EAHP represents over 29,000 hospital pharmacists across 36 member countries. EAHP represents and develops the hospital pharmacy profession within Europe in order to ensure the continuous improvement of care and outcomes for patients in the hospital setting. This is achieved through science, research, education, practice, as well as sharing best-practice and responsibility with other healthcare professionals.
The EAHP Board, elected for three-year terms, oversees the association’s activities. Comprising directors responsible for core functions, it meets regularly to implement strategic goals. Supported by EAHP staff, the Board controls finances, coordinates congress organization, and ensures compliance with statutes and codes of conduct.
The EAHP staff supports the Board in executing EAHP’s mission. The Staff assists in financial management, events organisations, policy activities and all EAHP projects. The EAHP staff works closely with EAHP’s members and ensures the effective communication all relevant stakeholders.
The first member countries were Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany and The Netherlands in 1972. EAHP has now 36 EAHP members and 2 Associate Members. EAHP is open to countries members of the Council of Europe and since 2022 to organisations representing the interests of hospital pharmacists from outside the Council of Europe (Associate Membership)
EAHP’s structure is also composed by different standing committes: EAHP Scientific Committee, EAHP Education Executive Committee and the EAHP CTF Steering Committee.
At EAHP, we are committed to transparency in our governance, ethical standards, and funding practices. This section provides open access to our foundational documents, including the EAHP Statutes, Code of Conduct, and Funding Sources. By sharing these resources, we aim to uphold accountability and foster trust with our members, partners, and the public.
Keep up with all EAHP’s events and webinars. Contact the team at info@eahp.eu should you have any questions about upcoming events or activities.
Here you can find all upcoming events organised by EAHP and by all its members and associate members. Do not hesitate to contact the events team at events@eahp.eu should you have any questions about the organisation of these events.
Hospital pharmacists conduct a critical role in the care of patients in hospitals. Learn more about what they do here and in all the pages under Hospital Pharmacy practice and Policy.
Self-Assessment
SILCC
Closed SIGs
EAHP brings together experts from many areas of hospital pharmacy practice providing and highlighting good local sustainable practices as that can be up-scaled and shared with other countries. The EAHP Working Group on Sustainability has the aim of reducing the environmental burden of the hospital pharmacy services.
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), and its 36 member country platforms are creating a Common Training Framework for the hospital pharmacy education in Europe. The goal of this project is to allow the free movement of hospital pharmacists within the European Union.
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) have collaboratively developed the Oath to Society. The Oath to Society is all encompassing and acts as a contract for excellence in providing compassionate patient care, working as part of the healthcare team and advancing the pharmacy profession, and showcasing how clinical and hospital pharmacists work every day
A day created to highlight the importance and to celebrate the work done by hospital pharmacies. This day celebrates all hospital pharmacy teams.
Catch up with EAHP’s press releases
Find all EAHP relevant publication like the EAHP Surveys, annual reports and the history books.
The European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP) is the only official journal of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and is committed to advancing the science, practice and profession of hospital pharmacy. As the premier communication platform for hospital pharmacists worldwide, EJHP is a major source for continuing education as well as updates on advances in the practice and standard of pharmaceutical care for patients.
When EAHP and Hospital pharmacists appear in the news.
EAHP publishes a monthly EU monitor with updates about the latest EAHP initiatives and information relevant for the hospital pharmacy profession.
Sponsor Channel
The Sponsor Channel is designed to maximise visibility and engagement, allowing sponsors to connect with the hospital pharmacy community and partners in a dynamic and interactive environment. From product demonstrations to networking sessions, the Sponsor Channel offers a range of opportunities for sponsors to showcase their offerings and generate leads in the new EAHP Website.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Christina Anastasiadou – Lead Pharmacist Acute & Emergency Medicine
Karen Dicks – Chief Pharmacy Technician Medicines Management
Radhika Patel – Pharmacy Technician MMS
Until October 2023, the A&E department in Croydon University Hospital in London lacked a full-time pharmacy service, unlike other London trusts. This has contributed to suboptimal medicine management and a delay in the identification of prescribing errors. This has resulted in longer stays, missed medication doses, and a rise in patient safety incidences. At a hospital level this reduces flow and increases cost due to medication wastage. Ultimately, the aim is to improve the flow of patients within the hospital via timely medicines provision, early clinical pharmacy intervention and early discharge planning.
We have obtained funding from the Better Care Fund for a period of 2 years. This funding is aimed at assisting local systems in effectively achieving the integration of health and social care in a manner that promotes person-centred care, sustainability, and improved outcomes for individuals and caregivers. Therefore, we introduced a full-time pharmacy service including one pharmacist and two medicines management technicians (MMTs)—one full-time and one part-time. This initiative was implemented as a 2-year trial period, using key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate its effectiveness.
Data has been collected against the below KPIS:
1) Number of drug histories completed on admission, before patient is allocated a ward (by MMT or pharmacist) per calendar month.
2) Number of medicines reconciliations completed (by pharmacist) per calendar month.
3) Number of clinical interventions completed by all members of the pharmacy team.
4) Savings secondary to the use of patient’s own drugs (PODs) brought from home for administration to reduce medicines wastage.
5) Savings due to the return of medicines to inpatient pharmacy for re-use from other patients when appropriate.
6) Time between request of medicines from pharmacy dispensary and medicine being dispensed, checked and released to A&E.
7) Review of stock lists in all areas in A&E.
8) Reduction in omitted doses.
9) Discharge medicines supply and screening from A&E to streamline discharge.
10) Number of patients counselled on their medicines and provided with patient-friendly information on them.
11) Number of referrals to community teams i.e allocated chemist via Discharge Medicines Service, Integrated Care Network (ICN) pharmacists or specialty teams (i.e anticoagulation clinic for newly initiated anticoagulant) to provide continuation of care.
12) Liaising with specialty teams within the hospital to expedite review and treatment in a time efficient and cost-effective way.
The current pharmacy team is fully integrated into the A&E service and has contributed significantly towards advancing patient experience, via early pharmacy engagement with patients. During the first 10 months of the project, we have data to show:
1) A 540% increase in drug histories and medicines reconciliation on admission.
2) A 19.525% increase in clinical interventions and early detection of medication errors.
3) We have completed 5 teaching sessions so far, in order to tackle common prescribing and medicines management inaccuracies and embedding solutions into nurses and doctors training.
4) We have contributed towards the reduction in omitted doses by 6%.
Positive contribution towards tackling medicines wastage has been shown too. Our team contributed towards saving £13.110 from April to September 2024 by using PODs for administration in hospital and £10.483 by returning dispensed medications to the inpatient pharmacy for recycling and use for other patients for the same time period.
In addition, the team has completed 66 referrals to the community pharmacy team for follow up on newly started medicines, stopped medicines, adherence concerns and polypharmacy. This is in order to provide continuous care and establish follow-up after discharge from hospital.
All in all, improved safe patients flow in and out of hospital.
Work towards a business case for a permanent pharmacy service in A&E, to continue further developing the above. Utilise all the skills our MMTs hold, in order to continue working on patient safety, improved flow and cost improvement plans. Introduce a pharmacist-prescriber who will be able to tackle arising problems as soon as possible and provide high quality care in liaison with doctors, nurses and advanced care practitioners.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Mafalda Cavalheiro 1
Joana Simões 1
Carolina Marques 1
Patrícia Batalha Silva 1
Miriam Capoulas 1
Cláudia Santos 1
1 – Pharmacy Department, Hospital da Luz Lisboa, Portugal
Due to the connection with the clinical area and innovation, trials in our pharmacy services were previously assigned to each pharmacist specialized in the corresponding therapeutic area. In the beginning of 2024, the increasing number of clinical trials, coordination and investigational drug management challenges emerged and proved that the previous model was inefficient. Our aim is to develop a centralized unit that is the key to coordinate pharmaceutical activity and improve patient care in clinical trials. In addition to dispensing process, pharmacists become responsible for ensuring therapeutic reconciliation, patient education and treatment adherence, improving medication safety.
During a time of continued growth in clinical trials number, it was defined as a pharmacy services’ goal the creation of a centralized clinical trial unit. Additionally, the need to structure a pharmaceutical consultation has arisen.
The process unfolded in three phases: team structuring, logistical reorganization and consolidation of the pharmaceutical care process. A lead pharmacist was appointed as coordinator, supported by a backup and three pharmacists in oncology and three in non-oncology. The major limitation was the establishment of the pharmaceutical team and their training for the several ongoing trials. The unit was reorganized into a larger area, including workstations, medication storage and a meeting room. The pharmaceutical consultation was structured into an initial evaluation and follow-ups. During the first consultation, the pharmacist conducts patient assessments, medication education, toxicity management information and drug/herbal interactions checking. Follow-up consultations focused on medication dispensing, compliance, adverse effects and patient concerns.
The centralized unit currently manages 66 clinical trials (37 oncologic; 29 non-oncologic). Seven oncologic trials regularly include pharmaceutical consultations, representing an average of 10 appointments per month. Given the benefits of pharmaceutical intervention, particularly in terms of increased adherence, reports of drug safety and compliance, the importance of this centralization is clear.
Due to logistical challenges, pharmaceutical consultations have only been implemented for oncologic oral medications. With the robustness of the centralized unit, the next goal is to expand pharmaceutical consultations to oral non-oncologic trials, following the successful model used for oncologic trials.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Margot DESCHAMPS, Nejib BORGAAOUI, Jimmy ROSE, Jennifer LE GRAND, Louise NICOLAS
One of the clinical pharmacy activities in the thoracic oncology department is the analysis the interactions between chemotherapy and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Cancer patients often seek alternative treatments which requires a rigorous evaluation of potential interactions. The goal of this study is to assess the methods used to analyze these interactions.
To ensure traceability of the analysis, a tracking table for requests was created. The requests, coming from doctors, nurses, or patients, are recorded with key information such as name, date of birth, and the purpose of the analysis. Five information sources were selected, including the Herbal Medicine section of MedlinePlus, the website of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), a database of plants and dietary supplements published by the French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety, a database from the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy, and a publication from the journal Medical Oncology (Vol 36, number 45, 2019).
In nine months, 25 interaction requests were processed, 70% of which were from doctors. The analysis took an average of 30 minutes and were completed within 24 to 48 hours. The interactions mainly concerned oral chemotherapies (n=18), particularly Osimertinib (n=13). The requests involved various CAM (essential oils, medicinal plants, dietary supplements), with an average of four products per request. Desmodium was the most frequently analyzed product (n=5). In total, for 24 CAM, including Desmodium, was not recommended for use after analysis due the drug interaction risk and modification of liver metabolism of chemotherapies.
It is difficult to prohibit CAM to patients, and most substances can be taken at recommended doses. However, determining the precise dosage at which an interaction with chemotherapy occurs is complex due to the lack of a single reference. Using various sources allows for cross-referencing expertise and obtaining complementary information. For instance, MedlinePlus offers a generalist approach, while MSKCC focuses on interactions in oncology. Using international sources broadens the analysis and fills geographical or cultural gaps.
For the future, we would like to develop a tool that compiles the five data sources in order to be exhaustive in our future analysis.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
PAULA HERNANDO MARTÍNEZ, VIOLETA LAFARGA LAPIEZA, DAVID JAMES BOARDMAN GONZÁLEZ, GRACIA PICAZO SANCHÍZ, CARIDAD MARTÍ GIL, DOLORES BARREDA HERNÁNDEZ
The administration of medications through NGT is a common practice in the hospital setting. However, it cannot be assumed that this route of administration shares same properties as the oral route. Proper administration requires considering the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic proper1es and adapting recommendations to the medication’s pharmaceutical form(PF). Incorrect manipulation can lead to undesirable effects, such as a reduction or loss of therapeutic efficacy, as well as an increase in adverse effects, toxicity or mechanical, metabolic, and/or infectious complications.
Despite the wide bibliography on this topic, there is a lack of knowledge among patients, caregivers, and hospital staff when there is not adequate training on the use and care of the NGT.
Development of a pharmaceutical care project for patients with nasogastric tubes(NGT) to ensure the proper administration of medications through the tube and their correct handling.
In May 2024, a working group of pharmacists was formed in the Hospital Pharmacy Department (HPD) with the aim of creating a protocol for the adjustment of medications for administered through a NGT in hospitalized patients. A document was developed with general recommendations on maintenance, interactions with drugs, food and enteral nutrition, aimed at patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals to ensure the correct use of the tube. Additionally, a literature review was conducted on the various available manipulation guidelines (Technical sheets, dysphagia Guide from La Paz Hospital 2021 and the Guide for Drug Administration through Tubes Reina Sofía Hospital 2023), as well as validated apps such as (Deglufarm®, Medisonda®) which provide handling and administra1on instructions for each PF.
A daily search was conducted for hospitalized patients with nasogastric tubes to identify the need of instructions on medication handling. A fillable document was designed with the necessary recommendations for the handling of each prescribed medication during the hospitalization. During the pharmaceutical validation, patients with NGT were reviewed, and personalized reports were created according to the prescribed treatments.
To evaluate the level of patient sa1sfaction and including new needs. In addition, the aim is to implement this protocol upon discharge, in order to offer a personalized report with recommendations for the prescribed medications.
Education and Research
Lamesta Chiara
Del Pizzo Mariagiovanna
Della Costanza Chiara
“SIFOgram” is an information graphic project created by the Young Area of the Italian Society of Hospital
Pharmacy (SIFO) to promote scientific divulgation not only directed to students and pharmacists but also to
a broader audience.
We inspected the development and popularity of this educational project. SIFOgram aims to create a smart and direct interaction that impact on patient perceptions, adherence, and responsibilities of hospital pharmacists in mitigating potential risks.
A graphic program was used for the creation of content published on official network pages. The references
for the subjects covered include certified bibliographies for scientific topics and digital graphics for
illustrations. The tool is applied to main topics related to contemporary health professions education
curricula, which include integrated educational designs, approvals of new drugs and supplementary
applications, new target therapies, drug dosing, and events organized by our society.
Since 1st March 2023 to 30th September 2024, we gathered +91% accounts with 12.000 reactions. Most of these interactions are for uploading of stories (67,2%) and post (28, 1%) and reels (4,5%). Of this total 3% -located across the different regions of Italy-was from general community; 2% from other European countries and outside Europe, including Africa. The age group that interacted were 25-34 ( 52,5%), -35-44 years old ( 27,4%) , 45-54 years old (9%), 55-64 years old (5%), +65 years old (2,3%). Most liked contents were : antimicrobial stewardship (average 900 views), international and national guidelines (average 650 views), management oxygen (1738 views) , conferences (average 1700 views) where healthcare professionals present their practices as leaders in their respective specialties. We invited our followers, via email, to complete a qualitative questionnaire made up of close-ended questions. 6 broad themes (each containing sub-themes) were identified: Content/clarity, Design/Layout, Audience, Graphics/Images, Interaction on social platforms (live box, chat) and References. The feedback received indicated a positive agreement.
Through this infographic project, we can gain a deeper successful use of social media in healthcare for public health awareness and improvement communication in the present and in the future.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Lucie Malečová, Daniela Seberová, Blanka Zelená, Markéta Hanulíková, Kornélia Chrapková, Stanislav Gregor, Michal Hojný
Adherence to immunosuppressive medication is crucial for long-term graft survival. Patients receive substantial information from various healthcare professionals regarding new medications and lifestyle choices during hospitalisation and post-discharge. Frequent non-adherence indicated that the existing educational approach led by physicians was insufficient. Our objective was to create optimal conditions for providing these instructions to patients before discharge.
In collaboration with the cardiology department, hospital pharmacists created and implemented a new educational project to improve adherence among heart transplant patients. The main activity involves hospital pharmacists conducting educational visits at the patient’s bedside, supported by new educational brochures, materials, and questionnaires.
We created a questionnaire and collected baseline data by assessing the knowledge of transplant patients educated by the existing educational approach. Afterwards, we designed and implemented a six-visit educational program and prepared new educational materials and brochures. A new record system was integrated into the hospital information system to facilitate communication between doctors and pharmacists, documenting educational visits and questionnaire results. The initial three visits, scheduled during hospitalisation, cover the correct use of immunosuppressants and other medications, their interactions, and potential adverse effects. Guidance on recommended lifestyle changes post-transplantation, such as hygiene, diet, and infection prevention, is also included. The remaining three visits occur within one year post-discharge to assess patient knowledge with the previously mentioned questionnaire and adherence to the treatment plan with BAASIS©. During these visits, the pharmacist conducts a comprehensive review of adherence, addresses any drug-related issues, and guides medication changes.
Since the project’s initiation, 120 visits have been completed, involving more than 30 patients. The education significantly improved patient knowledge, with educated patients scoring an average of 94% correct answers on the knowledge questionnaire compared to 59% correct answers of patients educated by the existing educational approach. Only three educated patients were non-adherent, with the most common type of non-adherence being failure to take medication at the prescribed time.
As more patients participate in the project, we aim to correlate their knowledge and adherence with tacrolimus levels and the incidence of rejection. Additionally, we intend to extend this educational initiative to other departments within the hospital.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Kristin Michaels, Chief Executive
Tom Simpson, President
Polypharmacy and medication overuse remain critical concerns in modern healthcare, often leading to adverse drug events, increased hospitalisations, and diminished quality of life, particularly among the elderly. Recognising the need for improved medication management and patient safety, Advanced Pharmacy Australia initiated MedsAware: Deprescribing Action Week in 2022. The initiative aimed to promote awareness and education on deprescribing practices to optimise pharmacotherapy and reduce the burden of unnecessary medications.
MedsAware: Deprescribing Action Week is an annual, nationwide campaign involving a series of educational programs, workshops, and collaborative efforts with healthcare professionals. The initiative provided evidence-based resources, clinical guidelines, and decision-support tools to pharmacists, physicians, and other stakeholders, and promoted key messages to patients around deprescribing and quality use of medicines. It also facilitated interdisciplinary forums to discuss strategies for implementing deprescribing protocols within various healthcare settings.
The initiative employed a multifaceted approach combining digital platforms, live seminars, and interactive workshops. Educational materials were disseminated through webinars, online modules, and social media outreach to maximize accessibility. Collaborative partnerships were established with hospitals, clinics, and professional organisations to integrate deprescribing practices into routine care.
MedsAware Deprescribing Action Week is about driving conversations around discontinuing medicines that are no longer required, or for which the risk of harm outweighs the benefits.
MedsAware seeks to raise awareness around ‘polypharmacy’ and ‘deprescribing’, empowering Australians and their care teams to manage every medicines regimen ensuring it is current, effective and safe.
#MedsAware supports and raises awareness of Australia’s 10th National Health Priority Area, Quality Use of Medicines and Medicines Safety.
Building on the momentum, Advanced Pharmacy Australia continues its annual MedsAware: Deprescribing Action Week to continually promote best practices, with the addition of the EAHP through MoU making the initiative global. In 2025, MedsAware turns its attention towards sustainability highlighting the benefits of deprescribing that can be felt all around us – for patient and planet. Future efforts will focus on longitudinal studies to assess the sustained impact of deprescribing interventions on patient health outcomes. Additionally, the development of an Australian national deprescribing framework is proposed, aiming to standardise practices and facilitate integration into healthcare policies and education curricula.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Esther Chamorro de Vega, Carmen Rodriguez Gonzalez, Belen Mayo Canaleja, María Pilar Montero Anton, Sergio Herrera Bermejo, Rosa Romero Jimenez, Vicente Escudero Vilaplana, Roberto Collado Borrell, Ana Herranz Alonso, María Sanjurjo Sáez
The profile of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) has changed. Patients are more active, autonomous and have greater information and communication needs.
Mobile health, especially apps, can help to healthcare professionals to optimize pharmacotherapeutic follow-up and provide patients greater autonomy facilitating communication with healthcare professionals and contributing to the humanization of their care.
Through this application we seek to achieve the following objectives:
– Allow patients to participate in their illness and/or treatment, promoting their compliance and safety and communication with the healthcare professional.
– Strengthen pharmacotherapeutic monitoring of patients receiving ART, avoiding visits to the emergency room and hospital consultations.
– Generate pioneering evidence on the impact of mobile applications on the pharmacotherapeutic monitoring of patients on ART.
FarMCuida® is a mobile application designed for a closer and better pharmacotherapeutic monitorization of patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Through this app the patient can actively participate in his or her disease and treatment.
A multidisciplinary group was created to design and develop an app called FarMCuida® for patients on ART in a tertiary hospital. Once the app was designed and developed, we offered the app to patients starting or undergoing ART. Identification and inclusion of candidate patients was performed in the Pharmaceutical Care Consultation of the Pharmacy Service. The pharmacists responsible for the Infectious Diseases area performed real-time pharmacotherapeutic follow-up of the patients.
Records of adverse effect (AE) and Safety-related messages received (Adverse effects, interactions, drug administration) can be analyzed. All data can be exported from FarmCuida®. Informed consent is requested from all the patients included.
FarMCuida® was designed as a digital health mobile application that allows our patients to participate in their disease and/or treatment, promoting treatment safety, as well as making available a source of information and bidirectional communication, in real-time, between patients and healthcare professionals.
During a period of 13 months, a total of 152 patients were included in FarMCuida®. Seventy-two percent of the patients were diagnosed with HIV infection while 27.6% of them were included in the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis programme.
In AE module, 58 adverse events (AEs) were registered. Twenty-two percent of the patients registered at least one AE.
Thirty-two percent of patients used the Messages module to communicate with healthcare professionals.
One hundred and twenty-six telematic consultations were carried out. Two hundred and five messages were exchanged between the patient and the pharmacist.
Forty-three percent of the consultations corresponded to doubts about interactions: 66.7% interactions with other drugs, 28.5% with herbal products and 4.8% with vitamin supplements. Three type D interactions and one type X interaction were identified.
In addition, 11% of the consultations corresponded to doubts about the administration of ART while 5.2% were related to adverse effects experienced by the patient.
At least three visits to the emergency department were avoided, resulting in health care and economic savings for the health system.
Based on the limited studies on the impact of mobile applications on the pharmacotherapeutic follow-up of patients, the results obtained will allow us to generate evidence in this regard. It is worth highlighting the flexibility of FarMCuida® design, being easily adaptable to different pathologies and hospital centres.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Samantha HUYNH, Catarina GONCALVES BARROSO, Sophie PATERNOTTE, Sofia DA SILVA MENDES, Claire JUDEL, Elvire MARTIN-LEMAIRE, Georges NICOLAOS, Chloé DUPONT, Nicolas CORNILLET
Raising awareness and ongoing training of healthcare professionals is a crucial criterion for High Authority for Health certification. Flashpharma provides reliable information, particularly for night-shift nurses. This becomes critical in a context of reduced physician presence and absence of pharmacists, and the increasing presence of temporary nurses due to staffing shortages.
The pharmacy department developed FlashPharma, an innovative training tool to enhance medication management within healthcare units. For instance, it contributes by promoting the proper use of high-risk medications (HRM) and risky medications (RM) by providing information to care teams as close to the patient as possible.
A working group created eleven sheets based on literature and adapted to the practices of adult hospitalization departments. Validated by medical experts and institutional committees, they include points to watch and key figures. They link up with our institutional protocols, our prescribing software and the points addressed by the visiting experts during the mock certification. Accessible by flashing QR codes strategically positioned or on our web platform, they serve as a basis for discussion with caregivers. Trainers included pharmacists, a pharmacy intern, and a hospital quality manager. Anonymous written questionnaires were used to gather feedback.
Two QR codes are placed on automated dispensing cabinets and mobile medical carts, linking to sheets on MHR, RM, and guidelines for proper drug crushing and administration via an enteral feeding tube. Another QR code on refrigerators provides information on drug storage and temperature alerts management. A label provides information on drugs prescribed outside the booklet, with six therapeutic equivalence tables validated by doctors.
Three sessions were attended by nurses, healthcare managers, orderlies, and doctors (n=18). Fifteen (83%) participants strongly agreed, and 3 (17%) agreed that they acquired new knowledge. All participants would recommend these sheets; 16 (89%) strongly expressed their willingness to participate in a second session.
Positive feedback highlighted the need for further education in various hospital units. Feedback on the use of QR codes by day and night teams will be sought during subsequent sessions and quantified using analytical dashboards. Appropriate continuing education initiatives will be implemented in paediatrics, intensive care and operating room departments.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Sabrina Trivellato, Daniele Mengato, Francesca Venturini
Bulevirtide, available in Italy since June 2023, is the sole approved drug for treating long-term HDV. It represents a precious clinical opportunity but its technical features make it a complex therapeutic regimen to handle. It is commercially available as a powder for injection that needs daily reconstitution before subcutaneous use, has strict storage requirements (+2/+8°C), and requires familiarity with needles and syringes. As home therapy, this is the responsibility of the patient, who will therefore need to be enrolled in a PEP to ensure compliance.
A Patient Education Programme (PEP) was implemented to support patients diagnosed with hepatitis delta virus (HDV) being compliant to a complex therapeutic chronic regimen.
In July 2023, a specific pharmacist-led PEP (named “EXPLAIN”) was defined. It consists of two phases: education & training; follow-up & assistance. After clinical examination, patients were received by pharmacists and introduced to the therapy thanks to a simulation kit. Posology, storage conditions and special warnings were described and the drug together with the administration kit was delivered. During the follow-up phase the pharmacist was focused on proofing medication adherence, discussing with the patient about any problems or ADRs and drug refilling. Quality of Life (QoL, measured through EuroQoL5) was adopted as an effectiveness outcome. Evaluation feedback on the service was requested as well.
Up to September 2023, 15 patients, with a mean QoL starting score of 72,5/100±15, are assisted by the EXPLAIN program. 12 of them already accessed the follow-up phase. A single episode of medium gravity ADR was reported, but it did not affect therapy continuation. Globally, an excellent reported medication adherence (98.5% of doses taken) was registered and the educational support of the pharmacist was considered to be “essential on positively approaching the medication”.
QoL, adherence and feedback on the received service have to be proofed after 6, 9 and 12 months as well, together with a regular viral load detection to confirm referred compliance. Although the EXPLAIN program has just started, it represents a promising PEP model to be adopted in the case of complex therapies, where continuity is crucial to ensure effectiveness and safety.
