Good morning, honourable members of the committee. It is with great pleasure and honour that I speak to you today about post-market surveillance of pharmaceutical products.
My name is James D'Astolfo, the founder and president of the Canadian Men in Nursing Group.
Our organization represents men in the nursing profession and is made up of registered nurses, practical nurses, and nursing students. Our organization's mission is to provide a voice for men in nursing, in the hope of supporting and strengthening the image of nursing. We intend to pursue our mission by collaborating with governments, organizations, and other health care professionals and by showing leadership in our communities and internationally. Additionally, it is our organization's mandate to ensure that health issues are being heard both by governments and within other organizations.
I'm sharing my time today with Mr. Irfan Aslam, vice-president and director of finance for the Canadian Men in Nursing Group.
Nurses play an active role in the safety, efficacy, and handling of prescription and non-prescription drugs and provide administration, education, and support to patients and their families, both in their communities and in acute and non-acute health organizations. We have outlined a number of recommendations, which we hope the committee will adopt as part of its blueprint for renewal.
Here are our recommendations on consumer safety. Consumer safety is an important aspect in the handling of both prescription and non-prescription drugs and plays an important role in ensuring that the safety of Canadians is of high priority.
Recommendation one is to provide front-line health care workers, like nurses, with information on changes to pharmaceutical products.
Recommendation two is to ensure that nurses are equipped with resources and ongoing educational training to prevent medication errors in both acute and non-acute health organizations. The California Institute for Health Systems Performance stated in its report in 2001 that in improved work environments, promoting ongoing education was of importance.
Bar coding medication systems, other assistive devices, and educational workshops and in-services also play a critical role in reducing medication errors. The bar code system has been used to prevent medication errors. The bar code proposal would create a system in which patients receive a bar-coded identification bracelet that is linked to their medical history. Scanners linked to computerized medical records would verify that the proper medication is used. It was estimated through the FDA that the bar code system would reduce medication errors by 50%, making a significant financial saving.
Recommendation three is to ensure that medication labels are required to have both the generic and trade names on their products, that medication instructions are included and given to both the consumer and the health professional, that these instructions be translated into different ethnic languages to ensure effective compliance, and that they be made available through pharmacies in Canada.
Medication guidelines have been used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help patients avoid serious adverse effects, inform patients of side effects of their products, and enhance the directions for the use of the product for its effectiveness.
Recommendation four. Canada being a very multicultural country, many ethic groups do not use only prescription and non-prescription drugs, but herbal and natural remedies as well. Some people believe that herbal products are harmless, but it is estimated that about one-third of drugs, including digitalis, morphine, and several chemotherapeutic agents, were developed from plants. So indeed, herbs are potent products.
Herbs can affect body functioning, and therefore, when herbs are taken concurrently with drugs, interactions are possible. This is why it is important that the committee look at including interactions between herbal remedies and pharmaceuticals as part of the Canadian adverse drug reaction monitoring program.