Workshop Summaries

WS 1: Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitator: Ursula von Mandach, Switzerland
During this workshop participants will discuss drugs most frequently used related to pregnancy associated complaints. During this discussion problems around these drugs will be looked at, and the role of pharmacogenetics of drugs in breast feeding. In smaller groups, the participants will actively draw up and discuss a list of potential harmful drugs for the baby.

WS 2: Measuring and Improving Medication Compliance
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00 & Thursday 05-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00  
Facilitators: Marie-Paul Schneider, Switzerland, Marcel Bouvy, Netherlands, Sarah Clifford, United Kingdom
The workshop will give an overview of methodology used to measure medication compliance including patient self-report, pharmacy dispensing data and electronic measurements. Moreover possible causes of non adherence will be discussed. The participants will work on cases to calculate compliance from medication record and will learn how to discuss possible non-compliance with patients.

WS 3: Learning together - Models of Inter-professional Education
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00 & Friday 06-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Moira Kinnear, United Kingdom, Ann Snyder, USA, Dick Toering, Netherlands
Interprofessional education (IPE) has been defined as "occasions when two or more professions learn with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care" (CAIPE 2002). IPE is developing in many European countries (www.eipen.org) with and without Pharmacy integration. The aim of this workshop is to share examples from established IPE programmes and to encourage participants to consider the actions they can take in their own institutions to explore opportunities for IPE.
This is a workshop of the ESCP Education & Training SIG and the Education Committee.

WS 4: Indicators for Quality and Safety of Pharmaceutical Care
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00 & Friday 06-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Darren Ashcroft, United Kingdom, Peter Noyce, United Kingdom, Marcel Bouvy, Netherlands
Indicators are measurable elements of care that give an indication of the quality or safety of the care provided to patients. Indicators can serve different purposes, such as improving the transparency of care and generating signals for providers of care for areas that need improvement. The workshop will give an overview of basic concepts regarding the use and development of indicators for quality and safety of care in clinical pharmacy. Methodological issues in indicator development, use and interpretation will be discussed. Two indicator sets that have been developed in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will be presented.

WS 5: Examining Safety Climate and Culture in Pharmacy Settings
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30
Facilitators: Darren Ashcroft, United Kingdom, Peter Noyce, United Kingdom,
Marcel Bouvy, Netherlands
International efforts to improve patient safety have increasingly recommended that healthcare organizations should consider adopting safety management techniques used in other high risk industries. This workshop will provide participants with an overview on the use of safety climate tools in healthcare settings. Two safety culture/climate tools designed specifically for use in pharmacy settings will be presented. Participants will also have the opportunity to complete a self-assessment framework to characterize the prevailing safety culture within their own pharmacies.

WS 6: Substance Abuse in the Elderly: Is it a Problem?
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Louise Mallet, Canada,
Bertrand Guignard, Switzerland
Misuse and abuse of legal and illegal drugs is becoming an important problem in the elderly. The overall prevalence of drug abuse in older individual is difficult to evaluate; up to 11% of older women misuse and abuse prescription drugs. Usage of benzodiazepines and alcohol is increasing in our elderly population. It is also reported that the "baby boomers" will be using illegal drugs such as cocaine, LSD, heroin. The goal of this workshop is to provide pharmacists with a geriatric approach to discontinue benzodiazepines and alcohol in this special population.
This is a workshop of the ESCP-SIG Geriatrics.

WS 7: Evidence-Based Medicine: How do we Apply Literature Data to a Geriatric Population
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30 & Thursday 05-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30
Facilitators: Yolande Hanssens, Qatar/Belgium, Louise Mallet, Canada
Published data, including randomized clinical trials, mainly focus on patients up to the age of 65. A limited number of trials include elderly patients (65 and above). With an aging population, it is important to ensure that available information is correctly applied to this aging population. With the help of one or more examples, the participants well learn how to evaluate a research article systematically and critically
This is a workshop of the ESCP-SIGs Medicine Information and Geriatrics.

WS 8: Pharmacoeconomics: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - APractical Approach to Assessing the Literature
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30 & Friday 06-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Katherine Lyseng-Williamson, New Zealand,
Keith Evans, United Kingdom
The cost, and cost effectiveness, of pharmacological and other therapies play an increasingly important part in the selection of appropriate care by health care providers and policy makers. Pharmacoeconomic studies attempt to assess cost and clinical benefits of alternative healthcare interventions to provide a decision-making framework; they should not be about reducing costs, but should be about maximising net benefits. The workshop would define basic pharmacoeconomic terms, the key factors necessary for a ‘good' pharmacoeconomic analysis, and present a simple scoring system based on this factors. The scoring system would be used in the small group setting to analyse two published pharmacoeconomic analyses.

WS 9: Inter-professional Training: The Importance of Clinical Rounds in Clinical Pharmacy Education
Thursday 05-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Fikret Vehbi Izzettin, Turkey,
Steve Hudson, United Kingdom,
Mesut Sancar, Turkey
The clinical and practice-based education has a major role in the pharmacy education. Introducing clinical rotations (rounds) to pharmacy education helps the pharmacist for a better professional life in the future. By increasing the exposure of pharmacist or pharmacy students to patients and medical team in their education, there will be an increased understanding of patients, their diseases and drug therapy and it will enhance communication skills. The aim of this workshop is to discuss the clinical practice based education in medical teams for the clinical pharmacists and its importance in the pharmacy education. It will also help to clarify the roles of the different participants in such clinical rotations.

WS 10: Access to Cancer Treatment in Europe: Different Remedies for the Shared Issues
Friday 06-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Benoît Allenet, France,
Mikaël Daouphars, France
Steven Simoens, Belgium
In recent years, rising prices and growing expenditures on oncology drugs have caused significant concern among payers, healthcare providers and patients. Across Europe, health-care payers are confronted by the challenges of scarce resource in the face of almost infinite demands. Despite budgetary constraints, there is tremendous political pressure to have new drugs licensed and made available to patients. Health-care systems have had to become more sophisticated to deal with this challenge. Participants will discuss issues in relation with these increasing costs and demands in the field of (especially) oncology from a European perspective. The formation of a network will be stimulated.
This is a workshop of the ESCP-SIGs Cancer Care and Pharmacoeconomics.

WS 11: Clinical Community Pharmacy and Trial Development
Thursday 05-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Caroline Steensels, Belgium,
Gert Laekeman, Belgium
Based on the real world data and experiences of a clinical trial imposed by the Belgian Medicines Board (the Sinutab trial), the participants will discuss the difficulties of implementing a clinical trial in community pharmacy practice. The mentioned trial was eventually achieved after five years. The unhappy events, adverse opinions and structural objections will be discussed. There is a purpose of exchange coordinates at the end of the workshop in order create a forum for planning and conducting clinical trials in community pharmacies and reporting about the results during ESCP conferences.

WS 12: Successful Scientific Writing: Original Research Papers
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30
Facilitators: Foppe van Mil, Netherlands
and TBA
The results of scientific research are only valuable for society, if they can be shared with others in an understandable written or oral format. Writing research papers that can be accepted by a peer reviewed journal, can be a challenging experience. But there are a number of important aspects that authors can pay attention to, and that will facilitate acceptance. This workshop will especially focus on scientific articles in the format for Pharmacy World & Science but most other scientific journals have similar required formats. After an introduction, the participants will study and discuss examples of the different stages of scientific papers in smaller groups.
This is a workshop of the ESCP Communication Committee.

WS 13: Successful Scientific Writing: Getting Abstracts Accepted
Thursday 05-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30 & Friday 06-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Foppe van Mil, Netherlands and TBA
There are several possible formats for written information such as abstracts or scientific articles. Writing a good abstract is important because it may lead to having an oral presentation at a conference. There are also many reasons why abstracts are not accepted for a scientific conference. Apart from writing a condensed text that represents the study well, there are a number of other important aspects that will facilitate acceptance. This workshop will focus on abstracts, such as expected by the ESCP. But it will also discuss more general and ethical considerations about submitting abstracts, such as authorships and responsibilities.
This is a workshop of the ESCP Communication Committee.

WS 14: The Role of Clinical Pharmacists in Counselling and Preventing Cardiovascular Disease
Thursday 05-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00
Facilitators: Daniela Scala, Italy
Piera Polidori, Italy
Alessio Provenzani, Italy
Barbara Andria, Italy
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the major cause of premature death in Europe. It is an important cause of disability and contributes to the escalating costs of health care. The underlying atherosclerosis develops insidiously over many years. Death from CVD often occurs suddenly and before medical care is available. The occurrence of CVD relates strongly to lifestyle and to modifiable physiological and biochemical factors. Risk factor modifications have been shown to reduce CVD mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this workshop is to increase the awareness of pharmacist-patient‘s relationship in order to make pharmacist's clinical intervention more effective and efficient in the prevention of CVDs.

WS 15: Research Techniques: Interviews and Focus Groups for Beginners
Thursday 05-11-09 from 14.00 to 16.00 & from 16.30 to 18.30
Facilitator: Mara P Guerreiro, Portugal
In recent years there has been greater acceptance and recognition of the value of qualitative research, either alone or combined with quantitative techniques. Yet, practicing pharmacists undertaken small-scale research and junior researchers face sometimes difficulties in designing and conducting studies using qualitative techniques; often they get also disheartened by data analysis. This workshop will focus on two techniques commonly used in pharmacy research: focus groups and interviews. Examples of the use of these techniques will be discussed, as well as advantages and limitations. The workshop will also provide practical advice on sampling, data collection and data analysis.
This is a workshop of the ESCP Research Committee.

WS 16: AHands-on Approach to Medication Review
Wednesday 04-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30 & Thursday 05-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30
Facilitators: Nina Griese, Germany,
Kurt Hersberger, Switzerland
The workshop is a mixture of a lecture and hands-on exercises with medication profiles and medication review. Different approaches to medication review will be presented, together with the circumstances under which they can be useful. Three cases will be discussed. After the workshop, participants should be able to understand the different forms of medication review, and under what circumstances they can be useful in clinical practice.
This is a workshop of the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe.

WS 17: Pharmacokinetic /Pharmacodynamic (Pk/Pd) Indices on Antimicrobial Therapy. Impact and Influence on Clinical Practice
Thursday 05-11-09 from 16.30 to 18.30
Facilitator: Dolores Soy, Spain
Pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) characteristics both influence dosing regimens of antimicrobials. PK (the overall disposition of the drug in the body) is reflected by the serum concentration profile over time. PD can be characterized by the susceptibility of the pathogen to the drug, determined by measuring the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), which is a potency of the drug. Participants will discuss about increasing need to identify new therapeutic approaches which improve the chance to reduce the morbidity and obtain successful outcomes, based on a relatively new approach integrating PK and PD features has been suggested to implement optimal antibiotic dosing regimens.
This is a workshop of the ESCP-SIG Pharmacokinetics.