Al Ain, November 16^th 2008: Tawam Hospital in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine, hosted the first international pharmacy conference at the Intercontinental Hotel, Al Ain on November 15^th - 16^th with the theme 'Broader Horizons in Pharmacy Practice.'

With key speakers from the US, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and the UAE, the pharmacy conference brought together leaders in the fields of hospital and clinical pharmacy practices as well as medication safety to discuss the emerging role of pharmacists both nationally and internationally.

"As the role of pharmacists has evolved over the years from solely dispensing drugs to medication monitoring and governing medication safety, we are committed to staying abreast of these changes and ensuring that medication safety remains a top priority for Tawam," said Dr. Hashem A. Tarifi, Head of Pharmacy at Tawam Hospital.

The pharmacy conference addressed the growing issues of medication safety within hospitals and healthcare systems and also touched-base on the latest trends in managing chronic diseases; heart failure, kidney disease, and developing programs for pain and infection control in hospitals. Briefings on hot topics in technology and biotechnology were also presented.

Incorporated into the program were three workshops, the Global Strategic Plan for Hospital Pharmacy Practice as set forth by the International Pharmaceutical Federation earlier this year in Switzerland, while the other two discussed Practical and Clinical Scenarios in Parenteral Nutrition and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring respectively.

The keynote speaker at the conference, Dr. Manasse, Executive Vice President and CEO of the American Society of health-system pharmacists from the US, spoke about the advancement of the practice of pharmacy and the 2015 vision of ASHP, which focused on implementation of evidence-based medicine by making sure that patients are on the medications they should be on, based on the evidence available from the "Mega" clinical studies.

"Developing high performance medication safety systems must come from a variety of resources and take a variety of systematic factors into consideration. With medication errors accounting for one of the most frequent type of error reported, developing accurate and reliable systems to measure medication safety is essential," said Dr.Manasse. He added: "There are many reasons that contribute to medication errors; lack of employee knowledge, misinterpreted handwriting, drug name confusion and poor communication."

To achieve a successful outcome, accurate communication must occur among a number of individuals: prescriber, patient, pharmacist, nurse, family members / patient guardian said Dr. Robert Feroli who spoke about Anatomy of a medication error. "Although much effort goes into diagnosing a patient's medical condition and then developing a therapeutic plan, initial steps must be integrated with the rest of the medication use process," he added.

"As the host for the first international pharmacy conference in the UAE, we are committed to raising awareness about the latest changes taking place within the pharmacy practice. Learning and teaching others about patient safety and ensuring that we set precedent for other hospitals across the country is top priority for Tawam," said Mr. Michael Heindel, CEO of Tawam Hospital.

-Ends-

About Tawam Hospital
Tawam Hospital is a premier, 477-bed tertiary care facility located in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, and the largest of the United Arab Emirates. Tawam serves as a regional referral centre for specialized medical care and a national referral centre for oncology services. Though it offers services in all specialties, the hospital is best known for its neonatal care, emergency medicine, intensive care, oncology services and state-of-the-art cardiac care.

In 2006 Tawam Hospital entered a ten year affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine International demonstrating the hospital's commitment to providing the best services in the GCC region whilst minimizing patient referrals overseas.

Tawam Hospital will be launching new services in 2008 and will begin an entire revamping project resulting in state of the art facilities providing the hospitals' patients with the most recent technological facilities in the region meeting international standards.

About Johns Hopkins Medicine
When The Johns Hopkins Hospital and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine were established in Baltimore, USA, over a century ago, the founding physicians had a goal: to lead the world in treating diseases. Today, the name Johns Hopkins is synonymous with just that. Johns Hopkins Medicine continues to provide international leadership in the education of physicians and medical scientists, in biomedical research, and in the application of medical knowledge to sustain health.

About SEHA
SEHA is health in Arabic.  The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company - whose corporate identity is SEHA - is an independent, public joint stock company created to manage and develop the curative activities of the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.  SEHA is committed to providing quality, cost effective healthcare on par with international standards measured through accessibility, affordability, choice and satisfaction. SEHA manages eight hospital systems totaling 14 facilities, 2,472 licensed beds, more than 55 Primary Health Clinics and 14,350 employees.

For more information, please contact:
Sumaya Al Harrasi
Business Development Senior Officer
Tawam Hospital
Tel: +971-3-7072160
Fax: +971-3-7075192
Mobile: +971508338700
E-mail: sharrasi@tawam-hosp.gov.ae 

Michelle Johns
PR Executive
O2 Public Relations
Tel: +971-4-3122777
Fax: +971-4-3122700
Mobile: +971-501453625
E-mail: michelle.j@o2mc.net 

© Press Release 2008

 

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