MAPflow is a health-tech platform from Waterloo that’s changing how Canadians access healthcare by modernizing pharmacy practices and improving patient care nationwide.
Dr. Nardine Nakhla, a pharmacist and one of the co-founders of MAPflow, participated in the Ontario College of Pharmacists’ Minor Ailments Advisory Group that guided regulatory updates made in 2023. These changes enable pharmacists to prescribe medications independently for 19 minor conditions, with an additional 14 under review for 2026.
Seeing the need for a tool to help pharmacists adapt to these new regulations, Nakhla and her co-founders created MAPflow to assist pharmacists in evaluating and prescribing treatments for minor ailments. The platform simplifies workflows and automates record-keeping while ensuring adherence to regulations, allowing pharmacists to dedicate more time to patient care instead of paperwork.
“MAPflow was built in Canada for pharmacists, with the deep understanding that technology should amplify human expertise – not replace it,” Nakhla says. “Our algorithms provide evidence-based guidance that empower pharmacists to make informed clinical judgements.”
The platform fits seamlessly into a pharmacist’s workflow, utilizing algorithms that take into account both patient-specific and condition-specific details to create personalized care plans. Currently, the tech automates documentation while keeping practicing pharmacists central to its development and clinical decision-making process, ensuring it addresses real-world needs.
“As AI evolves, we’re committed to using it to enhance clinical decision-making while preserving the irreplaceable human elements – empathy, clinical intuition and therapeutic relationship – that define excellent pharmacy care,” Nakhla adds. “At the same time, we’re leveraging AI to streamline administrative tasks, giving pharmacists more time to focus on what matters most – patient care.”
MAPflow is unique in offering both comprehensive holistic care and true province-specific customization with algorithms and documentation tailored to each jurisdiction’s specific regulations. Currently supporting over 2,000 pharmacy locations across nine provinces, the team aims for full national coverage by 2026.
MAPflow is also revolutionizing pharmacy education. Students at Waterloo as well as six other pharmacy schools and technician programs throughout Canada use the platform in their professional practice courses, gaining practical experience with regulatory-compliant tools designed to prepare them for technology-enabled team-based care right from day one.
“We have achieved a 97.8 per cent symptom resolution or significant improvement rate at follow-up which is well above the national average of 80.8 per cent,” Nakhla says. “This is not just about efficiency. It is about delivering measurably better patient outcomes through technology-enabled excellence.”
MAPflow’s achievements come from collaboration across disciplines. Nakhla brings her clinical and regulatory knowledge while her co-founders, Dr. Andrea Edginton, MAPflow’s chief operating officer and Hallman Director of the School of Pharmacy offers strategic leadership along with operational insights; Michael Sevestre serves as MAPflow’s chief technology officer bringing forth technical vision that transformed clinical workflows into an easy-to-use platform.
From left to right: Dr. Andrea Edginton, MAPflow’s CEO and Hallman Director of the School of Pharmacy; Nakhla; Michael Sevestre, co-founder and chief technology officer at MAPflow.
Their vision goes beyond just addressing minor ailments. The team is working on expanding support for pharmacists across all aspects of practice including chronic disease management, medication reviews as well as preventative care services that are emerging now. By merging clinical insight with technological advancements they’re creating a scalable model for pharmacy-based healthcare ready to change how Canadians access care-and inspire changes far beyond Canada’s borders.
Source link
Source link
