Central Pharmacy Service

The Hospital Pharmacy Service is present in the four main EOC sites (Ospedale Civico Lugano, Ospedale San Giovanni Bellinzona, Ospedale Beata Vergine Mendrisio, and Ospedale La Carità Locarno). It ensures the procurement and supply of medicines for the treatment of patients taken care of by all clinical services of the EOC in accordance with current legal regulations. The Service, in collaboration with specialists, evaluates and chooses medicines with the best benefit/risk ratio, processes information about the correct use and safety of medicines, ensures pharmaceutical counseling to physicians, nurses, fulfills the surveillance tasks entrusted to it by the legislature, and collaborates in the management of antidotes in case of intoxications.

The ISFSI Central Pharmacy Service is recognized as a training center for obtaining the FPH of Hospital and Clinical Pharmacy.

Clinical pharmacy contributes to the quality of drug therapy with the goal of ensuring the safety, relevance and efficacy of therapeutic products prescribed to patients.

Within the EOC hospitals, clinical pharmacists are part of the Institute's clinical team and are responsible for the direct patient-oriented activities developed in the departments of care in collaboration with physicians, nurses and other professionals with the aim of optimizing therapeutic choices, understanding and anticipating drug-related problems from prescription to administration, and improving the organization and quality of care.

ISFSI's Centralized Cytostatics Production service, which has been active at the San Giovanni Hospital in Bellinzona since 2004 and at the Italian Hospital in Lugano since 2017, is mainly responsible for the production of chemotherapies and monoclonal antibodies for patients in the IOSI outpatient clinics at the two sites, the IOSI inpatient wards, pediatric oncology, IOSI clinical trials and other departments at the two hospitals. This service ensures the production of cytostatics in accordance with international recommendations and in line with the highest quality and safety standards in the field.

The service also provides ongoing training for production staff and nurses who handle cytostatics, provides pharmaceutical assistance to physicians and nurses, and is part of the IOSI-ISFSI Quality Team.