As British Columbia moves toward mandatory medication incident reporting under the Continuous Improvement, Reporting, Collaborating, and Learning (CIRCL) program, pharmacies are entering a new era of structured, proactive patient safety. With full implementation required by June 1, 2026, pharmacy CIRCL in BC: A Practical Guide to Handling Medication Incidents with Confidence and Compliance With the […]
Why Patient Understanding Matters More Than Ever Biosimilars are becoming a standard part of modern pharmacy practice across Canada. They improve access, reduce costs, and expand treatment options, especially for complex therapies like insulin and biologics. However, as biosimilars become more common, a new and often overlooked risk is emerging: Patient confusion. Without proper education […]
A Practical Guide to Medication Incident Reporting and Continuous Improvement Medication safety is a cornerstone of modern pharmacy practice. In British Columbia, the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia has introduced a new province-wide medication incident reporting framework called CIRCL to strengthen patient safety and improve pharmacy practice. CIRCL represents a major step forward in […]
Why Inactivating Discontinued Medications Prevents Practice Incidents in Community Pharmacy In every Canadian community pharmacy, patient profiles are the backbone of safe medication management. Yet one small oversight continues to contribute to preventable practice incidents: failing to inactivate discontinued medications in the pharmacy software system. Across Canada, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) programs such as Alberta’s […]
Terms to Avoid When Documenting a Practice Incident in Pharmacy How a practice incident is documented matters just as much as what is documented. Across Canada, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) programs, such as CQI+ in Alberta, CIRCL in British Columbia, AIMS in Ontario, and similar frameworks in other provinces, emphasize learning, system improvement, and patient […]
How Inconsistent Dose Expressions Can Lead to Medication Incidents Medication incidents are often associated with wrong drugs or wrong patients, but in many cases, risk arises from something far less obvious: how a dose is written or displayed. Differences in units of measure, such as micrograms versus milligrams, can create confusion across prescribing systems, pharmacy […]
