Academics offer Pharmacy expertise at international congress

Two academics from the University of Wolverhampton attended a high-profile international conference in Denmark recently.

Professor Patrick Ball and Dr Hana Morrissey from the School of Pharmacy in the Faculty of Science and Engineering attended the World Congress on Vascular Access 2018 which was held in Copenhagen recently.

The Congress welcomes doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, phlebotomists, microbiologists and medical laboratory scientists from around the world to share experiences, the latest research and advance practice.

Professor Ball is an acknowledged international expert in the behaviour of medications in parenteral fluid systems (intravenous ‘drip’ lines) and gave a keynote speech at the conference. Both Dr Morrissey and Professor Ball have expertise in the training of pharmacists to prepare injections.

Dr Morrissey, a Reader in clinical pharmacy at the University and a former Australian military pharmacist, said: “We tend to forget that skin quality is a very important aspect of vascular access for longer term treatment. Professor Ball and I are from a very small cohort of pharmacists internationally who have been trained to cannulate and inject. On IV 'drip' lines, Professor Ball was invited to provide a daily 'meet the expert' session and also took part in an international working party making practice recommendations on the use of in-line filters in these parenteral fluid lines."

Professor Ball said: “Vascular access, for administration of blood, fluids and medications, is a very important part of medical practice."

The World Congress was founded in 2009 to ensure that this basic technique in medicine could be undertaken more safely, reliably and with fewer complications.

Dr Morrissey’s expertise focuses on the cannulation, while both have expertise in intravenous administration of mediations.

Anyone interested in studying Pharmacy should register for the next Open Day on Saturday 18^th August 2018.

ENDS