Source: Flinders University, 11th October 2016
Andrew Sluggett and Dr Janet Sluggett, MDRI collaborators from CPIE Pharmacy Services, travelled to the National Home Infusion Association (NHIA) Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans earlier this year to attend the NHIA Idea Exchange.
THE NHIA represents home and alternate site infusion service providers in the USA, and currently has a membership of over 1300 pharmacists, technicians and nurses.
The Sluggetts were the first international attendees to present a poster, and their research “Temperature variation in the home setting: implications for continuous ambulatory infusions” was awarded first place out of 27 posters.
“We’re delighted to receive this award,” said Andrew Sluggett, CPIE Chief Pharmacist.
“It’s really satisfying to know that our research is of value, not just to patients in South Australia, but potentially worldwide.”
The research stemmed from a joint project between the MDRI, CPIE, UniSA, SA Health and the Royal Adelaide Hospital, funded by the South Australian Government, to help improve the state-wide Hospital in the Home (HITH) service.
This service provides home-based treatments to patients, such as chemotherapy, antibiotics, post-operative pain relief and chronic pain medication, that would otherwise be provided in a hospital setting.
The project focuses on optimising the safety and efficacy of HITH drug infusions, and on designing and developing new drug delivery systems. With demand for the HITH service increasing with our ageing population, achieving these goals will in turn improve patient care and outcomes in the home.
Janet and Andrew Sluggett present their poster at the NHIA
The relationship between CPIE Pharmacy Services and Flinders is well established, as CPIE was one of the very first companies to benefit from the MDPP grant scheme.
MDPP Director, Karen Reynolds is enthusiastic about the ongoing collaboration with CPIE Pharmacy Services.
“Our engineers and researchers have medical device development knowledge, so we’re really pleased to have built such a strong collaborative relationship with a local pharmacy, which gives us access to pharmacological and commercial knowledge”, she said.
“Exploring real life impacts on the efficacy and safety of home-based based treatments enables us to come up with new and improved devices and treatments, which may improve outcomes for patients and have the added benefit of being able to be manufactured right here in South Australia”.
The Sluggetts’ research will be published in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research.
