(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Doha: The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) hosted a webinar on methods to improve the quality of healthcare by using pharmacogenetics, a strategy to ensure the correct use of drugs for each patient to avoid negative side effects.
The webinar on Pharmacogenetics and Patient Safety took place on August 2 as part of the ‘Safer Care Accelerator"; series by the Leading Health Systems Network (LHSN).
LHSN is a WISH initiative to bring together healthcare leaders and industry experts to identify and discuss areas of improvement in healthcare systems.
The webinar was led by Dr. Deepak Voora, Assistant Professor of Medicine; and Dr. Geoffrey Ginsburg, Director, Centre for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine — both from Duke University School of Medicine. The webinar highlighted the significant clinical and economic impact of adverse drug reactions as participants outlined examples of drugs that cause them and ways to mitigate them.
They offered recommendations on improving policy through the administration of the right drug tailored to a patient";s genetic makeup.
Dr Ginsburg said: 'Commonly used medications for heart disease, cancer, seizures and others have side effects that are a result of genetic variation that affects the metabolism of these drugs in some people. If genetic testing was done at the time of drug prescribing, many adverse events might have been avoided.”
Didi Thompson, Policy Fellow, Imperial College";s Centre for Health Policy, and WISH Forum Fellow, said: 'People often think of patient safety in relation to surgical outcomes or hospital-acquired infections. However, patients receive the majority of care outside hospital. With an ageing population and patients often taking four or five medications concurrently, adverse drug reactions are a significant patient safety issue. Pharmacogenetics can provide us with tools to deliver safer and more effective care and reduce the likelihood of adverse drug reactions.”
The webinar stressed the extent of positive impact that effective implementation of pharmacogenetics will have on a global level. 'Adverse drug reactions are a global concern for patient safety. They are costly and can be prevented. Pharmacogenetics is a strategy to provide the right dose of the right drug to the right individual and can contribute to avoiding drug toxicity and improvement of safety and quality of healthcare,” added Dr Voora.
Since its establishment in 2009, LHSN has collaborated with 25 health systems from over 12 countries to exchange knowledge among experts and discuss ways of making improvements in healthcare policies.
It is based at Imperial College in London and has partnered with WISH to produce a positive change through monthly webinars that aim at healthier populations all over the world. Hamad Medical Corporation and Sidra Medical and Research Center are part of the 18 organisations that have joined the effort.
WISH, a global initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, launched the LHSN Safer Care Accelerator Programme to share best practice and inspire health systems worldwide to provide safer care for patients.
The 2016 WISH Summit will take place on November 29-30 in Doha.
The Peninsula