SPD2 – Hospital formularies going green

Link to EAHP Statements

• Section 2 – Selection, Procurement and Distribution: Statements – 2.3, 2.5

Abstract

A hospital formulary is a list of medications that are approved for use within the hospital or healthcare system. Well-established key criteria to consider when medications are included in the formulary include safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and availability. Developing and maintaining a hospital formulary system, taking into account guidelines, treatment pathways and best available evidence has always been a clear responsibility of hospital pharmacists.

More and more, hospital pharmacies are now starting to understand the impact they can make on the environment and are taking measures towards increased sustainability. Aside from the aforementioned criteria, the carbon-footprint of a medicine and other environmental aspects of its use come into focus.

The carbon footprint of available medicines or other hospital pharmacy products is one criterion that could be considered to inform “green” formulary decisions. However, comparative data on greenhouse gas emissions of drugs occurring throughout their life cycle is often scarce, absent or not publicly available.

Another approach is taking into account environmental criteria when evaluating, selecting or procuring medicines. There is also already first-hand experience with integrating environmental considerations into tender criteria for medicines, and it is vital for hospital pharmacists to understand the possibilities, the challenges and opportunities of such an approach.

Learning objectives

After the session, the participant should be able:

• To list environmental criteria that could be considered when selecting medicines for formulary inclusion
• To recall how the carbon footprint of a medicines is calculated and how it can inform formulary decision processes
• To name challenges and opportunities of integrating environmental sustainability criteria into medicines procurement

Educational need addressed  

Hospital pharmacists need to know about their potential influence and impact on addressing environmental sustainability aspects in the context of hospital formulary decisions and medicines procurement.

Keywords

Medicines formulary, carbon footprint, environmental sustainability, formularies, new drug, tendering