Medication safety and Institutional Pharmacy

Medication-related problems are among the most common adverse events in healthcare.
Our group focuses on developing innovative, evidence-based pharmaceutical services as part of an interprofessional team, which help optimize medication safety, particularly for high-risk patients and at care transitions.

In addition, our group has launched a new CAS educational program in the field of drug safety. Please see the research projects listed further down on this page, as well as the link below, for more information about this educational program.

CAS in Medication Safety

Research projects

Project leader: PD Dr. Carla Meyer-Massetti

National Action Plan Medication Safety

On behalf of the Federal Quality Commission, an interprofessional consortium is developing a national action plan for medication safety. The goal is to systematically identify the greatest medication-related risks and to develop concrete measures in collaboration with a broad group of stakeholders, including healthcare professionals and patients. Within the consortium, Carla Meyer is leading the technical development of the action plan.

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Project leaders: Dr. Stefanie Janssen and PD Dr. Carla Meyer-Massetti

CAS in Medication Safety: A new educational program to tackle the future of medication management interprofessionally

Medication-related problems remain a leading cause of preventable harm to patients and are therefore recognized as a prioritized area for intervention by global health authorities. Thinking about safer healthcare implies understanding and exploring the systems and conditions around patients` medication management. The new Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Medication Safety is the first interprofessional, educational program to provide participants with the necessary knowledge, skills and network to become experts in the field and proactively initiate and lead projects to optimize medication safety within their institution. In 15 course days over a period of 21 months, participants are guided by an interprofessional panel of >50 international experts in topics like risk management, interprofessional collaboration, education, technologies, and leadership, among others. Above that, participants develop their own practice project - individually supported by an expert in the respective field - focusing on a topic directly relevant to their own current professional practice. A unique chance to actively contribute to safer medication use right away. The CAS in Medication Safety led by Dr. Stefanie Janssen and Prof. Carla Meyer-Massetti brings together professionals from all sectors of healthcare who share a common goal: avoiding preventable harm to patients. Please find the link to the CAS below.

CAS in Medication Safety

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Project leader: Livia Schüpbach

Pharmaceutical services for home care organisations – piloting and improvement of interprofessional medication reviews in home care patients

Medication-related problems are prevalent in home care patients, who are often elderly, multimorbid and polymedicated and treated across several interfaces of care. The potential of involving pharmacists in an interprofessional team, providing medication reviews to improve medication safety, has already been demonstrated. Nevertheless, there are still no standardised systems or programmes in place to support interprofessional collaboration in the treatment of home care patients. In previous studies, the doMESTIC risk tool was developed, which is intended to facilitate the risk-based prioritisation of home care patients for medication reviews. The use of this tool has not yet been fully validated, and a number of challenges have emerged in the interprofessional collaboration between pharmacists, home care organisations and general practitioners. Therefore, as part of this project, the interprofessional collaboration between pharmacies, home care organisations and general practitioners will be examined in greater detail using various methods and sub-projects, and, where possible, the doMESTIC risk tool will be integrated into existing systems and processes.

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Project leader: Nicole Lötscher

Structured insomnia counselling in community pharmacies

Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders seen in community pharmacies. Pharmacists in Switzerland often recommend herbal remedies, primarily valerian, as a treatment and provide guidance on sleep hygiene. The primary treatment for insomnia, recommended in the European Guideline of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS), is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). However, it is rarely used in community pharmacy consultations. Furthermore, CBT-I is scarcely mentioned in existing national and international insomnia counselling guidelines for community pharmacies. Our aim is to improve the quality of counselling for patients with acute and chronic insomnia in community pharmacies. We are developing and testing an evidence-based guideline. As part of a quality improvement study, we are assessing its acceptance and satisfaction levels among pharmacists and patients. To emphasise the importance of herbal treatment options, we are additionally investigating the traditional use of sweet violet (Viola odorata L.) for insomnia, evaluating it in the context of modern approaches. Image: Insomnia, cutout from «Insomnie bei Erwachsenen – Leitlinie zur Beratung in öffentlichen Apotheken by N. Lötscher et al. (unpublished)

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