FIP News 23 May 2012

FIP representatives were in Geneva over the past week to hold a FIP Ex-Co Meeting and o-host the World Health Professions Alliance annual luncheon and attend the following WHO World Health Assembly.  FIP looks forward to releasing new developments of these meetings as they unfold.

Educating Pharmacists on Tuberculosis
In Hyderabad, FIP and WHO signed a joint statement on the role of pharmacists in TB control and care, under the understanding that this role should be based on competences of pharmacists. As such FIP would like to collect all the education developed by FIP member organisations on TB care, so that these educations could be inspirational for other MOs.
Such examples would be made available on the FIP website, in the members’ only part.
 
Please send to [email protected] us a copy of the educational tools, such as:

• Guidelines for pharmacists
• Book/training programme developed by your organisation
• Links to webinars and any other types of education

IPA forms partnership to fight TB
The Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) is pleased to announce a new official partnership between them and several other Indian institutions (including The Central TB Division Directorate of Health Services and the SEARPharm Forum, to name but two) to strengthen the involvement of pharmacists in the identification and referral of TB patients in India.

This is a monumental move for all parties and sets the state through improved care and control of TB via the work of pharmacists – congratulations to all!

Click here to read the full Memorandum of Understanding on the FIP website.

Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society works to accredit pharmacies
The Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) is working with the Health Ministry to develop an accreditation guideline for pharmacies nationwide. MPS president Datuk Nancy Ho said the accreditation was to ensure no monopoly occurred over medicine and healthcare.

“It is hoped that all pharmacies will eventually be accredited to rule out a monopoly’ situation,” she said in an email to The Malay Mail.

Read the full story here

ASHP supports move for greater pharmacists involvement in patient care
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) applauds the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for its change to the conditions of participation for hospitals and critical access hospitals that will allow these organizations to grant privileges to pharmacists.

Read the full story here

The campaign will focus on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry’s brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) because of the serious danger they pose to public health.

Read more here 

Read the full story here

Report says prescribing should be reviewed by pharmacists
A GMC review found that one in 20 prescriptions from GPs contained a prescribing or monitoring error and one in 550 was associated with a serious error. Errors affected prescriptions for around one in six patients.

The review recommended that practices should conduct pharmacist-supported audits using prescribing safety indicators and correct any problems identified. The GMC said it would forward its recommendations to the DH, Care Quality Commission (CQC) and RCGP.

Read the full story here