FIP is active in China supported by the FIP China Envoy Snr Col. Chen Zheng-Yu and through FIP’s membership organisation the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Snr Col Chen works with the GuangDong Pharmaceutical Association, including on the development of Chinese pharmaceutical expert consensus statements, which are shared below.

Consensus statements on surgical pharmacy

In China, like in other countries of the world, pharmacy services are being transformed to meet clinical needs. At the end of 2015, the GuangDong Pharmaceutical Association (GDPA) in China proposed the concept of a “surgical pharmacist”. In September 2018, the GDPA appealed for the creation of surgical pharmacist positions in hospitals and defined their responsibilities as taking care of the whole process of medication management during the perioperative period and beyond. This involves focusing on perioperative medicines, such as anti-infection, anti-thrombosis and analgesia medicines, as well as on clinical nutrition, blood glucose, blood pressure, liquids management, the treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting, the use of glucocorticoids, controlled drugs management, medicines reconciliation and deprescribing. A further responsibility is the management of drugs prone to be used irrationally, such as proton pump inhibitors, as well as medicines used beyond the perioperative period but related to the procedures, such as immunosuppressants for transplantation patients. The following consensus statements are availalble:
 

• Blood pressure management in the perioperative period by medical and pharmaceutical experts
• Clinical pharmacists’ pharmaceutical care for postoperative pain in Guangdong Province
• Guidelines for full-process pharmaceutical care for subcutaneous preparations of antitumor drugs
• Guidelines on integrated surgical pharmaceutical managements for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in malignancy
• Home pharmaceutical therapy management for colorectal cancer
• Long-term management of immunosuppressants in Chinese renal transplant recipients
• Management of non-blood haemostatic drugs during perioperative period
• Nuclear pharmacist management and clinical use of radiopharmaceuticals
• Perioperative medication therapy management within enhanced recovery after surgery programmes
• Physician-pharmacist co-management of perioperative airway
• Physician-pharmacist co-management of perioperative blood glucose
• Precision medicine by surgical pharmacists for oncology in the perioperative period
• Surgical pharmacy practice of parenteral and enteral nutrition

In an article for the IPJ in January 2023, Zheng Zhi-hua, founder of surgical pharmacy, vice president and general secretary of GuangDong Pharmaceutical Association, China, and Chen Zheng-yu, FIP China envoy, describe the development of surgical pharmacy as a new specialty whose practitioners can act as a bridge between surgeons and physicians. Read the article here.

The GDPA’s Surgical Pharmacy training course has been awarded the FIP Seal. It equips pharmacists with the knowledge and skills needed for effective medication management for surgical settings, integrating pharmaceutical expertise to improve patient outcomes. The course is designed for pharmacists, educators, students and other healthcare professionals in surgical care, and aims to enhance their proficiency in surgical medicines and clarify pharmacists’ roles in surgical contexts. For pharmacists based in China, learn more and enrol here.

Other consensus statements

• Antibiotic prophylaxis for pregnant women during peripartum period
• Drug-drug interactions management of poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors
• Information audit of outpatient and emergency prescriptions in healthcare institutions
• Medication safety in polypharmacy in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease
• Pharmaceutical Care for Anti-Tumor Drugs Taxanes
• Physician-pharmacist collaborative management of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Prescription review rules of anticoagulant drugs
• Rapid clinical evaluation of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors
• Rational use for inhaled medicines administrated by nebulizers
• Standard management for doping-containing medicines in medical institutions
• The application of nanopore sequencing in the detection of pathogenic microorganisms
• Whole-process pharmaceutical care for iodine contrast media