Territorial diagnostics close to the citizen and inserted in the digital ecosystem were the themes at the center of the public meeting ‘Evolution and role of the pharmacist in the territory: local healthcare, NPT and Poct’, promoted by the company Altis Omnia Pharma Service and by the magazine ‘Ihpb’ (Italian Health Policy Brief), which dedicated a special publication to the subject. On the occasion, we reflected on the dissemination and management of Near patient testing (NPT) and on Point of care testing (Poct), proximity diagnostic devices that are fully part of the current study on the renewal of local healthcare close to citizen.
“The green crosses of the pharmacies were one of the few signs of hope when every other sign was off during the pandemic – underlined Mandelli – Even after the first pandemic peaks, pharmacies remained for Italian citizens a point of reference in the unthinkable odyssey through the threats and uncertainties of Covid-19: first with swabs, then with vaccines, and finally with antiviral drugs “. Today the pharmacist has a new role, “which is not only of a health nature – specified Mandelli – but also social and civil. To the recognition of citizens and institutions has been added the official nature of some legislative texts that establish new pharmacists functions, partly assumed during the emergency, but for the future even more extensive and of a structural nature. Whether it is additional vaccinations, further diagnostic tests or the dispensing of new and increasingly complex drugs, Italian pharmacists have shown that be ready for the challenge of offering citizens and patients more and more services “.
Nel mondo della sanità che cambia, i farmacisti di oggi – evidenzia una nota – sono già, e saranno sempre di più, i corresponsabili del raggiungimento di alcuni imprescindibili obiettivi di salute pubblica, come l’incremento delle coperture vaccinali contro l’influenza, ma also greater access by citizens to other adult vaccinations, such as those for hepatitis A and B, pneumococcus, cholera, meningococcus, typhoid fever, Papillomavirus and Herpes zoster. And then, as it is written in the decree on the new system of primary care, it is essential that the pharmacist also measure himself on the great issue of prevention with regard to non-communicable diseases.
“As outlined by the NRP”, National Recovery and Resilience Plan, “in the next 5 years, the construction of community homes and community hospitals, the increase in services provided in telemedicine and tele-assistance, and the strengthening of home care, daranno vita a una sanità più vicina ai cittadini e più radicata nel territorio. E dove c’è territorio e si scommette sulla prossimità, lì ci sono i farmacisti”, ha assicurato Mandelli.
It is at this level that the new role of diagnostic testing devices emerges, which are not just a commodity – continues the note – but authentic tools for the innovation of health services. The NTP, or the test close to the patient, is defined as “an investigation conducted at the time of consultation, with immediate availability of the results to make immediate and informed decisions on patient care”, recalled Croce. The term Poct instead indicates “those tests that can be performed near the patient or in the place where health care is provided. In general we can say – he specified – that the Poct can also be used by the patient independently, while the Npt have the need the presence of the operator “.
“Today we are aware that our commitment to an effective digitization of health, also in the area, will produce its fruits only if it can be inserted in a real digital ecosystem. Proximity healthcare is therefore not only a new password, rather the challenge of a NHS renewed at its roots, capable of bringing with it a new vision of health for all and close to all “, added Mandelli. According to Vitale, the local pharmacist can be an essential key for therapeutic adherence, especially in the context of major chronic conditions such as respiratory, cardiovascular and diabetes diseases. For Barbaglia, it is essential that an alliance among all the actors who can make the ‘healthy health care’ ‘, also in the logic, underlined by the nuns, of a clear socio-health integration, which is the real point, is consolidated and consolidated. landing of all the innovations allowed by the investments of the NRP.
#Healthcare #proximity #medicine #role #pharmacist