The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and Pharmapod have signed a partnership, to offer an infrastructure for effective incident management and continuous quality improvement for pharmacists internationally.
Medication errors are a significant global problem, impacting millions of lives daily. In response to the World Health Organization's Patient Safety Challenge to reduce these errors by 50% over the next 5 years, pharmacists as medication experts are taking a lead role in developing and adopting effective solutions to improve processes across the healthcare system and prevent patient harm.
Pharmapod are driving worldwide change in patient safety with its Global Learning Health System. This is an award-winning, professionally-led solution which has rolled out across pharmacies, hospitals and long-term care facilities internationally ̶ for example, it is the mandated system for the largest medication safety program of its kind in Canada, involving over 4,500 pharmacies.
The system helps drive improvements in quality and efficiencies in process, which are demonstrable and measurable for healthcare professionals. In addition to incorporating artificial intelligence tools such as machine learning into its technology, Pharmapod are now also connecting experts in medication safety internationally through establishing national response teams in each country to analyse the medication error data and develop improvement strategies.
Catherine Duggan, CEO, FIP said, "The shared aims and goals of our two organisations provide the perfect environment to formalise existing collaborations and joint working, which is an important step forward for Pharmapod and FIP, now and in the future. Having two international organisations working in mutually beneficial and positive ways provides an excellent framework for similar collaborations at local levels, which we will both support and encourage through our agreed work programmes in FIP Education, specifically our Workforce Development Hub. We look forward to working closely with our global partners, commonwealth partners and member organisations.”
Leonora O'Brien, Pharmapod CEO added, "Being a pharmacist myself, it is a particular honour to collaborate with FIP and contribute to our profession. Given their unique remit, the FIP team has a 360 view on international pharmacy practice which is very exciting for us. We share a global vision and our professional goals and values are aligned. Pharmacists in every country provide an extraordinary service to their public. By harnessing technology, we can strengthen communications across the profession, helping pharmacists share their expertise and accelerate improvements in practice. To improve our health systems, we have to progress from the existing 'walled gardens' ̶ we need to be able to share data and learn from each other. This is what Pharmapod's partnership with FIP aims to achieve."
FIP is recognised as the leader of pharmacy at a global level. Through its 144 membership organisations, its academic institutional members and individual members, it represents over four million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists around the world.
