VIDEO | Networking between experiences of excellence: the first module of MasterPharm 2024 concluded

Cattel (MasterPharm): "We work on the four poles of the hospital pharmacy, innovation, sustainability and governance quadrangle"

TURIN – ‘Hospital pharmacy, between innovation, sustainability and governance: the debate of the first Masterpharm 2024 module developed around these four poles, which achieved its objective, obtaining great participation, delving into some very valid regional experiences, bringing to a broadening of the number of participants compared to past editions, and leading to a clear definition and support of the concept of a multi-professional network.

This is how Francesco Cattel (Coordinator of Masterpharm and director of the complex hospital pharmacy structure of the University Hospital Città della Salute e della Scienza of Turin) comments on the closing of the first appointment of Masterpharm 2024, a training event which for three years has Turin caters to the world of hospital pharmacists.

The choice of Cattel and the Scientific Committee for the first module of 2024 – which saw the presence of around 100 professionals – was to develop a comparison over three days between the hospital pharmacies of some Italian regions, to highlight experiences and excellence in the sector in a broad panorama of topics ranging from organization to prescriptive appropriateness, from hospital-territory management to automation in the pharmaceutical setting.

The Turin event – opened by the contributions of Nello Martini and Giovanna Scroccaro – thus saw the sharing of professional experiences from Piedmont, Lazio, Lombardy, Campania, Sicily, Marche, Abruzzo, and Liguria, in an event sponsored by SIFO (which was also present with the greetings of the president Arturo Cavaliere) and SIFACT (with the greetings of Francesca Venturini, past president) and inaugurated with the speeches of Lorenzo Angelone and Antonio Scarmozzino (Health Management, AOU Città della Salute, Turin), Franco Ripa (Director of Programming, Piedmont Region Healthcare) and the Directors of the School of Medicine, Umberto Ricardi, and of the School of Hospital Pharmacy, Gianluca Miglio, of the University of Turin.

At the center of the event were some regional experiences of excellence, activities and projects in which hospital pharmacists showed ‘a new way’ of managing usual contexts, or an original way of addressing innovative issues.

Among the latter – bringing the experience developed on the territory of the Lazio region – Marcello Pani (SIFO national secretary and Pharmacy Director Policlinico Gemelli, Rome) contributed to the story of the regional experience with experimental drugs, developed in the ‘pharmacy of experimental understood as a real unit perimetered and distinct from the Hospital Pharmacy even if obviously it is always managed by the latter.

‘In structures that do a lot of research such as the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital – underlined Panici – there are hundreds of active trials that embrace many different disciplines. It is therefore very important for us to correctly manage all the activities that take place in the experimental pharmacy, also to ensure compliance with Italian and European regulations, which provides for isolated and separate activities from other ordinary actions carried out in the hospital pharmacy. /p>

In this context, the professionals from Lazio presented the choices of guaranteeing a specific warehouse, with a medicine storage and conservation system which complies with all the regulations established by current national legislation and also a dedicated galenics structure, which serves to prepare therapies which require preliminary preparation before clinical trials on patients.

For their part, the experiences of Sicily (with the coordination of Maurizio Pastorello), Marche (with Mauro Mancini) and Abruzzo (coordinator Andrea Marinozzi) have deepened the regional experiences developed in the field of robotics, molecular tumor boards and clinical research, always in the logic of sharing experiences capable of leading to tangible professional ‘upgrades’. The hospital pharmacists of Campania brought experiences coordinated by Simona Serao Creazzola, Adriano Vercellone and Ugo Trama (president of the next SIFO Congress).

‘The experiences we presented at Masterpharm start primarily from the regional therapeutic handbook – said Simona Serao Creazzola (Director of the Pharmaceutical Department, ASL1, Naples) – This is an important architecture created to facilitate access to innovative therapies from part of the patients in Campania’. Added to this was the presentation of the centralization process of the regional warehouses of Campania, which will be able to guarantee centralized distribution on behalf. Serao Creazzola commented: ‘We are not trailblazers on this topic, therefore it is certainly useful to see how other regions are moving on the same topic: for this reason it is important to have a place like Masterpharm which allows for a comparison between different realities which discuss similar issues with a view to a change that will have useful consequences for both citizens and professionals.

Change which for Lombardy, according to the voice of Emanuela Omodeo Salè (member of the SIFO Board and Pharmacy Director, IEO, Milan) session coordinator together with Roberto Langella, also passes through ‘system’ organizational changes: ‘In Lombardy we are at the beginning of a new regional paradigm – said Omodeo Salé – which will lead the patient to decide how to move from the hospital to the area. Obviously it will be important to clearly define the perimeters and areas of competence of hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists. Therefore we can say that the need to create a clear reference network will be fundamental for healthcare in Lombardy: for this reason we believe the contribution that our profession can offer to regional organizational reflection is very useful.

The consideration is central: the hospital pharmacist can make a substantial contribution precisely where in the regional territories there is a need to plan and create a new organization and (therefore) network. It is a theme also highlighted by Barbara Rebesco (Director of Drug Policy, Medical Devices and Prosthetics, ALISA, Genoa), who brought the Ligurian experience relating to the management of infectious diseases in the COVID19 period and in antimicrobial stewardship.

‘Starting from the pandemic period we created a cohesive team based on a well-defined network model, which led us to promptly manage innovative therapies’ declared Rebesco, who also underlined how ‘the birth in Liguria of Regional intercompany departments-Diar, is precisely a governance choice based on the implementation of the advantages of an active and efficient network’. A consideration also shared by Matteo Bassetti (Clinical Director of Infectious Diseases, IRCCS San Martino, Genoa), who underlined that ‘today collaboration between the pharmacist and the clinician is very important.

Precisely COVID19 has given new impetus to the widespread multidisciplinary approach: in Liguria we have tested the model of dialogue between local pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, local doctors and hospital in a particularly effective way. I believe that carrying forward a similar model, rightly respecting the peculiarities of each individual region, is fundamental.

Franco Ripa’s introductory words ‘the most effective results in events are obtained when a balanced mix between managerial culture and technical-professional culture is achieved. In this way, the best results for the citizen’s health are ensured: and Masterpharm has all the characteristics to belong to this category.

Characteristics that were confirmed in the progress of the three days, which saw around sixty speakers sharing contents and reflections in a context of nine sessions, to which pharmaco-economists, oncologists, experts in rare diseases also brought their contributions (including Dario Roccatello, coordinator of the Piedmont Network), experts in healthcare logistics and digital therapeutics.

The next Masterpharm24 event is scheduled for next November, when – again in Turin – the second module will be held, which will see a comparison between Italian and international experiences on the ‘four poles’ already indicated by Francesco Cattel, ‘and which – adds the course manager – it will compare European and North American experiences on the topics of hospital pharmacy, innovation, sustainability and governance of medicines, also broadening its gaze and moving towards a detailed analysis of healthcare services in the age of therapeutic and organizational innovations’.