records.

The project also involvesdigital tracking of laboratory results, and an electronic client registry system for new patients.

Some of the new systems are already in use.

BirgitteHunter,withYukon's department of health and social services, says lab technicians are now tracking results using barcodes.

"There's less chance of paper not getting to the right place, there's a timing issue. A nurse in a community may be able to goelectronicallyand see that the resultshavecome back to the Yukon Hospital Corporationrather than waiting for something to be faxed or mailed," Huntersaid.

"What it's doing is it's catching us up with the rest of the country."

The Drug Information System's launch isbeing promised for December 2016 with more widespread use by spring 2017.The project is largely funded by Health Canada, through a project calledInfoways.