King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) Pharmacy Services introduced modern technologies as a common factor in the pharmacist's work to facilitate patient services and provide health services in high professional and timely manners. These included a huge device, which is one-of-a-kind in the Middle East, with capacity of 50.000 doses in order to dispense the prepared medicine; home delivery service; and electronic medication refill via "iKFMC" application.

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Yamany, KFMC CEO, confirmed that the year 2016 has witnessed dispensing 1,120,060 prescriptions at a rate of 4,572 prescriptions per day to serve 248,500 patients each year, which requires KFMC to apply the highest international standards of pharmacy services for medication safety and to provide high quality specialized care.

Report Details:

In-patient Pharmacy Department

The department serves in-patients and includes the central unit dose pharmacies which operate 24/7 using the state-of-the-art technology to ensure the safety of patients. In addition, there are inpatient pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology pharmacies as well as a number of sub-pharmacies which support the inpatient pharmacies in serving the intensive care patients.

The department also includes IV Admixture/ Oncology Pharmacy, which work in compliance with the highest standards that require a high degree of sterilization and several preparatory steps to deliver the medication and all solutions to patients, free of microbes and sediment, under the supervision of specialized pharmacists who review everything related to dosage, usage and drug interactions.

IV Admixture department provides home care services of IV nutrition for children with intestinal failure throughout the Kingdom via express mail to the patients outside Riyadh. It has prepared more than seven thousands (7,000) preparations in 2016 for Total Parenteral Nutrition at home.

One of the most unique features distinguishing the inpatient pharmacy at KFMC from pharmacies in the other hospitals and medical cities is the Medical Prescriptions Device – the latest medical device, the largest of its kind in the Middle East and the second largest in the world. The device prepares and stores drug doses with a capacity of fifteen thousand (50,000) doses, then dispenses the prepared medications along with details of use in terms of administering time and the required quantity; all under the supervision of a group of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and technologists focusing on the pharmaceutical aspect.

Using the Medical Prescription Device, medications can be provided in no time; thus providing 94% of time needed to prepare the medications, with a large margin of safety and accuracy and almost zero errors.

Medical Prescription Device can also provide about 28,800 doses for the patients 24/7, which enables the staff to work in a high professional and efficient manner.

Ambulatory Pharmacy Department

The Department provides pharmaceutical care to the visitors of KFMC Outpatients, including, apart from dispensing medications, educating patients about all the required information to maximize the benefit of the medication. The process of dispensing medications starts in outpatient clinics where the physician enters electronic prescription through the system, and then the pharmacist reviews such prescriptions along with the patient's medical history to ensure that there is no contradiction among the medications dispensed to the patient. The pharmacy technician prepares the medication to be ready for use, and then the pharmacist educates the patient about the purpose of medication and elaborates usage tips, side effects, potential interactions and the best way to store the medication.

Delivery of medications and electronic ordering:

This service is available via express mail "free of charge" for all patients who wish to benefit from it. It is intended only for visitors from outside Riyadh. It allows the patient to save time, effort and money wasted in personal visits to KFMC to refill medications. Furthermore, it is a safe method that provides medications in record time. There is also an electronic medication refill service available via "iKFMC" application on visitors' smart phones from inside and outside Riyadh. This service is available on Apple and Android stores. A visitor using this service can choose the method of receiving medications; whether directly through the pharmacy or by express mail.

Clinical Pharmacy Department

Clinical pharmacists play an active role within Healthcare Team. A clinical pharmacist follows the treatment plan and provides the patient and the medical team with the basic drug information that will contribute to the success of the team's work. Also, a clinical pharmacist gives the necessary recommendations to ensure the success of the treatment plan, taking into account all diseases the patient suffers from and all drugs he uses.

Medication Safety

Medication Safety is one of the pharmacy's most important units and functions. It is concerned with ensuring the safe preparation and proper and safe administration of the medications. Medication Safety Unit has two main functions: first, analyzing and reviewing the reports on the medication errors and analyzing their root causes, then taking the corrective actions and developing solutions to reduce them. The second function is taking preventive measures to avoid errors as well as following up the scientific developments for medication safety and raising awareness among the medical staff.

KFMC Pharmaceutical Training

Pharmacy Services Department provides training for almost 200 trainees each year, whether for students who are still studying pharmacy, fresh pharmacists who are selected to work at KFMC or pharmacists from other hospitals.

Statistics

• Prescriptions dispensed by the emergency pharmacy, refills and specialized outpatient clinics in 2016 were 1,120,060 prescriptions at a rate of 4572 per day. Recipients were 248,500 patients annually at a rate of 1,014 patients per day.
• Prescriptions sent by express mail to the patients outside Riyadh in 2016 reached 33,634 at a rate of 165 per day.
• In-patients discharged from all specialties in KFMC are 32,639, at a rate of 90 patients per day, where prescriptions reached 147,213 annually at a rate of 600 prescriptions a day.
• In-patients receiving the service were 226,396, at a rate of 620 patients per day, with 2,700,069 prescriptions annually, at a rate of 11,021 prescriptions a day.
• Prescriptions of narcotic and controlled drugs reached 27,902 annually, at a rate of 113 prescriptions a day.
• Prescriptions for all kinds and volumes of parenteral solutions were 1,067,802 prescriptions a year, at a rate of 2,925 per day.
• Solutions for total parenteral nutrition reached 15,412 prescriptions per year at a rate of 62 prescriptions per day. KFMC Pharmacy delivers parenteral nutrition solutions by express mail to all patients around KSA.
• Prescriptions for chemical medications were 64,432 a year at a rate of 263 per day.

Captions:

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Yamany

A pharmaceutical technology for dispensing and preparing 50,000 medication doses.