EU MONITOR -Making the difference by improving medication safety-Join the “Zooming in on Solutions” webinar!

 

The EAHP EU Monitor is a regular round up of news relevant to hospital pharmacy in Europe.

Zooming in on solutions – join us on 27 October at 4 PM CET!

  

As announced in the last EU Monitor, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) has teamed up with Affordable Medicines Europe, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), the European Healthcare Distribution Association (GIRP) and the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) to organise a series of webinars focusing on solutions to mitigate the impact of medicines shortages in Europe. The second webinar zooming in on prevention, response plans and risk assessments will be hosted by EAHP on 27 October 2020 at 4 PM CET.

Prevention is one solution that can help to alleviate the growing problems caused by medicine shortages for patients all over Europe. The second webinar of the series, “Zooming in on Solutions,” will look at two types of prevention strategies. For healthcare institutions, it is important to assess the critical need for a medicine when there are shortages and its ability to continue to provide patient care. With the help of so-called ‘prospective risk assessments,’ healthcare institutions can better predict emerging risks from shortages and prevent them from occurring. However, despite the potential of prospective risk assessments, their uptake is slow, in particular since data, knowledge and skills on how to apply risk assessments in everyday practice are lacking. Another type of prevention strategy—prevention and response plans—has been pioneered by France since 2016. This tool targets in particular producers and encourages them to establish shortage management plans.

This webinar will explore the potential of both prevention & response plans and prospective risk assessments. Join us on 27thOctober at 4 PM CET to learn more!

Register via the following LINK

Learn more about the webinar HERE

 

Position Paper on Pharmacy Preparations and Compounding

At the beginning of October, the member organisations of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) adopted a new position paper on pharmacy preparations and compounding. The position aims at providing information about the practice of pharmacy preparations and compounding in hospitals and asks for a stronger embedment of compounding and reconstitution practices in European hospital pharmacies, linked to increasing capacity and training.

The different sections of EAHP’s position paper touch on the importance of compounding for addressing patient needs, the involvement of hospital pharmacies in reconstitution practices and the role of hospital pharmacists in the preparation and use of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). Linked to personalised medication, it shares information on the engagement of hospital pharmacists and the adjustments that should be realised in education and training to comply with the increased need for personalised care. To further enhance patient care in Europe, EAHP

  • calls on health systems to create an environment which enables the provision of compounding services by hospital pharmacists based on the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy.
  • encourages health authorities to facilitate the delivery of pharmacy preparations between hospitals and to invest in compounding services since only by building sufficient capacity hospitals will be equipped to better respond to patient needs and extraordinary situations like pandemics and shortages of essential medicines.
  • recommends the revision of pharmacy curricula and the expansion of training opportunities for the pharmacy workforce to account for the growing demand for pharmacy preparations.
  • encourages the appointment of a hospital pharmacist as a designated person in every hospital, advocates for the increased involvement of hospital pharmacies in reconstitution practices, through setting up procedures and training personnel and promotes the creation of centralised reconstitution in hospitals.
  • requires that management of ATMPs, as licensed medications, remains the responsibility of the hospital pharmacist. 

Read EAHP's Position Paper on Pharmacy Preparations and Compounding HERE

 

Webinar: Practical examples of Clinical and Hospital Pharmacy Services for COVID-19 patients

On 29 October at 7 PM CET, EAHP and the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) will be holding a webinar to share selected inspiring examples of clinical and hospital pharmacy services for COVID-19 patients as well as a clinical update and the results of the qualitative study of ESCP on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical pharmacy practice. 

 

Learn from the experience of your colleagues working at the Hospital AZ Sint-Lucas in Gent (Belgium), the Fatebenefratelli-Sacco Hospital in Milan (Italy) and the COVID Medication Coordination Centre (LCG) in the Netherlands. After the webinar, you should be able to give an overview on the possible (preventive) pharmacological therapy options for COVID-19 and their effectiveness and to share information on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has on clinical pharmacy practice. 

 

Join us on 29th October by registering via the following LINK!

 

Learn more about the ESCP webinar series HERE

 

EMA virtual conference: 25 years of advancing public and animal health

 

On 22 October, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with a virtual conference focusing on building, learning and adapting to new challenges. The conference will be broadcasted between 2.00 and 4.30 PM CEST on EMA’s website. The event aims at addressing the key achievements and learnings from recent years as well as to elaborate further on key strategic areas looking forward, amid the current challenges. 

Access the agenda HERE

Watch the broadcast HERE

 

Questionnaire: Ward pharmacists in oncology 

A member of the German Society of Hospital Pharmacists has put together a survey in order to demonstrate the benefits of a ward pharmacist in oncology and thus help to increase the patient's therapeutic safety. 

To assess the impact of possible improvements and to get the most comprehensive picture possible, it is necessary to determine the current situation throughout Europe. For representative data collection, only one answer from each hospital pharmacy is allowed. Your information will be handled strictly confidential and the results will only be published anonymously. Responses can be shared until 15 December 2020. Participation only takes a few minutes and aims also at supporting pharmacists in clinics without a cytostatics department.

 

Access the survey via the following LINK

 

 

EJHP: Assessment of the effectiveness of a pharmacist approach for improving disease-specific knowledge and treatment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The original research published in the online edition of the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP) aims to assess the effectiveness of the clinical pharmacist approach to refining disease-specific knowledge in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treated in a tertiary care hospital. The authors carried out a prospective observational longitudinal study in adult COPD patients for 9 months in the tertiary care hospital of Pune. Based on their findings they concluded that the knowledge of patients with COPD about the disease and its treatment was poor at the time of enrolment and that proper counselling and education provided by the clinical pharmacist helped to improve the patients' knowledge about COPD and its treatment.

 

Read the article HERE

 

 

[COVID-19 Updates]

 


EAHP’s COVID-19 Resource Centre

To assist its member associations and individual hospital pharmacists in this critical time with the provision of the best possible care for patients, EAHP has decided to gather and make available information on COVID-19 relevant for the hospital pharmacy profession.

Access the Resource Centre HERE

French Society of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine (SFAR) - COVID-19 Hub | Informations générales sur COVID-19

SFARs COVID-19 hub contains the latest information for practitioners. The available information is in French. 

Access the hub HERE

Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice - Global oncology pharmacy response to COVID-19 pandemic: Medication access and safety

The article highlights challenges related to safe handling of hazardous drugs and maintaining high-quality medication safety standards that have impacted various stakeholders.

Access the article HERE

 

 

The sections of the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy in video

EAHP has developed a series of videos for the different sections of the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy to help you better understand how hospital pharmacists should be involved in the delivery of hospital pharmacy services. Watch them here!

 

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Consultations 

 

EMA – Guideline on registry-based studies

The guideline was developed based on the comments received on the discussion paper on ‘Methodological and operational considerations on the use of patient disease registries for regulatory purposes’, that went through a public consultation between November 2018 and June 2019, and a consultation of EMA Committees and Working parties.

 

Deadline – 31st December 2020

Access the consultation HERE

EDQM – Pharmeuropa PaedForm, Issue 2

The EDQM has just released issue 2 of Pharmeuropa PaedForm, in which the third monograph elaborated by the PaedForm Working Party, the draft text for an ethanol-free formulation for Furosemide 2 mg/mL Oral Solution, is published for public consultation prior to its inclusion in the European Paediatric Formulary.

 

Deadline – 31st December 2020

 

Find more information HERE