Hospital pharmacist / pharmacologist

Hospital pharmacy is a rapidly advancing profession; hospital pharmacists have to deal with advances in medicine in general, but even more with exciting new therapies which are becoming more and more complex. The large numbers of molecular biology and biotechnology drugs that have evolved in the last decade can be a challenge for hospital pharmacists. Medicine management in a complex hospital environment often extends to an outpatient situation, and should result in rational and, above all, safe patient care. This requires advanced skills from clinical pharmacists within the ward and at the bedside.

New drugs are being licensed for more narrow indications and trusted drugs are extracted from the market or become unavailable for varying reasons. This means back to the basics of pharmacy: we need to prepare an increasing number of drugs to fill the gaps that endanger affordable patient care. On this side of the profession we are often confronted with the implementation of new quality guidelines. The same is true for the handling of more classical cytotoxic medicines: preparation in most countries has been moved away from the clinical ward to specialised facilities in the hospital pharmacy.

For many of us the relation with hospital management is not an easy one. In many hospitals, the hospital pharmacy is seen as a cost centre, and not as a profit centre, enabling otherwise impossible advanced patient care.

Undergraduate pharmacy training is grossly inadequate to prepare for such a demanding work environment. Many European countries have now implemented specialisation programmes for pharmacists to safeguard patient care up to the same level as medical specialists.

This, in a nutshell, creates the need for a platform to share both research achievements and educational material to support all European hospital pharmacists, united in the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists. The European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice, since its initial launch in 2005, has already aimed to fulfil this ambition and will continue to do so with the launch of a combined issue published by the BMJ Publishing Group. The European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice is unique in that it is the only hospital pharmacy platform to reach ALL 21000 European hospital pharmacists, including many outside Europe.

What will continue is the trusted content that fits the needs of our readers. What will support the Journal’s advancement is the new advantageous relationship with a world renowned publisher, who already has ample experience of publishing more than 40 specialised medical Journals. EJHP has found a new house, and we make a pledge to our readers that you will see an even better Journal.

Prof. Dr. Arnold G. Vulto

EJHP Editor in Chief