Pharmaceutical Care Services

Our pharmacists in the Pharmaceutical Care Division work closely with healthcare providers to ensure safe, efficacious, and cost-effective use of medications. They document more than 27,000 interventions every year, avoiding medication errors and saving costs. Our pharmacy section dispenses medicines to 2.5 million in-patient doses and 60,000 out-patient prescriptions every year. Our standard of care aligns with international standards such as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, United States Pharmacopeia, and Joint Commission International. Our subsections are the Administration Pharmaceutical Care Division, Ambulatory Care Pharmacy, Medical Critical Care Pharmacy, and Clinical and Operational Support Pharmacy.

Our mission is to ensure best therapeutic outcomes for patients, and we strive to promote safe and cost effective use of medications.

Pharmacists are at the core of the healthcare team actively intervening at all levels of the Medication Use system, from selection and procurement till administration and monitoring. Pharmacists work hand in hand with the medical team developing patient specific pharmacotherapeutic plans, acting as a drug information resource, supporting clinical decision making and ensuring rational use of medications.

In line with the organizational mission, pharmacists contribute to the education of patients, healthcare providers as well as medical and pharmacy students. In addition, pharmacists are actively involved in all research projects that involve medication use.

The Division of Pharmaceutical Care is an active member of several multidisciplinary committees and initiatives, and leads the hospital-wide medication safety program as well as the Medication Management and Use Chapter of the Joint Commission on International Accreditation.

Finally, patients are at the center of our Pharmacy Practice Model and we take pride in serving their medication needs around the clock from central as well as multiple satellite pharmacies located throughout the hospital.

Scope of Services:

Medical Critical Care Pharmacy Department:

Medical / Critical Care pharmacists are responsible for providing patients with appropriate, accurate, and timely medication dispensing

Medical/Critical Care Pharmacy Services employees provide direct patient pharmaceutical care. Below are the team members who provide such services:

Medical/Critical Care Pharmacy Head.
Intravenous admixture area supervisor.
Central unit dose area supervisor.
Oncology Pharmacy supervisor.
Clinical Pharmacy service supervisor.
Clinical pharmacist consultant who oversees all clinical duties.
Clinical pharmacist specialist who provides clinical tasks for specialized area.
Clinical pharmacist assigned for general clinical duties.
Pharmacist I for order review and verification.
Pharmacist II for order preparation and checking.
Pharmacist III / Pharmacy Technicians for order preparation.
Pharmacy technicians for delivery of medications.
Inventory Management Coordinator.

In addition to optimizing medication therapy, medical / critical care pharmacists promote health, wellness, and disease prevention. Pharmacy practice in Medical / Critical Care embraces the philosophy of pharmaceutical care using best practices. Using their specialized therapeutic knowledge, experience, and judgment, pharmacists ensure the best therapeutic outcomes and promote safe and cost-effective medication use.

As pharmacists, we are also involved in ensuring that evidence-based practice is applied and that risks associated with medicines use are reduced.

In accordance with the organization's mission, our pharmacists educate patients, healthcare providers, as well as medical and pharmacy students. As part of their research, they contribute to all programs related to optimal use of medicine and pharmacy practice. A number of multidisciplinary committees and initiatives are active among them.

Medical Critical Care Pharmacy Services include:

Intravenous Medications Pharmacy: IV medications are served from three sterile preparation areas, the central IV room, MICU satellite, and EMS satellite. Total Parenteral Nutrition bags as well as IV batches are prepared multiple times throughout the day and dispatched to the different nurses’ units.
Unit Dose Medications Pharmacy: unit dose medications are served from central inpatient pharmacy for first dose and on a 24-hr basis from utility building satellite as cart fill. Extemporaneous compounds are prepared and dispensed for admitted patients.
Automated Dispensing Cabinets (ADC’s): in collaboration with Pharmacy IT & Automation have implemented Pyxis ES System for dispensing medications.
Oncology Pharmacy: is the pharmacy responsible for verifying and preparation of cytotoxic and hazardous IV orders. The Oncology Pharmacy provides its services to the oncology inpatient wards (adults and pediatrics), the oncology treatment areas (adults and pediatrics) and other areas within the hospital like the Daily Procedure Unit (DPU), surgery clinic, ophthalmic clinic and emergency.

Anticoagulation Services

The anticoagulation services program at KFSH&RC-Jeddah is managed by a Clinical Pharmacist in collaboration with the Department of Cardiology.

Services encompass the management of anticoagulant therapy for ambulatory cardiology patients by using Point- of- Care testing "POCT" and the coordination of the use of antithrombotic agents in the inpatient setting.

The Clinical Pharmacist at the clinic assists in regards to dose adjustments, patient training and education, diet, interactions and research activities consistent with Hospital mission and the Department of Pharmacy.

The goals of Pharmacist-managed anticoagulation services are to:

Maximize the safety and enhance outcomes for cardiology patients on warfarin therapy.
Minimize complications of antithrombotic therapy.
Improve Anticoagulation Therapy Using Point-of-Care Testing and a Standardized Protocol.
Establish the continuity of healthcare delivery through patient education and periodic monitoring and dose adjustments.
Regular assessment of INR values, medication and lifestyle changes as well as ongoing education and evaluation of patient needs.

In recent years, studies have shown that patients who are managed in an Anticoagulation Clinic run by pharmacists have fewer incidences of bleeding and clotting complication as well as fewer hospital visits resulting from these complications.

Point-of-Care Testing:

The Anticoagulation Clinic uses Point-of-Care testing (finger-stick) for the comfort and convenience of patients. The INR results are available within minutes without sending samples to the laboratory.

Drug Information Centre (DIC)

The DIC provides a wide variety of services such as:

Answering drug information question and inquiries from physicians, nurses and pharmacists within the hospital.
Answering medical inquiries from outside the hospital (healthcare professionals and patients).
Keeping hospital staff and the pharmacy website (Pharmweb) updated with all U.S FDA, SFDA and MOH latest news and alerts.
Providing articles for local magazines (e.g. Sea Script).
Preparing patient counseling materials.
Publishing a quarterly electronic clinical newsletter.
Patient education to discharge patients.
Providing extensive medical education to post transplant patients and their relatives.
Reviewing the hospital drug formulary.
Receive, review and evaluate all reported Adverse Drug Reactions ADRs.
Support the Formulary and Therapeutics Committee (an advisory and educational committee that evaluate, review and select the most appropriate medication for the hospital drug formulary).

The mission of the DIC is to provide accurate and current drug and poison information in a timely manner to all persons requesting such information, to serve as a resource on effective medication use, and to assist healthcare professionals in solving medication therapy issues and improve patient care and quality of life. The vision of the DIC is to be the leading center in the region in the provision of an effective drug information service.

DIC has the following 4 objectives:

To provide comprehensive clinical information to healthcare professionals and the public.
To participate in continuing education and training to pharmacist, students and pharmacy residents.
To actively participate in healthcare events and community outreach activities.
To serve as a medical information resource center for healthcare professionals.

Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Department:

Ambulatory Care Pharmacy serves ambulatory patients, patients on discharge as well as hospital employees and dependents.

Our pharmacists verify and communicate throughout the dispensing process with physician and nurses in an effort to maximize benefit and minimize adverse events from pharmacological therapy. In addition, we provide our patients with counseling on their medications in order to ensure safe and effective medication use. Our ultimate goal is to help improve our patient’s quality of life.

Compounding Services

Some medications need to be specially tailored to patients. Reason for this could be for example that the patient has difficulty in taking the medication or that the medication isn’t manufactured in the required dose. In these cases, the patient is provided with a compounded medication.

Preparation of these drug require a specific time depending of several aspects like:

Type of medication
Volume of the preparation
Ingredients of the preparations

The compounding services are provided on the basis of recognized guidelines like the US Pharmacopoeia and the British Pharmacopoeia.

Medication Refill Services

The Refill system is designed to help the patient get the usual active medicines refill without the need to go back to the doctor.

How many refills does the pharmacy provide?

The pharmacy does not renew the prescription. The number of iterations is equal to the total of the basic prescription that was prescribed by the doctor.

When should a refill be requested?

For narcotic medications the refill must be requested no later than 7 days past the refill due date.
Regular medications can be requested up to 14 days before it’s due date as long as this falls within the total period prescribed by the physician. In case of exceeding these periods, the patient must bring a new prescription from the doctor.
A refill can be requested in person or by phone by calling the pharmacy call center 0126698118.
Patients have two options for medications pick up:

Mail service.
Drive-thru pharmacy for regular medications only.

*Narcotic and Biologics medications excluded from mail service.

When can the patient collect his refill medications?

The patient can collect his medications after 24 hours. The pharmacist retrieves all recorded messages and starts the processing of them after working hours. The pharmacist will send a text message to the patient’s mobile number showing the pickup method (DTP/Mail) to claim the refill medication. In the event that the patient has no refill, an explanatory message is sent to the patient.