Pharmacy

Introduction

The Pharmacy Complex Structure is an operative unit working in strong collaboration and synergy with the several company branches of the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute, ensuring the performance of basic pharmaceutical and clinical functions provided by the legislation in force. The structure is articulated into areas, through which the different activities are developed.

Management of drugs, medical devices, prosthesis material and other health material

The pharmacy supplies pharmaceutical services focused on a safe and appropriate use of drugs and of the other health material. The monitoring and vigilance on the pharmaceutical prescriptions, with health-epidemiologic and managerial-administrative aims, developed by the Pharmacy Service, are an essential part of a comprehensive strategy targeting the properness of health interventions. The management of pharmaceutical products belongs to the area of basic hospital pharmacy, which includes all the activities that are, traditionally, performed by the internal pharmacy services of hospitals. In details:

Technical consulting for the setting and management of purchasing procedures for pharmaceutical products;
Studies and research on new drugs and other materials, inquiry for possible acquisitions;
Provision of pharmaceutical products;
Distribution of materials to wards, assistential services and services of experimental research;
Management of pharmaceutical stores;
Pharmaceutical information and consulting in phase of discharge.

The implementation of this activity involves a strict collaboration and interaction with the Institute health staff, the research center and the administrative offices.

Clinical pharmacy

This area is dedicated to the development of activities aiming to realize a better utilization of drugs, through the acquisition and diffusion of the knowledge needed for the decisional process of selection, prescription and use of pharmaceuticals. The Pharmacy Service actively participates in the editing of the Hospital Therapeutic Vade-Mecums (Drugs, Medical Devices, Medications, Surgical Suture, Antiseptics and Disinfectants), providing the clinical staff and the other health operators with valid tools, uniform at the regional level, for a long-range choice according to scientific and economic criteria.
Moreover, new issues in the field of drugs are faced: from pharmacological-pharmaceutical aspects to pharmacoepidemiology. The area of Clinical Pharmacy includes the management of drugs under clinical testing, spontaneous and/or sponsored. The implementation of this activity involves a strict collaboration with the several operative units (directors, MDs, head nurses, nurses and so forth) and with the pharmaceutical companies (for instance Monitor), and aims to ensure a correct management of drugs in phase of testing, in case of either prepackaged pharmaceuticals, or drugs to set within personalized therapies.

Galenic Production

The Galenic Laboratory of the Rizzoli Pharmacy peforms both a traditional galenic activity (production of ointments, gels, antiseptic solutions, preparations for oral use and so forth) and Galenic clinical activity (setting of specific formulations for internal protocols: infusion solutions, blends for Total Parenteral Nutrition, sterile solutions for analgesic therapies, formulations for controlled clinical studies).

Security

The Security activity is conceived as:

Security in the ward, consisting in the inspection of the wards’ medical cabinets, performed with the registration and diffusion of results, together with a control over the management of psychotropic and narcotic substances;
Security of pharmaceutical products (drugs and medical devices), articulated into the following areas of responsibility: (1) reception of warnings and/or recalls from pharmaceutical companies of from the Ministry of Health, and prompt disclosure to the health staff; (2) reception of warnings about adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals, accidents or missed accidents due to medical devices (through a specific ministerial form), with immediate disclosure to the companies and the Ministry of Health.