the first edition of the Sifo national theoretical-practical course in Grosseto

The scientific managers Michele Bindi and Antonella Risoli: “Sharing best practices”

ROME – It opens today in Grosseto the SIFO Practical Course Preparation in parenteral nutrition (14-15 June, Misericordia Hospital), national training event that focuses on the contribution of the hospital pharmacist in the preparation phase of personalized nutritional formulations. The event’s scientific managers are Michele Bindi (USL Tuscany South East Company, Misericordia Hospital of Grosseto) e Antonella Risoli (Cosenza Hospital), both members of the SIFO Scientific Area Metabolic diseases, malnutrition and clinical nutrition.

The course is aimed at a limited number of hospital pharmacists and has received widespread professional attention, and not surprisingly (given the exhaustion of available places) has already been planned for subsequent editions, in such a way as to be able to fully respond to the training needs of those from all the Regions who have already expressed their interest in participating. Interest which also increased due to the opportunity to carry out the various sessions within an important hospital structure (among the most important in Central Italy), thus guaranteeing the integration of the theoretical and practical training “double track” in a single location.

Why did the SIFO Scientific Area decide to propose a training course focused on this topic? “We proposed this training event“, replies Michele Bindi, “because we are particularly interested in disseminating and sharing knowledge on the practical part of setting up parenteral nutrition bags in hospital pharmacies. The preparations of personalized nutritional mixtures represent indispensable nutritional and pharmacological tools and the hospital pharmacist, with his professional and managerial contribution in the preparation phase of personalized formulations, is a fundamental player in guaranteeing the quality and safety of the entire process”.

“The main educational objective of the event“, points out Antonella Risoli, “it is the sharing of experiences and best practices. As the SIFO Nutrition Area we have given ourselves the imperative to share experience, knowledge and desire to do. If this is our path, accordingly it is essential to aim for the sharing of those direct experiences that each of us experiences daily within our own reality. In this way, those who have the will or need to start a parenteral nutrition job within their own hospital can take advantage of the different experiences to be able to adapt what they learn to their specific needs”.

The two days of Grosseto foresees three sessions specifications: Gender nutrition, Management of the Compounding laboratory and, finally, a Practical laboratory for preparing bags for Parenteral Nutrition. Why a specific opening session dedicated to gender nutrition? “Different genders mean different nutritional needs, which change differently over the course of life”, replies Bindi, “This is the basic premise of gender nutrition which applies the fundamental principles of gender medicine to the field of nutrition. The first studies on the subject, which date back to the 1990s, are due to the American cardiologist Bernadine Patricia Healy and since then we have known how important it is, in the field of health, to take into account the differences between men and women, from the point of view of disease, risk factors, physiology and, last but not least, the role they play within society. Finally, the time is ripe to recognize that needs, even from a nutritional point of view, are different depending on gender.” Michele Bindi continues: “In the field of medicine we have always carried out studies and proposed solutions based on the male gender, without considering that nutrition especially has a decisive influence on the pathologies we fall ill with most frequently, such as chronic-degenerative diseases.. And above all without considering that nutrition plays such an important role as to influence not only the development of these pathologies, but even their transgenerational ‘transmission’ during pregnancy. This is why our scientific area has decided to dedicate an entire session to gender nutrition precisely because parenteral nutrition gives us the possibility of personalizing the nutritional bag based on the sex, type and specific needs of the patient”.

The course offers a mix of frontal communications and workshops. Why do you have the choice of an event that incorporates ‘knowledge’ and ‘know-how’ in this way?’ “The answer is simple”, continues Risoli, “Doing things rather than just listening to them offers totally different training results. The Nutrition Group has the particularity of being closely linked to sterile galenics, and therefore for us promoting how to do things is of fundamental importance. In this Course we therefore planned a session that explains how we do things and to try to get them done directly. Creating personalized nutritional products yourself allows you to make greater self-criticism towards your practice, allows you to ask yourself questions, and to look for a suitable and practical solution that only those who are working on at that moment, with their own means available, can respond.”