Pharmacy board recommends pharmacies keep veterinary reference materials

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has amended its Model State Pharmacy Act to require human pharmacies that dispense veterinary drugs to have at least one current reference on veterinary drugs, such as Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). The NABP Model State Pharmacy act provides state boards of pharmacy with model language for developing laws and rules that help protect public health.

The change was prompted by an NABP resolution calling for pharmacists who dispense medications for veterinary patients to have the competence and access to the resources necessary to dispense appropriately and provide patient care, according to the the NABP's September newsletter. “To fulfill the mandate of the resolution, the Committee on Law Enforcement/Legislation added a facility requirement for a veterinary drug therapy reference for pharmacies that engage in veterinary drug dispensing,” the newsletter reads.

A second resolution was adopted that encourages the development of veterinary pharmacology education at schools and colleges of human pharmacy, in collaboration with veterinary medicine schools.

This move by the national pharmacy board could be a step in the right direction for the veterinarian-pharmacist relationship. Veterinarians have long felt frustration after finding out that pharmacists who filled their patients' prescriptions had changed doses or even given different medications entirely. In 2012, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association asked its members to tally the number of mistakes they encountered in human pharmacy-filled prescriptions, the results of which indicated that these were not isolated incidents.