Glasgow • 4 September 2018
An initiative that led to 80% of nursing homes in Singapore choosing to benefit from pharmaceutical care has been jointly awarded this year’s Pharmacy Practice Improvement Award by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). The award, given to the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS), was announced today at the 78th World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and is shared with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) for a model of care that maximises the opportunity for pharmacists to contribute to vaccine coverage.
The aim of the Singaporean nursing home care programme was to bring a structured, consistent and high quality approach to improving medication management in care homes. The programme comprises: medication audit (where pharmacists identify areas of improvement during visits to homes and work closely with nursing staff on improvements); medication reviews for patients at least every six months; training and education (provided by pharmacists to enhance medication knowledge and skills for nursing home staff); and drug information (where pharmacists provide knowledge and advice). In its first year, pharmacists identified and solved 451 drug-related problems in 11 nursing homes. Feedback from nursing home staff and other healthcare professionals was positive. The PSS has since worked with its country’s Agency for Integrated Care to widen the reach of this programme, which now covers around 60 nursing homes. The programme has also strengthened relations between the PSS and Ministry of Health regulatory bodies. “This international award is a milestone achievement for the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore Intermediate Long Term Care Pharmacists Workgroup. It is a great encouragement to us as advocates to continue to collaborate with various stakeholders to improve pharmaceutical care for the benefit of the public,” said Grace Lee, PSS Intermediate Long-term Care Pharmacist Workgroup Chairperson.
The joint winner of FIP’s 2018 Pharmacy Practice Improvement Award is the APhA’s “Project IMPACT Immunizations”, a model designed to allow pharmacists access to a patient’s vaccination history when he or she has an influenza vaccination. The history is accessed via software that generates a “vaccine forecast” based on US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, which the pharmacist can use to recommend other vaccinations and administer them at the point of care. The programme has resulted in a 41% increase in the number of vaccines administered as well as confirmation that adult vaccination needs are better addressed when pharmacists have two-way access to immunisation records. “The results of Project IMPACT Immunizations validate that pharmacists can help identify and resolve unmet vaccination needs by recommending appropriate vaccines based on a person’s individual needs, particularly when equipped with innovative point-of-care technologies that support a streamlined process of care. We are encouraged by the outcomes of the pilot and look forward to scaling this model in more community pharmacy practice settings,” said Benjamin Bluml, RPh Senior Vice President, Research and Innovation, at the APhA Foundation.
Work to introduce the idea of the “family pharmacist” to the Belgian population and to get members of the public to cement this special relationship with their chosen pharmacist through the signing of a contract has won FIP’s 2018 Health Promotion Campaign Award for the Association of Pharmacists of Belgium (APB). The agreement is open to all, but is particularly aimed at patients with a chronic condition, for whom the cost is covered by health insurance. A family pharmacist keeps the patient’s medication plan updated and makes it available to the healthcare team and the patient. As a result of the campaign, entitled “My pharmacist knows me, I sign up”, more than 80% of pharmacists provide this service and 400,000 contracts have been signed. The association solicited and received support from numerous stakeholders, including the country’s health minister, who demonstrated signing up at a press conference. “This award is a huge recognition of the hard work of all Belgian community pharmacists and a crucial step towards implementing advanced pharmaceutical care in Belgium,” said Frank Crasson, APB Marketing and Communication Director.
Notes for editors
Images: Picture of the awards being given are available here.
ABOUT FIP
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global federation of national associations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, and is in official relations with the World Health Organization. Through its 140 member organisations, it represents over four million practitioners and scientists around the world. www.fip.org
About the World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
FIP’s 78th annual World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is being held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, from 2 to 6 September. Some 3,014 pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists from 108 countries are in attendance.
PRESS CONTACT
Lin-Nam Wang, communications manager
Email linnam@fip.org
Tel +31 6 316 29160