On 7 April, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) published the results of its 2019 Medicines Shortages Survey which for the first time also collected feedback from patients, nurses, physicians and other healthcare professionals. Responses showed that the problem of shortages continued to grow with delays in care or therapy, suboptimal treatment, including inferior efficacy, and cancellation of care being mentioned as the most frequent type of impacts felt by patients.
The data collected by EAHP between November 2019 and mid-January 2020 aimed at obtaining more information on reasons for and management of medicines shortages as well as details on their impact on patients. For hospital pharmacists, the global shortage of an active pharmaceutical ingredient as well as manufacturing and supply chain problems ranked the highest, while physicians included the pricing of a medicine, supply chain problems and issues related to parallel export as the leading reasons for medicines shortages. Several patients that participated in the data collection activity stressed their dissatisfaction with how their problem was handled since they desired the provision of more detailed reasons behind not receiving the prescribed treatment.
Solutions to solve medicines shortages put forward by the survey participants included for example improving communication, applying prudent procurement procedures and enhancing the monitoring. EAHP consequently seeks to encourage all involved actors, including hospital pharmacists, to adopt reactive measures, such as carrying out prospective risk assessments, as well as proactive measures, like prudent tendering practices. Also, the Association would like to reiterate its request linked to the improvement of transparency and information sharing. Only a comprehensive communication strategy on shortages targeting all European states will ensure that all supply chain actors, including hospital pharmacists, receive adequate information on the shortage of medicines in their country.
Access the report via https://www.eahp.eu/
Collection of videos showcasing clinical and hospital pharmacy services for COVID-19 patients
EAHP joined forces with the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) to collect best practice examples of clinical and hospital pharmacy services that made a difference for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout June, EAHP and ESCP were encouraging clinical and hospital pharmacist to record short 2 to 3 min videos showcasing their COVID-19 interventions. The recorded activities didn’t have to be very innovative or complex. They should have simply shown what types of clinical or hospital pharmacy services were provided during the pandemic for patients or how these services were being carried out. There were no limitations apart from the fact that the video should fulfil minimum graphical quality standards and that it should be non-commercial and respect ethical and privacy standards.
May stands for Statement implementation month
In May, the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy celebrated their sixth anniversary. Adopted by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and supported by doctors, nurses, patient organisations and others, the European Statements express commonly agreed objectives which every European health system should aim for in the delivery of hospital pharmacy services.
The implementation of the European Statements is being carried out within EAHP’s 35 member countries with the support of the Statement Implementation ambassadors. They act as link between the European and the national level. To facilitate the move towards Statement Implementation, EAHP also launched a self-assessment tool and the Statement Implementation Learning Collaborative Centres (SILCC) programme. The online self-assessment tool allows hospital pharmacists to assess the level of implementation of the European Statements within their hospitals, while the SILCC programme provides hospital pharmacists with the opportunity to visit hospitals from other EAHP member countries to learn about pharmacy procedures linked to the European Statements. With the help of both of these tools, EAHP has already significantly increased the awareness as shown in the surveys of hospital pharmacy practice.
Joint statement on treatment of COVID-19 patients released
At the end of April, EAHP published a joint statement on the treatment of COVID-19 patients together with the European Association of Senior Hospital Physicians (AEMH), the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) and the European Society of Oncology Pharmacy (ESOP). The joint statement touched on the growing problem of shortages of essential medicines and calls on physicians and pharmacists to closely monitor and evaluate emerging clinical and research data to make use of evidence informed practices when weighing the risks and benefits for each individual case. Also, it encourages colleagues to support and carry out research where possible.
Footnotes
Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.