First Mexico hospital pharmacy conference focuses on patient safety

Abstract

About 350 people met in the capital of Mexico on July 6–8 for the country’s first national conference on hospital pharmacy. Organized by the Mexican Association of Hospital Pharmacists and the National Institute of Pediatrics, the conference had the theme Fundamental Principles of Patient Safety in Hospital Pharmacy. “This was really an important, historical occasion,” said ASHP Executive Vice President Henri R. Manasse Jr., who presented two lectures at the event. Not only did Mexico’s first national hospital pharmacy conference stress patient safety, Manasse said, but the event featured descriptions of pilot programs in the country and engaged the Mexican government. Speaker Eduardo Teodor Delint Ramirez, the directorate general of health planning and development for the Mexican Ministry of Health, described his country’s national model of pharmacy to the attendees. Manasse, who heard a Spanish-to-English interpretation of Delint Ramirez’s remarks, said the ministry’s “fairly thick guidance book” on the model mentions numerous ASHP guidelines and publications.