The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) has established a Special Interest Group (SIG) to gain more knowledge about the current and future use of prefilled medicines syringes (PFS) in hospitals. EAHP's SIG focused on the Use of Prefilled Syringes in Intensive Care Units and Operating Theatres (financially supported by BD) has prepared two surveys targeting on the one hand professional associations and on the other hand health professionals and managers.

A PFS is a presentation of one or more active medicines, at the required concentration and volume, in the final syringe and ready for parenteral administration to the patient. PFS are intended to reduce error and minimise the time taken to prepare parenteral medicine by staff in clinical areas. PFS are manufactured/prepared by the pharmaceutical industry or hospital pharmacies.

Several additional benefits and some disadvantages have been reported for PFS. The SIG is preparing a comprehensive literature review on PFS.

Usage of PFS in hospitals in North America has been considerably larger than in Europe for many years. Recently the use of PFS in some European countries has increased.

The surveys have been designed to collect the views and opinions of a range of health professionals, managers, and professional associations on the current and future use of PFS. Participation is completely voluntary. It should take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete the survey. Feedback can be shared until the 31st of August 2022. The survey for professional associations is available in English. The survey for individual health professionals and managers can be completed in eight different languages (English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Serbian, Spanish and Turkish).

EAHP's SIG thanks the survey participants in advance for their participation.