With the receiving of International Accreditation of Hospital and Health System Pharmacy Services (ASHP), the pharmacy department of CCHE 57357 is listed on the ASHP website among the renowned hospitals known for their quality pharmaceutical services.
Strenuous collaborative efforts of various departments of the hospital over the past year were finally crowned with ranking CCHE 57357 as the world’s first hospital of its kind (charitable pediatric oncology hospital) to achieve such recognition from the ASHP. The ASHP is an American organization that ensures through its accreditation system, a hospital’s compliance to medication safety and effectiveness standards and procedures, and the delivery of high-quality pharmaceutical care, consequently improving healthcare outcomes. Previously, thanks to ECN Egypt Cancer Network‘s support, 57357 pharmacy obtained the ASHP accreditation of its residency program made available to its pharmacists. The ASHP international pharmacy residency program accreditation has ensured the availability of the needed facilities as well as the exemplary learning environment offered by CCHE 57357’s pharmacy to its pharmacists, making them a role model in the clinical pharmacy field.
Since the start of operation of CCHE 57357’s pharmacy, administration was keen on providing the appropriate training for each pharmacist according to each pharmacy unit requirements. Dr Sarah Mohamed, 57357’s pharmacy manager, stresses the role and contribution of continuous staff development in the present quality of pharmaceutical services offered to our patients , services that fulfilled the ASHP accreditation standards and requirements.
Moreover, pursuing the automation of the pharmacy, mirrored in the use of the upgraded pyxies machines, the acquisition of Rowa, the robotic dispensing machine, and Diana, the machine used for the IV mix medications unit, have greatly contributed to the special recognition of the CCHE 57357’s pharmacy performance throughout the accreditation process. Also, the existence of a clear administrative and organizational structure for the pharmacy department was one of the factors that contributed to obtaining accreditation and was reflected in the improvement of the quality of patient care, safety, and satisfaction.
Furthermore, medication safety is one of the criteria of the certification which is diligently sought by the 57357-pharmacy team, as they monitor adverse drug reactions, efficacy, and suggest individualization of dosage regimen while also providing patient counseling.
An established safety system is adopted by the pharmacy department and insures the availability of emergency drugs within reach in various areas of the hospital along with the presence of a well-trained emergency pharmacist as a part of the code blue team.
It is worthy to note that obtaining the JCI accreditation since 2016 twice in a row, has paved the way towards the recent achievement of the ASHP accreditation.