Since the last survey EAHP in 2005, the EAHP has enlarged to the Eastern European countries and now it represents 31 members where the hospital pharmacy is being practised in more than 4,500 hospitals with over 21,000 hospital pharmacists. After 5 years the update of the state of the art of the profession was necessary to include the new members and expand the knowledge about the level of pharmacy practice in hospitals.

The first EAHP survey was carried out in 1995, followed by surveys in 2000, 2005 and 2010. The 2010 EAHP survey collected data on hospital pharmacy practice from hospital pharmacy managers in 30 countries in collaboration with the national associations. 4,747 hospital pharmacy managers were invited to complete the questionnaire consisting of 87 questions. The response rate was 26,1%. In 2010, we distributed and analysed the questionnaires electronically, thus shortening the data processing step and reducing data input errors.

The questions are focused on performance of the hospital pharmacy and not on an individual hospital pharmacist. The results of the 2010 survey presented in this seminar describe the current state of the art across Europe, as well as the progress of hospital pharmacy services during the last 5 years. Wherever possible, the 2010 survey data have been compared with the 2005 survey data in order to monitor trends.

The seminar provides summary data on pharmacy activities, including logistic of drugs in the hospital and to outpatients, production and preparation of treatments, clinical activities and use of new technologies, as well as trends in optimising the safety and economic value of pharmacotherapy.

This seminar is intended to assist hospital pharmacy managers to reflect on the extent to which pharmacists are engaged in various activities and to assess the role of pharmacists within their hospital. The results are useful for the comparative analysis of current service levels and future planning.

The knowledge of services and research provided by hospital pharmacists is fundamental to the educational and development programmes of the EAHP, which will lead to reductions in the differences in hospital pharmacy practices in European countries in the future.

Teaching goals:

• To present the EAHP survey 2010, the method used, it's strengths and weaknesses.
• Compare the results of the 2010 survey with the results of the 2005 survey.
• Present the state of the art of hospital pharmacies (HP) across Europe.
• Highlight special areas of general interest and new promising developments.

Learning objectives:

After the presentation, the attendees should be able to:

• Compare services they offer to the performance of similar HP across Europe.
• Exchange the views and experiences with colleagues from other countries.
• Use the inspiration given from the presentation to develop new services back home.
• Know who in a given activity is performing best practice in Europe and in which country it is being performed.