Dr. Johan Hiselius, Pharmacy Director at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Ajman (SKMCA) presented a seminar on “Pharmacy Management Today and Tomorrow” at College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University (GMU) on April 29, 2019. It was a presentation with Swedish-European-UAE perspectives. Dr. Johan has been affiliated with SKMCA since January 2019. Prior to that, he had vast experience working in different hospitals in Sweden. In his journey from a pharmacist to Chief Pharmacist and Head of Clinical Pharmacy at different health facilities, Dr. Johan developed valuable insights to share on Pharmacy Management.
Each country in Europe has to a large extent their own practices. Pharmacy is not an area where the European Union regulates. Though the management styles are different in Sweden and UAE in many aspects, there are universal features. The organization and control of a (hospital) pharmacy today focus on:
- Ensuring patient safety
- Delivering high-quality services
- Supporting cost-effective health care
Future direction is more towards the integration of automation with clinical services as well as academic and practice partnerships.
Doctor of Pharmacy and Master in Clinical Pharmacy students at GMU, faculty, representatives from SKMCA and Thumbay Pharmacy operations participated in the seminar. Dr. Johan appreciated robotics and automation in pharmacy a called it “pharmaautomagic”. He indicated that efficient automation will free space and buy time for more pharmacy/clinical services.
Dean Sherief Khalifa commented on advanced pharmacy automation at the brand new Thumbay University Hospital in GMU campus. A combination of automation and clinical pharmacy services create great practice opportunities for pharmacists, faculty, and students of GMU.