Ifema hospital model. Implementation and start-up of the Pharmacy Department

On the 20th of March 2020, triggered by the public health emergency declared,  the Health Authorities in Madrid reported a legal instruction (Orden 371/2020)  indicating the organization of a provisional hospital to admit patients with  COVID-19 at the Trade Fair Institution (IFEMA). Several pharmacists working in  the Pharmacy and Medical Devices Department of the Madrid Regional Health  Service were called to manage the Pharmacy Department of the  abovementioned hospital. Required permissions to set up a PD were here  authorized urgently. Tackling human and material resources, and computer  systems for drug purchase and electronic prescription, were some of the initial  issues that hindered the pharmaceutical provision required for patients from the  very day one. Once the purchase was assured, mainly by direct purchase from suppliers, drug dispensing up to 1,250 hospitalized patients (25 nursing units) and 8 ICU patients was taken on. Dispensing was carried out  through either drug stocks in the nursing units or individual patient dispensing  for certain drugs. Moreover, safety issues related to prescription were  considered, and as the electronic prescription was implemented we attained  100% prescriptions review and validation. The constitution of a multidisciplinary  Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee let agree to a pharmacotherapy guide,  pres cription protocols, therapeutic equivalences, interactions, and drug  dispensing circuits. The Pharmacy Department strategy was to ensure a very  quick response to basic tasks keeping the aim to offer a pharmaceutical care of  the highest quality whenever possible. Working under a health emergency  situation, with many uncertainties and continuous pressure was a plight.  However, the spirit of collaboration in and out of the Pharmacy Department was  aligned with the whole hospital motivation to offer the highest quality of  healthcare. These were possibly the keys to allow caring for almost 4,000  patients during the 42 days that the hospital lasted.