Workshop 1: The pharmacist’s role in the drugs and therapeutics committee

Linked to EAHP Statements

Section 1 – Introductory Statements and Governance: Statement 1.6
Section 2 – Selection, Procurement and Distribution: Statements 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

ACPE UAN: 0475-0000-18-027-L04-P. An application based activity.

Abstract

Drugs & Therapeutics Committee (DTC) evaluates the clinical use of medicines, develops policies for managing medicine use and administration and finally proposes and continually updates the hospital’s Drug Formulary.

The participating hospital pharmacist (usually the Director of Pharmaceutical Service) plays a leading role in the multidisciplinary team, reviewing all the available data by the aspects of patient safety, clinical outcome and pharmacoeconomic assessment (in terms of values, efficacy, outcomes for both the patient and the hospital for example payment by social security). Medicine use problems, such as approved indications, adverse reaction reports, procurement and distribution procedures, relevant shortages, prescribing protocols or even specific issues as antimicrobial stewardship, are some of the indicative themes discussed in the meetings of DTC. Ιn cases of prolonged shortages of irreplaceable medications, DTC is responsible to propose (if possible) an alternative scenario, to design the central dispensing of low stock unique medicines and inform properly the healthcare staff and the administration of the hospital, as well as the health authorities for the consequences of these shortages.

All the above underline the crucial role of DTC in holistic Health Technology Assessment (HTA). As part of DTC, senior hospital pharmacists must guide and lead the development of a local implementation plan in evolving pharmacy services, through efficient collaboration with the other members of DTC, the hospital’s Scientific Committee and finally the hospital’s Manager.

Learning objectives

After the session, the participant should be able to:
• Decision making process in DTC;
• Creating and updating the formulary according to pharmacoeconomic and therapeutic data; and,
• Case studies presentation.

Educational need addressed

Involving Statements 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, this workshop provides hospital pharmacists the guidelines for good practice and transparent procedures in procurement and medication management in the hospital environment,explaining how to “inspire” as leader of the multidisciplinary DTC the other members of the team, and the hospital’s administration.

Keywords: drug formulary, health technology assessment, pharmacoeconomics, decision making process.

Handouts: Hanne Plet and Noemí Martínez López de Castro