Tag: FIP

A toolkit for medicines reconciliation is the latest resource produced by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) to support pharmacists in improving patient safety and contribute to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) third Global Patient Safety Challenge — “Medication without harm”. Under this programme of change, the WHO lists care transitions as one of three priority areas that need effective action in order to protect patients.

Transitions of care (such as admission to a healthcare facility, transfer between settings within a facility and at discharge, and also across different prescribers in community settings) can potentially lead to patient harm due to unintentional changes in medication or poor communication. A recent Cochrane review, for example, found that 55.9% of patients are at risk of having one or more medication discrepancies at transitions of care.(1) Such medication discrepancies can lead to secondary illnesses, hospital admissions and even deaths. Medicines reconciliation is a standardised process that involves obtaining a patient’s comprehensive current medication list and reviewing it in relation to medication requested or used in any new setting, in order to identify and resolve any discrepancies in medication frequency, route, dose, combination and therapeutic purpose.

“Medicines reconciliation represents a key service across all transitions of care and, when led by pharmacists, is effective in reducing medication-related harm to patients. With this service, pharmacists can apply their medicines expertise to minimise errors and optimise medicines use, resulting in positive impacts on patient, clinical and economic outcomes. Medicines reconciliation should be practised in every healthcare setting,” said FIP CEO Dr Catherine Duggan.

FIP’s toolkit on medicines reconciliation outlines the principles and important processes that pharmacists should follow when providing this professional service. It summarises the definitions, impact and procedures for the implementation of pharmacist-led medicines reconciliation in both community and hospital healthcare settings, and offers a set of tools to support practice.

“Medicines reconciliation could eliminate medication discrepancies at transitions of care if the required resources are made available. The FIP toolkit can also be used as a guide to inform practice models and influence decision-makers and pharmacy practitioners to set up or remodel medicines reconciliation processes,” Dr Duggan added.

A Spanish project that evaluated the improvement, maintenance and adherence to therapy achieved by a pharmacy adherence service in patients with hypertension, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. has jointly won the Internation Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Pharmacy Practice Improvement Award for 2020.

The winning initiative of the joint awardee, the General Pharmaceutical Council of Spain (GPCS), is a research project called AdherenciaMED.

Its first phase, involving 98 community pharmacies and 1,186 patients, found a 50% increase in adherence in the intervention group compared with a 20% increase in the control group. Improvements included better clinical control and increased quality of life for patients with asthma.

The service consists of pharmaceutical advice provided to patients based on evidence-based models for behavioural change, as well as using strategies such as monitored dosage systems and education on inhaler technique. Interventions are recorded electronically. The initiative includes support to pharmacies from a practice change facilitator, who helps pharmacists implement the changes needed to incorporate the service into their daily routine.

The service was also found to be cost-effective. For every EUR 1 invested, the service provided value of EUR 38 per patient within six months. A second phase of the project looked at implementation aspects and determined that 75% of pharmacies were able to fully provide the service at six months and successfully integrate the service into their daily practice.

Mr Jesús Aguilar Santamaría, GPCS president, said:

“The General Pharmaceutical Council of Spain welcomes the international recognition of this work. Lack of adherence to therapy is one of the main challenges for healthcare professionals and healthcare systems and, in Spain, is estimated to generate an expenditure of EUR 11,250m per year.”

International Pharmaceutical Federation’s (FIP) 2020 Health Promotion Campaign Award went to the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Young Pharmacists’ Group (PSN-YPG), which developed a suicide prevention campaign that was held on World Mental Health Day.

Working in partnership with the Suicide Prevention Institute of Nigeria and mental health advocacy and rehabilitation organisations, 40 young pharmacist volunteers were trained on managing mental health issues. They chose to take their campaign, which consisted of three elements: an educational series on social media, a health walk and a public engagement exercise in a community with a high incidence of drug abuse in central Lagos.

Information was given in the five languages common to the community, both verbally and through flyers. The campaign reached over 1,150 people and about 200 people were referred to the partner organisations involved in the campaign for follow-up.

Yinka Oguns, the coordinator of PSN-YPG Lagos commented:

“Nearly 80% of suicides occur in low and middle-income countries. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds in the world, and Nigeria is not an exception.

“Despite the staggering statistics, awareness is relatively low and mental health issues are spoken about in hushed tones. This campaign enabled pharmacists, as key players in public health, to shed more light on this issue, and we are very proud to receive this international award.”