The Department of Pharmacy aims to provide safe pharmaceutical services with high-quality patient care in an atmosphere of professionalism, respect, and effective communication. Department of Pharmacy is integrated with multi-site pharmacies of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust based in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi. The patient-focused quality services are achieved through safe medication management and utilises processes comprising of effective planning and organisation, selection and procurement, storage, prescribing, preparing and dispensing, administering, monitoring and evaluation, reporting adverse drug events, and education.
Department of Pharmacy plays an integral role in planning and implementation of policies and procedures related to medication management and use under the umbrella of Pharmacy & Therapeutic Committee and the Department of Pharmacy is an effective part of other hospital committees e.g infection control, quality council and hospital safety committee etc.
The department functions include a dispensing pharmacy, aseptic pharmacy, in-patient pharmacy, clinical pharmacy, and drug information services and ensures optimisation of pharmaceutical care to all patients through high-quality medicinal products, provided by qualified and well-trained pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy assistants.
Our clinical pharmacists work as integral members of the health care team to achieve desired therapeutic outcomes, prevent, or minimise drug-related problems, and safe use of medication with the help of hospital information system.
Various educational activities including annual symposium, Pharmacy Residency Programme, continuing medical education (CME) events, internship programmes etc are conducted at various levels to ensure quality services and support in development of skilled human resource at SKMCH&RC. The Department of Pharmacy is ISO 9001-2015 certified and accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) 7th edition. The residency programme at the Lahore site is also accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).
The Department of Pharmacy at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres in Lahore and Peshawar work around the clock to provide seamless services to both, the outpatients and in-patients, whereas, at the Shaukat Khanum Diagnostic Centre and Clinic in Karachi, the department provides ambulatory services only. The pharmacists are deeply involved in reviewing the prescriptions for appropriateness. Moreover, medication dispensing and patient counseling continues to remain an intrinsic part of the process where the patients are instructed about the use of medications tailored to their understanding.
Our outpatient pharmacy caters to both SKMCH&RC and Non-SKMCH&RC based prescriptions, including a wide range of chemotherapeutic drugs, controlled medications, and customised preparations such as Total Parental Nutrition (TPN) and extemporaneous preparation etc.
The aseptic and in-patient pharmacy services involve well-trained pharmacists and technicians in the reconstitution and preparation of ready to use chemotherapeutic drugs and antibiotics for outpatients and in-patients. These services are devised in light of the international guidelines USP 797 and 800.
The clinical department lays the foundation of communication between healthcare workers and provides continuous services throughout the hospital. Clinical pharmacists participate in daily clinical rounds, medication appropriateness of prescriptions, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), reporting adverse drug reactions (ADR), drug utilization review (DUR) of a newly added formulary drug, and medication utilization review (MUE). Moreover, the Department of Pharmacy also provides Adverse Drug Reaction data to Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan(DRAP) and abides by the laws of provincial Health Care Commisssions across all sites.
The Department of Pharmacy is the custodian of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) at SKMCH&RC. We are involved in the education of healthcare professionals, implementation of the hospital treatment guidelines, prescription restriction on selected antibiotics, monitoring of consumption trends of antibiotics, review of antibiogram, participation in hand hygiene audits, and review of antimicrobial prescribing with feedback to prescribers.
As part of our routine, the pharmacists are also involved in Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) of various medication management processes. Pharmacists are also an integral component of hospital multidisciplinary team working on medication reconciliation and medication adherence programmes in order to promote continuity of patient care.
All the above-mentioned practices are carried out in accordance with the quality standards including the Joint Commission International (JCI) and the recommendations of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). All these services work together to attain distinct therapeutic effects that not only improve the patient’s quality of life but also reduce the inherent risks associated with the therapeutic use of drugs. The Department of Pharmacy at SKMCH&RC in Lahore completed the re-accreditation of Joint Commission International (JCI) in 2021 and SKMCH&RC in Peshawar was accredited in 2019. The Department of Pharmacy also played its part in combatting the coronavirus pandemic by ensuring safe storage, security, and surveillance of COVID-19 vaccines through a coordinated approach that includes strict facility, physical access controls, and inventory checks.
The Department of Pharmacy strongly believes in progress as a team. Therefore, it provides various learning opportunities for the training and development of pharmacists so that they can make advancements in their careers. These include educational sessions, volunteer programmes, internship programmes, participation in various national and international conferences.
We are also proud to be the second country in the world that received accreditation by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) for offering a one-year pharmacy practice residency programme at SKMCCH&RC, Lahore.
International Pharmacy Practice Residency Program (IPPRP) – SKMCH&RC, Lahore
The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), Lahore is the first and only hospital in Pakistan, which offers International Pharmacy Practice Residency Program (IPPRP), accredited by American Society of Health-System Pharmacist (ASHP) designed to train individual resident pharmacists based on their interests and future goals. Residents are trained under the leadership of preceptors to acquire knowledge, attitude, and skills needed to provide pharmaceutical care to the patients. During this one year the resident is offered the following learning experiences:
The department is affiliated with ASHP, which has tremendously helped us in improving pharmacy practice in Pakistan. The Hospital is aiming to exapand the program to its other sites in Peshawar and Karachi in the coming years. Moreover, we are also supporting and guiding other hospitals in Pakistan and ovserseas who are willing to apply for ASHP pharmacy residency program.
Pharmacy Internship Program
The Department of Pharmacy is providing a comprehensive internship programme for fresh pharmacy graduates from various universities of the country as well as foreign pharmacists.
The Department of Pharmacy is actively involved and has participated in all clinical research studies conducted at SKMCH&RC. In case of clinical trials, pharmacy is responsible for managing drug storage, preparation, dispensing, public health awareness, and drug accountability.
We have also conducted in-house research on various subjects including medication errors, drug utilization review, clinical efficacy of newly added formulary drugs and lead pharmaceutical care-related research.
Research publications submitted by pharmacists at SKMCH&RC have been accepted and published online in well-reputed international journals and are enlisted on the medical research publication section of the SKMCH&RC website.
