EAHP event supports 40 pharmacists from 14 countries in making change in their hospitals

The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), in combination with the Panhellenic Association of Hospital Pharmacists (PEFNI),recently held its 7th Annual Academy Seminar to assist hospital pharmacists in learning from European and Global best practice. The event alsogave practical guidance to attendees about how to implement change in theirhospital pharmacy.
The weekend of themed lectures and workshops took place in Thessaloniki, Greece between 20th and 22nd April 2012. 40 pharmacists participated from 14 countries,and were mainly heads of pharmacies or deputies from the new EU-Countries and EU candidate countries. The overall topic of the 2012 weekend was: “"What do we need to know about building or reconstructing a hospital pharmacy?"
Topics covered included: production engineering; quality and risk management; how to set up new facilities; hospital pharmacy logistics; use of automatic picking systems; and latest developments in medicine barcode technology. Participants were guided and informed about these subjects by prominent individuals in hospital pharmacy including: Technology ConsultantWinfried Scheirer; Barbara Wimmer, a Head of Drugs Information and Clinical Pharmacy in an Austrian hospital; HolgerKnoth, Head of Pharmacy at Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital in Dresden; and, Michael Beranek, a consultant in Good Manufacturing Practice. All participants received certificates of education accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) on completion of the course.
Elfriede Dolinar, EAHP’s Vice-President and the Moderator of the Seminar, said:
“Thessaloniki was the 7th Academy Seminar that EAHP has organised with the purpose of improving hospital pharmacy practice right across Europe. I am delighted that each event appears to receive more and more positive feedback from participants. It is very gratifying to me that EAHP provides this kind of development opportunity and I look forward to hearing how the attendees have applied what they learned to improve services and systems in their respective countries.
Finally, I want to thank to our sponsors Amgen, Bayer Healthcareand Cato Software Solutions whose support helped to make the event possible.”
ENDS
For further information please contact Richard Price (Tel.: +32 (0)2/741.68.35 Email: po[at]eahp[dot]eu) or Sandra Teixera (Tel.: +32 (0)2/741.68.27 Email: eb[at]eahp[dot]eu)
* Additional photographs from the weekend are available on request
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is a working community of national associations of hospital pharmacists. Its membership includes representatives of national hospital pharmacy associations in almost all the European Union (EU) member states, in addition to Switzerland, Norway, Serbia, Turkey, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM) and Bosnia Herzegovina. Membership is increasing each year and, at present, EAHP represents the interest of over 21,000 hospital pharmacists in 31 countries all over Europe. www.eahp.eu
2. The following countries were represented by participants over the weekend: Bosnia Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; Estonia; the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Greece; Hungary; Latvia; Lithuania; Poland; Serbia; Slovakia; and, Slovenia.
3. Information on the general purpose of the Academy Seminars here
4. Information on the 2012 Thessaloniki Seminar, including learning objectives, programme, speaker biographies and presentations here
 
5. The 18th Annual Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists will be held in Paris13-15 March 2013. More information here