Identifying Potential for Pharmacist Minor Ailment Prescribing in an Urgent Care Centre: A Retrospective Observational Study

Abstract

Background: In Ontario, pharmacists are authorized to treat 19 minor ailments, self-limiting conditions involving minimal follow-up. At St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario, the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) frequently reaches full capacity early in the day and must temporarily stop accepting patients. Pharmacists may be well-positioned to manage patients presenting to UCC for these lower-acuity conditions, enabling physicians to focus on more complex cases while potentially enhancing overall health care system capacity.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to quantify the proportion of UCC visits that could have been managed by a pharmacist through minor ailments prescribing. The secondary objective was to characterize the specific minor ailments treated within the UCC and the drug classes prescribed for these conditions.

Methods: Retrospective chart review of 300 randomly selected St. Joseph’s Hospital UCC encounters from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.

Results: Of 300 encounters, 59 could have been managed by a pharmacist. Eleven different minor ailments were diagnosed and eight classes of medications within pharmacist scope were prescribed. The most commonly diagnosed minor ailments were urinary tract infection, conjunctivitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. The most frequently prescribed drug classes for minor ailments were oral antibiotics, proton-pump inhibitors, and antihistamines.

Conclusion: Pharmacists can play a significant role in mitigating Ontario's health care access crisis through minor ailments prescribing, although public awareness of their full scope of practice remains limited. Redirecting minor ailment cases from UCC to pharmacists could preserve capacity for higher acuity cases and optimize utilization of health care resources.