Highlights of Italian hospital pharmacy: experiences and research

The seminar will approach Italian hospital pharmacy from different views, presenting four highly relevant pharmacy practice issues in Italy: (1) postgraduate education (eg, specialisation in hospital pharmacy); (2) new professional models (eg, the ward pharmacist project); (3) continuity of care (eg, the role of the health system pharmacist); and (4) health technology assessment (eg, an example of a research project through the hospital pharmacists' network). The current state of Italian hospital pharmacy practice may largely differ depending on the region and hospital size. SIFO (Societa Italiana di Farmacia Ospedaliera e dei Servizi Farmaceutici delle Aziende Sanitarie), the Italian Society of Health System Pharmacists, is a scientific association embracing almost all public pharmacists employed by the National Health Service. The society is particularly committed to creating a collaborative network of practising pharmacists, with different aims: research purposes, enhancement of professional skills and promotion of the education of young pharmacists. During the session, speakers will underline some of these projects, presented by two facilitators: Francesca Venturini, chairman of the SIFO scientific committee and Nicoletta Ambrogi, head of the SIFO delegation of European Association of Hospital Pharmacists. The first topic will cover the recently revised programme of the hospital pharmacy specialisation school, and will be explained by two pharmacists: Dr Paolo Serra (SIFO national coordinator for the schools of specialisation) and Dr Federica Locchi (a specialising pharmacist at the University of Bologna). The 2009 school reform greatly changed the content and structure of the specialisation school: the programme was extended to 4 years, and breakdown between the time spent at the practice sites (eg, hospital pharmacies and outpatient pharmaceutical departments) and at the university favoured the first, by a 70/30 ratio. The postgraduate school student interacts at several levels: at the practice sites with the tutors and the hospital pharmacy director and at …