It’s time to prioritize the various roles of the pharmacist

I read with interest your recent opinion editorial, “Time to give up on expanded scope of practice,”1 which suggests that all pharmacists’ expanded services should be considered “essential” and all patients should be “entitled” to receive them. I agree that pharmacists are able to obtain competency in providing many services, administering travel vaccines and diagnosing/managing (UTIs) Urinary Tract Infections among them. However, although it would be ideal to be able to provide all things to all patients, the reality is that we live in a society of limited resources. This means that practising pharmacists are required to choose among the myriad of services they could be providing. In management terms, this means we must determine how to prioritize the various service options available so that pharmacists are able to decide what services are most appropriate for us to make available to our patients