APTUK/AAH hospital technician of the year 2006 winners presented
Margaret Vass (left) and Sonia Burns, with their APTUK/AAH awards |
A project to promote the safe, rational and prudent prescribing of antibiotics in Northumbria Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust has won the clinical category of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK/AAH Hospital Service Technician of the Year Award 2006.
Sonia Burns, pharmacy technician specialist for quality and performance
at the trust, helped co-ordinate the work, which involved preparing an
antibiotic formulary, a handbook for the treatment of common infections
and an intravenous to oral switch policy. Audits to monitor adherence
to antimicrobial policy were also performed and training programmes were
established. Before the initiative, no designated individual or group
was responsible for monitoring or improving the use of antimicrobials
at the trust.
Margaret Vass, lead community services technician at Lyne Bank Hospital,
NHS Fife, won the supply chain category award for a project improving
cold-chain procedures for vaccines. As a result of auditing cold-chain
systems, educating staff and using a refrigerated delivery vehicle to
distribute vaccines to clinics, less stock now needs to be destroyed.
Miss Burns and Mrs Vass were presented with their awards at the APTUK
conference held in Birmingham last month.
A further report from the APTUK
conference can be found on p172.
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Hospital
Pharmacist