Repositioning Pharmacists: The NSPR Approach

The Nova Scotia Pharmacy Regulator (NSPR) is committed to a proactive and innovative approach to pharmacy regulation that keeps the public's health interests at its core. This commitment to meaningful progress, not just the easy path forward, means proactively identifying and addressing risks to public health.

To be effective, the NSPR invests time and resources in collaborative solutions, ensuring its work is informed by current evidence from both the frontlines of healthcare and policy research. Every initiative is guided by a central question: “What does the public need us to do so they can get the care they need from their pharmacy professional?”

Recently, this work has included repositioning pharmacists within primary care to ensure the public realizes the full benefit of their knowledge and skills. The NSPR has introduced a new regulatory sandbox to support data-driven policy, including its innovative StaffWISE model, and has modernized its licensing pathways to build the pharmacy workforce needed for this transformation.

As a result, the NSPR is seen as a leader for its outcomes-based approach to regulation. Its work is setting a new standard for the profession provincially, nationally, and internationally.