Empowering Pharmacists To Generate Evidence In Practice

• By: ROMOALDO, Cátia (Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Portugal)
• Co-author(s): Ms Bruna Romoaldo (Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal / Centre of Studies for the Pharmacy Profession, Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal)
  Ms Filipa Sousa (Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal / Centre of Studies for the Pharmacy Profession, Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal)
  Ms Laura Moura (Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal / Centre of Studies for the Pharmacy Profession, Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal)
  Mrs Luís Lourenço (Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal / Centre of Studies for the Pharmacy Profession, Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal)
  Ms Cátia Caneiras (Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal / Centre of Studies for the Pharmacy Profession, Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, Lisbon, Portugal / Microbiology Laboratory in Environmental Health, Institute of Environmental Health, Associate Laboratory TERRA, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal / Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health and Science, Lisbon, Portugal / Institute of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal)
  
• Abstract:

  Background information: The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Development Goal 11 (“Impact & Outcomes”) aims to promote the generation of evidence on the impact of the pharmaceutical workforce within health systems and health improvement.
  Aligned with the aforementioned FIP development goal, the South and Autonomous Regions Branch (SARB) of the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (PPS) created in 2022 the “Centre of Studies for the Pharmacy Profession”, based on three domains that align with the One FIP concept: Education, Practice and Training. The main objectives of the Centre are to share information about the value of the professional activities of pharmacists and to train pharmacists to produce and use scientific evidence. Embedded in the “Training” domain of the Centre, PPS developed a “Scientific Capacity Building Programme” which aims to raise awareness and train pharmacists to generate and use evidence in their professional practice.
  Purspose: To describe the development of a “Scientific Capacity Building Programme” and to share preliminary results.
  Methods: To set up the “Scientific Capacity Building Programme”, the PPS team benchmarked other initiatives and held several meetings to discuss the content and format of the learning modules. Once structured by the PPS team, the programme was presented to partners with the aim of involving them and receiving feedback.
  Results: The Programme comprises a learning pathway divided into five modules over two years. The learning modules include a diversity of formats (i.e., webinars, asynchronous and synchronous courses) that are applicable to different participants according to the level of knowledge (from basic to advanced level) with the aim of reaching all interested pharmacists (from community pharmacists to PhD students, or event academics).
  The first module aims to raise awareness about the importance of generating and using scientific evidence in the professional practice. The second module is dedicated to training pharmacists in the basics of scientific research. The third module focuses on tools to be used to produce scientific material. The fourth module aims to train pharmacists how to communicate the scientific material produced. The last module seeks to display options for the initiation and progress in a scientific career.
  A promotional webinar about the programme was held on-line on March 2023. The initiative consisted of a basic knowledge level webinar on "Pharmaceutical Services and Evidence Generation". From the 440 registered participants, 128 attended and took part in the discussion around the topic.
  The speakers provided a framework of the current scenario of pharmaceutical services in Portugal, highlighting successful examples, namely vaccination and Covid-19 antigen testing in community pharmacies. In addition, the speakers identified the lack of human and financial resources as a barrier to the generation of evidence, as well as the need to adapt digital resources for the registration and documentation of professional activities.
  Conclusion: Pharmacists has shown interest on the “Scientific Capacity Building Programme”. PPS considers this programme as an important step towards the development of practice-based research, thus contributing to the recognition of the impact of the pharmaceutical workforce on health systems and, ultimately, on the improvement of populations health.