Courses

Quality in pharmacy and medication safety

Course overview

This course, in a first approach, seeks to raise awareness of the importance of quality issues, good health and pharmacy practices aiming to improve patient safety and particularly medication safety. By doing so, we can redirect and apply these learnings to mainstream areas within the pharmacy sector (Hospital and Community Pharmacy). Students will learn how to apply their knowledge to these areas and implement medication error prevention strategies.

Course content

  1. Introduction to Quality in Health. Concepts and perspectives.
    1.1. Accreditation models and certification systems in the health sector.
    1.2. Health audits.
    1.3. Tools for continuous improvement.
  2. Good practices in Community Pharmacy (CP)
    2.1. Management, organization and operation of a CP.
    2.2. Management of services provided in and by the CP.
    2.3. Standards of medications dispensing.
    2.4. Organization of prescriptions.
  3. Good practices in Hospital Pharmacy (HP)
    3.1. Planning and organization of HP.
    3.2. Process of medication management.
    3.3. Circuits and systems of drug distribution.
    3.4. Quality control in the process of medication management.
    3.4.1. Good practices in the process of medication management.
  4. Patient safety and medication safety.
    4.1. Good practices in medication safety.

Teaching methodologies:

  • We will use flexible and diversified teaching methodologies that contribute to the consistency of learning objectives, contents and competences to be acquired.
  • We will expose theoretical contents orally and illustrate them with case studies. Furthermore, we will analyse and discuss relevant papers and articles.
  • In practical classes we will apply the demonstrative method with simulations of good practice in pharmacy and learning methodology by solving problems.


Evaluation methodologies:

  • Evaluation distributed throughout the semester: three individual written tests (arithmetic mean)
  • Evaluation by exam: Individual written test
  • To pass the course, a score ≥ 9.5 values obtained is needed.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

  1. Intervene in the management and organization of working conditions and characteristics in Hospital and Community Pharmacy, contributing to the improvement of quality in health care.
  2. Implement measures and strategies in Hospital and Community Pharmacy aimed at quality management and patient and medication safety.
  3. Distinguish and plan appropriate to the reality and needs of a suitable drug distribution system.
  4. Dispense medications, according to standards, guidelines and technical procedures that lead to quality at every stage of the medication management process.
  5. Implement and standardize procedures that contribute to medication safety promotion.

Enrollment

This course is currently not open for enrollment.

Course information

Category

Transversal skills

Format

Online

Target groups

Lifelong learners / ­external students, U!REKA students

Academic year

Starting month

Language

English

Duration​

A semester

Organising institution​

Polytechnic University of Lisbon

Places reserved for U!REKA participants​

To be announced

Assessment

Continuous (3 individual written tests) / Evaluation by exam (individual written test)

Credit/degree/certificate

5 ECTS credits

Course fee

250,- €

Prerequisites

N/A