Pharmacy

Our Department offers a consolidated portfolio of services, and we have a pharmaceutical team that monitors all registered prescriptions and pharmaceutical treatments.

We are responsible for distributing, dispensing and preparing medications with automatised systems and robotics, with one of the most significant technological systems in Europe. We use a system of drug-use indicators based on case histories to assess use of medication. This helps us detect opportunities for improvement, both in terms of security and reducing variability in clinical practice, meaning avoiding differences in the way our staff prescribe treatments.

The Department enjoys ISO 9001-2015 certification, which specifically covers prevention of medication errors. We have established a quality policy aimed at satisfying the needs and expectations of patients, and providing the services that contribute to improving quality of care through personalised attention for effective, efficient and safe drug treatment, while improving our systems.

Our main objective is to ensure our Department continues to contribute value to patients, bearing in mind the conditions at any given time in the Hospital, the Catalan Health Institute and the Catalan Health System in general. That is why we are developing a new strategic plan (2022-2025), which highlights actions to improve people-centric care, clinical management, quality, sustainability, efficiency, strategic alliances, the relationship with the territory, teaching and research, among others.

Rapid evolution in concepts and technology has resulted in the Pharmacy Department receiving several awards and honourable mentions for our clinical innovation and excellence.

Certificates and accreditations

The Pharmacy Department has various certifications of its own and contributes to other accreditations obtained by the hospital, which endorse its commitment to quality and excellence.

• JACIE Certification in Hematopoietic Progenitor Transplant
• OECI Certification as an Integral Oncology Care Center
• UNE-EN-ISO 9001-2015 quality certification
• Accreditation of Phase I clinical trial units according to good practice standards (BPC)
• GMP accreditation for drug development and clinical trials

Pharmacy activity

Portfolio of services 

Guidance in drug use and management

• Promoting and participating in selecting the drugs the hospital’s professionals are to use, including prescription, outpatient and in-hospital drugs. We therefore contribute to developing and updating the “Pharmacotherapeutic Guide”, based on criteria of efficacy, quality, need and cost.
• Preparing clinical guides and treatment protocols, in agreement with the rest of the Hospital’s clinical services.
• Assessing medication use through a system of drug-use indicators, tailored to specific cases, aimed at detecting opportunities for improvement, in terms of both security and reducing variability in clinical practice.
• Organising and participating in in-service training to increase quality in drug treatment decision making: seminars, clinical sessions and courses accredited by the Catalan Council for Continuous Education.
• Responding to queries on drugs. The responses are provided by the pharmacists responsible for drug information, selection and evaluation, or those responsible for the area. 
• Participating in internal hospital committees and external committees in different healthcare bodies in which pharmacists’ knowledge may be useful.
• Carrying out studies on medication use.
• Drawing up technical drug assessment reports, using evidence-based medicine methodology.
• Drawing up regular budgetary monitoring of drug consumption, overall and by clinical department.

Participation in the patient’s treatment plan

• Participating in the multidisciplinary team for drug treatment plans, with the aim of ensuring safe and efficient drug use in patients.
• Monitoring pharmaceutical treatment, validation and intervention (in-hospital and out-of-hospital prescription management) and analysing its impact.
• Providing all necessary information on drug administration in the electronic nursing file.
• Medication reconciliation for admitted and emergency patients, adapting home medication to the Hospital Pharmacotherapeutic Guide after evaluating the treatment.
• Medication reconciliation for patients in healthcare transition in the hospital setting.
• Reconciliation, information and advice on patients’ treatment on discharge, using software to edit personalised medication planning forms.
• Pharmacokinetics and clinical pharmacogenetics. Designing individualised posology.
• Pharmacological and clinical lines of specialisation include: individualised parenteral nutrition; oncohaematology; antimicrobial therapy; critical care; biotechnology; paediatrics; neonatology; neurological disease; haemophilia; geriatrics; and advanced therapies.

 Dispensing of medications

• Unitary Dose Drug Dispensing Service for all Vall d’Hebron University Hospital beds and automated drug dispensing systems in the other units and departments.
• Special dispensing circuits for drugs in clinical trials, cytostatics, narcotics and drugs for compassionate use.
• Automated distribution systems.
• Alternative distribution/dispensing systems (info orders and external centres).
• Dispensing with subsequent pharmacist intervention: patient-specific restocking.
• Drug dispensing to outpatients through local supply.

Preparation of medications 

• Preparing both compounded and standardised formulations.
• Preparing special dosing regimens.
• Intravenous therapy unit, with the preparation of parenteral nutrition for premature infants, children and adults, intravenous mixtures such as cytostatics, other intravenous mixtures, hazardous drugs, advanced therapies and gene therapy.
• Re-packaging forms of oral dosage into unit doses.

Teaching, training and health education

• Undergraduate (supervised practice), post-graduate (pharmacy residency) and specialist teaching. 
• In-service training for pharmacy, technical and administrative personnel, and hospital orderlies in the pharmacy department.
• National and international training stays for pharmaceutical personnel, in the field of pharmacy department management and areas relating to pharmaceutical care.
• Public health education.

Research

Research group in basic, translational and clinical pharmacy with its own five lines of research:

• Clinical, observational and experimental research: focussing on pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics.
• Clinical, observational and experimental research: focussing on evaluation of PK/PD models and PK characterisation of drugs of high therapeutic interest in the population or in specific patient groups.
• Observational clinical research: focussing on evaluating the efficacy, safety and cost of innovative or high-cost drugs in certain indications or for specific CV patient populations.
• Technical research: focussing on evaluating the chemical-functional stability of drugs in individualised preparations, for both oral and parenteral administration.
• Mobile health and telepharmacy.

Financial management 

• Purchasing management: in the context of the Law on Public Administration Contracts.
• Stock management: existence of a single, fully automated, general storage system (KardexCarroussel ®), which replenishes sub-storage systems in different buildings, as well as automated systems (Kardex® vertical), a hospital medication outpatient dispensing robot (OPAS) (Rowa® and Apostore®), integrated into the IT system.
• Budget preparation and monitoring.
• Clinical management of consumption and indicators related to results-based contracting.

Care for non-hospitalised patients

• Participating in the multidisciplinary team for the drug treatment plan, with the aim of ensuring safe and efficient use of drugs for patients.
• Pharmaceutical care consultation for patients starting outpatient medication, treatment changes and patients who require it.
• Pharmaceutical validation and treatment monitoring for all outpatients.
• Preparing and dispensing drugs to patients attending the outpatient dispensing unit and the day hospital.
• Virtual pharmacotherapeutic follow-up of stable chronic patients (telepharmacy).
• Education and information for patients and families on the prescribed pharmacological treatment.

Clinical trials

• Support for oncohaematological clinical trials (Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology) and non-oncohaematological trials (Vall d’Hebron Research Institute) with two different units.
• Sample management, drawing up treatment schedules, drug preparation, support for the prescription and administration of clinical trial drugs with the total traceability system.
• Pharmaceutical care consultation for patients and dispensing to patients.

Radiopharmacy

• Logistical management of radiopharmaceuticals.
• Manufacturing, packaging and dispensing radiopharmaceuticals.
• Follow-up on radiopharmaceutical use, answering consultations and providing information on radiopharmaceuticals.

Research

We do research to improve and discover new treatments and drugs in the Basic, Translational and Clinical Pharmacy Research group at VHIR.

Teaching

• We train specialists in Hospital Pharmacy.
• We teach General Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology in the Medicine degree at UAB.
• We teach Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology and Supervised Internship placements in the Pharmacy degree at the Barcelona North teaching unit of UB.
• We teach Supervised Internship placements in the Pharmacy degree at IQS-Blanquerna University.
• We supervise final degree projects (TFG) in the Pharmacy degree at UB and IQS-Blanquerna University.
• We have internship agreements for students in mid-level technical pharmacy courses.
• We organise accredited courses: Introduction to Haemoderivative Pharmacotherapy Course, Paediatric Pharmacy Course, BPS-BCOP Oncology Pharmacy Accreditation Master’s, Drugs and Renal Disease Course, and Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Course.

Resources for patients

We provide patients with online resources where they can find information about diseases, medications, digital resources...

• Canal Salut of the Catalan Health Department
• Patients' School of the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy