ISOPP-TUKED Collaboration & ISOPP Masterclass in Turkey

Gozde Yesilyaprak, (BSPharm, MSci in Clinical Pharmacy, MSci in Health Economics)
Aygin Ekincioglu (PhD in Clinical Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy)

The TÜKED (Turkish Public Pharmacists Association) started communications with the ISOPP regarding professional collaboration in 2015 and the societies mutually agreed on initiating collaborative activities in order to promote and improve oncology pharmacy practice.

The ISOPP President Harbans Dhillon and President-elect Alex Chan honored us by attending the 5th National Congress of TUKED which was held between 7th and 11th March 2018 in Antalya, Turkey. Since the 1st National Congress of TÜKED in 2012, interest and participation has increased by each year and we hosted over 900 participants from hospitals, institutions, as well as industry exhibitors this year.

The scientific program consisted of a variety of sessions related to pharmacy practice in general such as rational drug use in diabetes, poisoning and antidotes, hot topics in nutrition, immunogenicity in biosimilars, radiopharmaceuticals, hematology-oncology practices, rational drug use in the treatment of depression, compounding & compounded medications, infectious diseases, complementary and/or herbal medicines, and management of medical equipment and disposables.

During the 5th National Congress of TÜKED, president-elect Alex Chan gave a lecture on ‘New Dimensions and Advances in Supportive Care for Cancer Patients’ at the opening session. President Harbans Dhillon participated in the biosimilars session with a presentation on ‘From a perspective of a pharmacist: the emerging biosimilars market’. Both presentations brought all the valuable information and international experience to our congress and attracted great attention from over 900 congress attendees.

As an exciting part of the collaboration with ISOPP, Masterclasses for TÜKED’s educators on ‘Safe Handling’ and ‘Supportive Care in Cancer’ were conducted by Harbans Dhillon and Alex Chan on the 7th and 8th March 2018, respectively. In the masterclasses, 14 Turkish pharmacists who are involved in oncology practice in various settings such as hospital pharmacy, university, the Ministry of Health Drug and Medical Device Agency, and medical device industry participated. And finally, they received their certificates at the stage of the congress.

Both masterclasses were very comprehensive; included essential topics, advanced and up-to-date clinical and scientific information, detailed case studies and hands-on demonstration of spill kit use and aseptic drug preparation technique. These comprehensive masterclasses were an excellent experience and opportunity to improve our knowledge, to exchange ideas and to be able to transfer the information to our colleagues in near future.

We are looking forward to the future steps of our fruitful collaboration!

 Alex Chan, Masterclass facilitator  Harbans Dhillon, Masterclass facilitator

Demonstration during the Masterclass

TUKED-ISOPP Masterclass participants

TUKED-ISOPP Masterclass participants receiving certificate

 Alex Chan presenting at TUKED Congress  Harbans Dhillon presenting at TUKED Congress