CAIRO - After two decades, pharmacists' dreams of applying uniform standards in the practice of clinical pharmacy in Egypt have finally come true. The Ministry of Health and the Pharmacologists' Association are administering a project that establishes uniform standards and focuses on the professional development of industry staff. The project will be applied nation-wide. The project aims at promoting pharmacist' careers to cope with global development in the industry through practical training that is more aligned with the healthcare needs of patients. The professional development programme covers all service providers including pharmacists practising in hospitals, community pharmacies, nursing homes and other setting where medicines are prescribed. According to Dr Mohamed Abdul Gawad, head of Pharmacologists' Association, the National Tumour Institute (NTI) is the first health facility that applied clinical pharmacy in Egypt in 1996. He said that two decades ago, he advised the state-owned Ain Shams Hospital to administer the clinical pharmacy specialty, however, the manager at that time refused for many reasons. The experiment at NTI proved that the application of clinical pharmacy is successful as a result of applying clinical pharmacy practices, unnecessary side effects experienced by patients have remarkably reduced and therapy expenditures also decreased. He also added that services have improved on whole at the institute. “However, recently I visited the previous hospital and suggested to apply the same idea and I was surprised when the manager welcomed the idea of applying clinical pharmacy at the hospital," Dr. Abdul Gawad noted. He stated that the Association's goals include awarding new graduates with certificates in the clinical pharmacy field and providing hospitals with funds to set up needed laboratories to enable better co-ordination with pharmaceutical companies. That announcement was made during the celebration for launching the project held in Cairo last week, in collaboration with Hoffman Roche Company. Roll-out has been divided into three stages; the first one includes applying clinical pharmacy in seven governorates, Cairo, Giza, Qaliubia, Gharbia, Alexandria, Behira and Kafr el Sheikh. Also, 60 at 16 hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health have already chosen to be trained of this speciality, which is three months long. Dr. Khairi Abdul Daim, Chairman of Doctors' Association, stressed that the medical team at hospitals should include a pharmacist to help physicians make treatment decisions that are in patients' best interests. Patient progress will also be monitored to determine the effectiveness of medications. Additionally, clinical pharmacist can instruct patients about how to properly use drug therapies, he added. Dr. Abdul Daiem stressed that pharmacies should include clinical pharmacist whose role is not restricted to selling pharmaceutical products only. Rather, pharmacists should accurately read prescriptions, define doses and ensure that prescribed medications mix well with other pharmaceuticals, healthcare products and foods, and tell patients about potential side effects. According to Dr. Alaa Hadad, the NTI manager noted that the clinical pharmacy strategy that started at the Institute in 1996 began in the paediatric section to save funds, however, its benefits actually exceeded financial expectations. Consequently, clinical pharmacy practices were broadly applied at various places throughout the institute such as, the in-and-out patients clinics, paediatrics and oncology divisions, says Dr. Hadad. "The National Tumour Institute, as a teaching hospital, is applying clinical pharmacy, in addition to conducting training programmes in pharmacology for graduates at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, who plan to work in the field," said Dr. Hadad. He added that he also worked at hospital 57357 so he couldn't work without supporting the clinical pharmacist. Clinical pharmacists represent a defensive line against mistakes that sometimes creep into the medical field, especially where adverse drug interactions are concerned. The aim of clinical pharmacy is to provide various types of services to healthcare professionals and patients. Physicians, nurses and clinical pharmacists must make independent and collective decisions at each stage of treatment.
