The Pithiviers hospital pharmacy supplies all the establishment’s services as well as the Pithiviers and Neuville-aux-Bois nursing homes. Eight assistants and a pharmacist work there from Monday to Friday.
It is one of the pivotal services of the Pithiviers hospital center and yet one of the least known. The hospital pharmacy will be highlighted during a workshop organized on Thursday, September 19 in the afternoon. “We are at the intersection of all services,” emphasizes Carole Poisson, pharmacist and head of this center.
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The pharmacy “supplies” both the Pithiviers and Neuville-aux-Bois nursing homes (for the past year), and the various services of the establishment: from the emergency room to the women’s and children’s medical center, including consultations, the short-stay service, etc.
Preparing pill boxes once a week for nursing home residents.
Eight pharmacy technicians work there in addition to the pharmacist, from Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Another pharmacist is currently being sought.
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Their mission: to ensure the safety of the entire drug circuit. “We check everything that comes in: drugs, medical devices (dressings, IVs, etc.). We enter the batch numbers, the expiry dates. And we check everything that leaves the pharmacy,” explains Carole Poisson, before the checks in the departments by the nurses.
1,500 drug references
For nursing home residents, pill boxes are prepared for a whole week. Each one has a very specific sheet. Between those in Neuville-aux-Bois and Pithiviers, this represents more than 300 beds. Concerning medicine and short stays at the Pithiviers hospital, medications are prepared on a daily basis “because the treatments are more changeable.” This represents approximately 90 beds.
The Pithiviers hospital pharmacy has 1,500 references for medicines and 500 for medical devices (masks, plasters, dressings, etc.). Everything is classified and accessible via different software. Pharmacy technicians may be required to repackage certain medicines.
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Pill boxes are checked after being filled
Regarding requests for medical equipment, a schedule is established. Once a week, each department places its order. In each, there are emergency cabinets with equipment in stock if needed.
Work planned for 2025
In addition to this work, the team also does what is called retrocession, “it is the sale of medicines to patients outside the establishment, for medicines that are not available in town because they are too expensive or they treat specific pathologies, rare diseases. Around a hundred patients come each month”, explains the pharmacist.
The bulk of the stock is in the basement
Currently, the pharmacy department is spread over three levels between the basement (storage), the ground floor and the first floor of the hospital. A restructuring project is well advanced. The entire pharmacy will be brought together in the currently empty premises of the old kitchen (near the helipad), on two floors. The hospital center will also invest in a robot. The work, worth one million euros, should be launched in 2025.
On Thursday, September 19, as part of Patient Safety Week, the hospital is organizing a workshop “Sort out your medicine cabinet”, from 2 to 5 p.m., in the lobby of the establishment, with the hospital pharmacist. You can bring all the medications in your medicine cabinet and your prescriptions. Advice will be given to you.
Aurelie Richard
