The 8^th PCNE Working Symposium 2022 will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, with a hybrid format, and reunite international pharmacists under the title ‘Navigating research on pharmaceutical care’. Evocating the Portuguese discoveries from the 15th and 16th centuries, when numerous territories and maritime routes were recorded as a result of the intensive maritime exploration, we will be exploring the vast potential for new pharmaceutical services to yield greater results.

Given the unpredictability of these times, we are prepared to deliver the symposium in a hybrid format, in which you will be able to participate in lectures, the oral communications session and the closing session remotely.

We do, however, expect you will be able to join us in-person in Lisbon for a more immersive experience!

Pre-symposium

We will be organizing a Pre-Symposium with 1 workshop and 2 expert courses as a pre-event to the Symposium. The Pre-Symposium will focus on matters relevant to researchers and PhD students in different levels of needs and expectations.

See the tab 'Pre-Symposium' for more information.

Foppe van Mil Memorial Lecture

 This year, we will launch the Foppe van Mil Memorial Lecture, which is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and friend, whose lifelong dedication on fostering pharmaceutical care research was such an inspiration for many of us.

Prof. Filipa Costa, Portugal  

 The lecture without the testimonials

Keynote Lecture: Developing and implementing interventions: from idea to daily practice.

Prof. Jacqueline Hugtenburg, the Netherlands   

 The lecture

WS1: How to validate a questionnaire 

(Isabelle Arnet, Christiane Eickhoff)

Patient self-report in the form of questionnaires are cheap, non-invasive, well accepted and easy to implement in daily practice. This is why they are widely used to measure many patient reported outcomes, such as medication (non)adherence.

After a questionnaire has been developed and pre-tested, further steps are needed for its validation. However, the validity of a questionnaire can be examined in numerous ways, and many questionnaires have only been incompletely validated. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that researchers are aware of the most common tests of validity. In addition, the translation procedure should be standardized before disseminating validated questionnaires around the globe.

In this workshop, participants will learn what stands behind content validity, criterion validity and construct validity. In order to transfer theory into practice, participants are invited to bring their own questionnaire. Use the chance to get an expert feedback! Alternatively, we will use a new tool that was developed during PCNE workshops in 2020 and 2021, the so-called 13-STARS (13-item Screening Tool for AdheRence to medicineS).

In case of marked interest, the participants will be offered the possibility to carry out the validation study of the 13-STARS in their own country, given that the translation has been performed according to robust rules. This workshop could be the start for a multicenter study and an international collaboration, under the supervision of the workshop moderators. PhDs are encouraged to discuss and clarify this opportunity beforehand with their supervisors. 

In this WS, participants will:

1. define the validation procedure of questionnaires in general and of a questionnaire brought by the participants or the 13-STARS as an illustrative example, keeping the pharmacy setting in mind;
2. learn the procedures needed to translate questionnaires from a source language to any target language.

In order for participants to refresh some basic knowledge on adherence and questionnaire building, we invite participants to join a zoom meeting Thursday 3 Februar 2022 at 18h (Basel and Berlin time). The link will be distributed shortly before.

WS2: The future of Pharmaceutical Care and pharmacy related outcomes research in Europe

(Mitja Kos, Kurt Hersberger)

Full description

In the past, we have seen several developments in the area of Pharmaceutical Care, of which medication review is perhaps one of the most promising. The day-to-day struggle and some success in between makes us confident that we are on the right path. However, research evidence and developments that implement into pharmacy practice from which the patients could actually benefit are not self-evident. In simple terms, do we know how to build research excellence and where to head our developments in order to prolong patients’ life and improve their quality of life? As PCNE is approaching the 30 years of its establishment, it is perhaps time to make a deep reflection and create new opportunities for the decade to come. 

 The aim of the workshops is: 

1. To reflect current Pharmaceutical Care research and achievements in the development of pharmacy practice.
2. To prepare a research strategy with the potential to achieve excellence in pharmacy practice.
3. To draft key research projects that could be run in parallel or even have a potential for a joint, international research project. 

Workshop Report

WS3: PCNE DRP-classification: a case of classification or validation cases?

(Tommy Westerlund, Ina Richling, Nejc Horvat)

Over the past four years, the PCNE DRP classification has evolved from version 7 to the current version 9.1. During the validation rounds of the PCNE DRP classification in recent years, it has become apparent that coding inconsistencies originate in unresolved issues with the classification as well as in the insufficiently defined validation cases, which are not fully developed. Moreover, the cases do not cover a wide range of available DRP codes. 

During the workshop participants will:

1. address these classification issues
2. draw conclusions
3. improve the content of the existing validation cases or develop new ones.

Workshop Report

WS4: Grow in guideline implementation: from maturity matrix to indicators 

(Martina Teichert, Kenji Fujita)

Earlier a maturity matrix (MM) was developed for primary care organizations to identify and prioritize areas in practice organization for quality improvement.  Following this concept a MM for pharmacies (MM-P) was developed to implement the recommendations of pharmaceutical care guidelines in daily practice.  To this,  five meaningful domains within the pharmacy organization were chosen in one axis of the matrix with five subsequent growth steps in each row.

By reasoning from the organizational preconditions, guideline recommendations can be implemented stepwise, matching the situation of an individual pharmacy team.

For instance, growth in different organisational domains is needed to implement care to diabetes patients with impaired renal function that have reduce metformin use at threatening dehydration, based on a complete medication history and actual laboratory measures.To realize this, for instance data storage with actual registration, agreements with the general practitioner on the process and training of the team on how to perform adequate patient consultations are preconditions needed.

The systematic organizational growth will improve the scores on Quality Indicators (QI) for patient care. Therefore, this workshop connects with our earlier work on a set of QIs for diabetes patients.

During this workshop participants will

1. Identify relevant domains within pharmacy practice organization to implement pharmaceutical care for diabetes.
2. Define growth states in the MM-P for pharmaceutical care of diabetes patients within the own situation and compare this to other countries.
3. Formulate specific measurable, achievable, realistic and time dependent activities to improve organizational preconditions to implement guideline recommendations in pharmaceutical care for diabetes.
4. Identify QIs (from our earlier specified set of indicators) that would improve by these actions.

Workshop Report 4

Pre-Symposium Thursday 10^th February 2022

12.00-13.00

Registration plus lunch

13.00-17.00

Pre-Symposium (Description, see tab Pre-Symposium)

18.30-19.30

Dinner time

Symposium Program Friday 11^th February 2022

8.00-8.30

Registration

8.30-9.00 

Opening

9.00-9.45

Foppe van Mil Memorial Lecture

Prof. Filipa Costa, Portugal

9.45-10.00

10.00-13.00 

Workshop Series 1

13.00-14.00

PCNE Soapbox (members only) + Lunch

14.00-15.00

Poster walking tour (poster presentations in groups)

15.00-16.30

Oral Communications

16.30-16.45

Coffee Break

16.45-19.15

PCNE General Assembly (members only)

19.30-23.00

PCNE Social event

 (Separate registration)

Symposium Program Saturday 12^th February 2022

8.00-9.00

Breakfast

9.00-9.45

Keynote Lecture

9.45-10.00

Coffee Break

10.00-13.00

Workshops series 2 (repeated workshops)

13.00-13.30

Lunch

13.30-14.30

Closing session, incl. poster finals and awards

Workshop 1: Definition of pharmacy-led services

Isabelle Arnet, Selina Barbati and Pascal Baumgartner (Pharmaceutical Care; Basel, Switzerland)

Since two decades, community pharmacists have been moving from traditional medication dispensing activities towards more patient-centered modes of practice. For pharmacists to take an active role in patient health and offer professional services, new skills and knowledge are required. The terminology for these services varies largely in literature from very detailed “cognitive pharmacist-led services” to more elusive “medication management services”.

In this workshop, participants will be confronted to a plethora of terms and definitions retrieved from published literature. We expect participants covering the entire range of academic levels that is, from PhD students to Professor.

Together, they will:

a) determine what they understand by "pharmacy services" in their countries;

b) select the most convenient terms retrieved from the literature;

c) generate a first definition as draft.

Workshop Report 

Expert course 2: An introduction to pharmacy communication research

Susanne Kaae & Ellen Koster (Denmark)

Aim:

The expert course will introduce participants to recent pharmacy communication research projects as the starting point for:

a) providing an overview of investigated themes and topics within pharmacy communication research

b) providing an overview of relevant designs and methods in pharmacy communication research

c) describing challenges when conducting communication studies in pharmacy practice

The workshop will include short lectures with examples of pharmacy communication research combined with reflection exercises and group assignments to define ideas about what would be a relevant research question in pharmacy communication that participants would like to study in practice and possible challenges therein. These discussions will lead to a specification of project ideas, different types of solutions to overcome identified challenges, resulting in guidance for starting a new project in pharmacy communication.

Aims:

Based on participants’ own interest and experiences with pharmacy communication research the expert course will create an awareness of:

1)    aspects to consider when starting up/ continuing pharmacy communication projects 

2)    discuss what could/ should be the role of PCNE within pharmacy communication research 

Homework before workshop:

Think of a topic or relevant question you would like to answer/study in your practice?

Expert Course 2

Expert Course 3: How to write a successful grant

Jacqueline Hugtenburg (The Netherlands), Mara Guerreiro (Portugal)

Academics need the skills to write winning grant applications to conduct research sustainably and maximise the societal benefit of science. Writing a good grant application is challenging but is a skill that can be perfected.

Real life examples will be presented and practical exercises in small groups will be performed, drawing attention to key issues, such as how to meet eligibility criteria and guidelines of the funding body.

This course will be delivered by researchers with an established track record in leading successful grant applications and is intended to help those less experienced in grant writing, to increase their likelihood of being funded. 

Expert Course 3