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.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Douwe H. van der Meer
Potassium ampoules are concentrated electrolytes categorized as high-risk medications due to the potential for immediate cardiac arrest following accidental injection. Consequently, safety guidelines, such as those established by Qmentum and the Joint Commission International, advocate for the utilization of pre-diluted infusion bags containing potassium and recommend the removal of concentrated ampoules from clinical wards.
In our large teaching hospital, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of all clinical indications for potassium ampoule usage. Based on this analysis, we developed a plan to replace ampoules with the right pre-diluted infusion bags. The majority of ampoule applications were identified as follows: treatment of hypokalemia, hyperhydration during cisplatin and high-dose methotrexate therapy, fluid replacement in pancreatitis, and prevention of hypokalemia in diabetic ketoacidosis. To address these indications, we implemented three types of pre-diluted potassium infusion bags: 20 mmol in 1 L normal saline, 40 mmol in 1L normal saline, and 40 mmol in 500 mL of isotonic saline (0.47% sodium chloride).
We established standardized infusion protocols for all indications of potassium supplementation and successfully removed potassium ampoules from all adult wards, including the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency care settings. Potassium ampoules are now available solely upon request from the pharmacy. Following the introduction of pre-diluted infusion bags, the utilization of ampoules decreased by 95%. Prior to implementation, the hospital utilized 4,000 potassium ampoules per quarter; this number has now reduced to 200 ampoules, with a continuing downward trend.
Following the introduction of pre-diluted infusion bags, the utilization of ampoules decreased by 95%. Prior to implementation, the hospital utilized 4,000 potassium ampoules per quarter; this number has now reduced to 200 ampoules, with a continuing downward trend.
In our neonatal intensive care units and pediatric clinical wards, certain applications of potassium ampoules remain that are not compatible with the use of pre-diluted infusion bags. We are currently investigating potential interventions to facilitate the removal of ampoules in these settings as well.
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.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
RBH, Rie Bager Hansen (presenting author), rie.bager.hansen@regionh.dk
ALK, Annabel Lee Krarup
The Capital Region Pharmacy, Hvidovre, Denmark and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amager og Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen
Patients undergoing acute orthopaedic surgery experience significant pain. The choice of pain-relieving treatment is based on national guidelines and regulatory actions. Considering the U.S. Opioid Crisis and the risk of opioid addiction, it was in 2022 politically decided by the Capital Region of Denmark to focus on consumption patterns of opioids within the region’s hospitals. Morphine is considered an opioid with a lower risk of misuse and was recommended as the first-line opioid. At the start of 2022, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Hvidovre Hospital accounted for approximately 30% of the total oral opioid consumption with oxycodone being the preferred opioid. Thus, a strategy was initiated to shift opioid use towards morphine.
The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery initiated a strategy to shift opioid use in hospitalised patients towards morphine. The strategy included including education, revision of guidelines and technical modifications to promote appropriate prescribing practices.
Opioid consumption was continuously monitored and evaluated. At the same time, administration of the antidote naloxone was recorded. The initiative included 1) education about the risk of opioid misuse, 2) e-mail follow-up to clinicians reinforcing that morphine was the first-line opioid, 3) revision of pre-filled electronic prescription packages used at the ward and operating room, 4) publication and implementation of a regional guideline specifically aimed at acute pain management in the orthopaedic surgery setting, and 5) ongoing support from pharmacists to facilitate appropriate selection of opioids.
Opioid consumption effectively shifted towards morphine, with the proportion of patients receiving oral morphine increasing from about 40% to approximately 80% of patients administered oral opioids. Moreover, the shift has remained stable for the past 10 months following the last intervention and there has been no trend toward increased usage of naloxone.
Future efforts will aim to identify reasons behind patients being prescribed non-morphine opioids and to investigate the specific circumstances under which naloxone is administered. This will enable further refinement of opioid prescribing practices and enhance patient safety.
| RISK ASSESSMENT OF STERILE PREPARATIONS PERFORMED IN THE HOSPITAL PHARMACY SERVICE |
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
A. HERREROS FERNÁNDEZ, P. FERNÁNDEZ-VILLACAÑAS FERNÁNDEZ, R. AÑEZ CASTAÑO, P. ORTIZ FERNÁNDEZ, M.A. MEROÑO SAURA, I. GARCÍA MASEGOSA, R. GUZMÁN LAIZ, P. SELVI SABATER, C. CABALLERO REQUEJO, L. RENTERO REDONDO, E. URBIETA SANZ.
The preparation of sterile magistral formulas involves significant risks due to complex processes, material handling, and sterility requirements. A systematic risk assessment was essential to identify vulnerabilities, classify risk levels, and implement preventive measures to improve safety and compliance with regulatory standards.
Sterile magistral formulas are personalized medications prepared in hospital pharmacy services to meet individual patient needs. In 2023, a risk matrix was implemented to systematically evaluate the risks associated with their preparation. This initiative aimed to enhance patient safety and ensure compliance with the “Guide to Good Practices for the Preparation of Medications in Hospital Pharmacy Services” (GGP).
Sterile magistral formulas prepared in the pharmacotechnics area of a hospital during 2023 were identified from a Microsoft Access® database. A Microsoft Excel® database was specifically designed to apply the GGP-based risk matrix, categorizing formulas into low, medium, or high risk. Each formula was evaluated across six key criteria: preparation process, route of administration, drug safety profile, number of units prepared, preparation vulnerabilities, and distribution process. Risk levels were assigned using a combination of letters (A-D) based on the matrix. Challenges included standardizing data collection and ensuring multidisciplinary collaboration to refine the matrix and ensure its applicability.
A total of 80 sterile magistral formulas were assessed. Of these, 38.75% were classified as medium risk, 36.25% as high risk, and 25% as low risk. Among medium-risk formulas, 67.7% included a “C” in the matrix, while 96.6% of high-risk formulas contained at least one “D.” The most frequent risk combinations were “BBAAAA” (11.25%) and “BBBAAA” (10%). The preparation process and administration route were the primary contributors to overall risk. Medium- and high-risk formulas, primarily intravenous mixtures of antibiotics and biological drugs, required preparation in a cleanroom environment, as recommended by the GGP.
This initiative demonstrated the value of a risk matrix in identifying and managing risks in the preparation of sterile magistral formulas. It represents a best practice model with significant potential for adaptation in other healthcare settings, enhancing patient safety and standardizing risk management in hospital pharmacy operations.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Carine Schuurmans
• The use of gloves in medication administration can vary depending on several factors, including the specific healthcare hygienic policies, local guidelines, and the type of medication being administered. There is no uniform practice across all of Europe.
• According to the Dutch guideline on administration of parenteral medication disposable gloves are traditionally used during parenteral medication administration.
• Most parenteral medications do not pose a significant hazardous risk and the administration of ready to use preparations does not pose a significant infection risk.
• Re-evaluation of the Dutch guideline on administration of parenteral medication from a sustainability point of view.
• Reducing unnecessary glove usage in medication administration.
• Re-evaluating the need for disposable gloves from both an infection prevention and medication hazard point of view.
• Discussion with experts and users.
• Implementation of findings both in the inpatient and outpatient departments.
• Overall growing attention to correct glove usage.
• Reduction of use of disposable gloves during parenteral medication administration and other medical procedures
• CO2-, land occupation and water reduction by respectively 6000 CO2 eq, 600m2, 300m3 and 3500 €/month
• Revision of the Dutch guidelines on administration of parenteral medication
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Laura Doménech Moral, Raquel López Martínez, Maria Eugenia Palacio Lacambra, Emili Vallvé Alcon, Ángel Arévalo Bernabé, María Guerra González, Maria Queralt Gorgas Torner
At PS Vall d’Hebron, one of our strategic objectives is to enhance the patient safety culture internally and externally within PS.
Establishment of a core safety team within the Pharmacy Service (PS) with representatives from various areas and positions, along with established activities and indicators: the Safety Team.
By organising internal meetings of the Safety team to manage, lead, and plan activities related to medication safety. These activities include:
Advising on and/or managing medication safety incidents reported to the Patient Safety Incident Notification System of Catalonia (SNiSP) Vall d’Hebron.
Conducting biweekly “5 minutes of safety” meetings between pharmacy technicians and a member of the Safety team in the General, Maternal-Infant, Trauma, Outpatient, and Oncology-Haematology areas. In each meeting, the minutes from the previous one are reviewed to report on agreements and progress related to the topics discussed. Incidents reported to SNiSP related to medication dispensing and logistics are discussed, and there is an open discussion for technicians to share safety issues, questions, and medication-related incidents. These situations (reported incidents and those detected by technicians) are collectively analysed to propose prevention measures. Minutes of each meeting are documented and made available in a shared resource.
Weekly “safety pearls” presentations where sentinel medication incidents are presented, along with root cause analysis, by a representative of the Safety team. Situations that have led to medication incidents/errors in prescription and treatment validation are also discussed, along with proposed prevention measures by other PS members.
Conducting sessions related to safety during PS Sessions to present the actions taken by the safety core team and its collaboration with the Hospital’s Error Prevention Subcommittee.
More than 100 medication incidents reported to SNiSP have been managed.
Over 50 meetings with PS technicians, resulting in more than 45 improvement actions derived from notifications and detected issues, such as creating infographics for proper medication identification (everolimus, vitamin D), improving the urgent medication dispensing process without a prescription, or enhancing the management of “off-label” medications.
Around 20 safety pearls involving all pharmacists, leading to the creation of protocols, default guidelines, and updates to prescription and administration advice in the prescription programme.
Two annual patient safety-related sessions.
Continuing to enhance the safety culture through sessions and meetings involving various stakeholders, implementing an online medication error prevention course, and expanding the team.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
IGNASI SACANELLA ANGLÈS, MARTA MARTIN MARQUÉS, HELENA SUÑER BARRIGA, DAVID PASCUAL CARBONELL, PILAR LÓPEZ BROSETA, JÚLIA BODEGA AZUARA, MARÍA VUELTA ARCE, Mª ÁNGELES ROCH VENTURA, ISABEL PLO SECO, ERIKA ESTEVE PITARCH, ANTONIO GARCÍA MOLINA, SÒNIA JORNET MONTAÑA, CARLA DAIANA CIUCIU, SILVIA CONDE GINER, LAURA CANADELL VILARRASA
Drug dosages and treatment algorithms in paediatric emergencies must be precise and unambiguous to ensure the safety and well-being of patients. Therefore, the introduction of electronic prescription systems in the Paediatric Emergency Room (PER) has become essential to assist clinical staff in prescribing, preparing, and administering the most commonly used drugs.
Design and implementation of pharmacological cards as a supporting tool to standardise and streamline the dosages, preparation, and administration of the most frequently used drugs in paediatric emergencies, ensuring a prompt and safe response.
Pharmacological cards were developed for paediatric emergencies, including scenarios such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), seizures, sepsis, hypoglycaemia, anaphylaxis, and respiratory emergencies. These cards included the most commonly prescribed drugs, with input and agreement from paediatricians.
The files were organised based on weight categories (3.5-60 kg) and considered the age range of patients (0-15 years). Information collected included the active ingredient, commercial name and presentation, dose per kilogramme, total dosage, dose (expressed as volume for administration), maximum allowable dose, and administration technique. Certain specific conditions were highlighted in colour.
Both medical and nursing staff underwent training in the utilisation of these tools. An evaluation of the protocols was conducted 12 months after their implementation.
We developed a total of 21 pharmacological cards, categorised by weight range, encompassing 33 drugs commonly used in paediatric emergencies.
The pharmacological cards were designed in a tabular format, which included the following information: active principle (highlighted in black), commercial name (in red), drug concentration (in blue), standardised dose (in g, mg, mcg, ml, mEq) per kilogramme, total dosage, total volume for administration, maximum allowable dose, route of administration, and administration technique. Additionally, we used background colours to highlight specific situations, such as red for CPR, black for intravenous administration, green for intramuscular routes, and purple for intranasal administration.
During the 12-month evaluation period, we did not encounter any medication-related errors.
The development of pharmacological cards has helped to standardise practices and simplify the prescription, preparation, and administration of commonly used drugs in paediatric emergency situations. The protocolisation and implementation of this tool have enhanced drug safety in emergency scenarios by reducing human errors and minimising medication-related harm.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
ROSALIA FERNANDEZ CABALLERO, ALMUDENA GARCÍA GARCÍA, MARTA HERNÁNDEZ SEGURADO, MARTA GÓMEZ PÉREZ, CARMEN MAYO LÓPEZ, ARACELI HENARES LÓPEZ, VIRGINIA COLLADOS ARROYO
Our aim was to improve the safety of HAM appointed by ISMP Spain (Institute for Safe Medication Practices) specially restricting the prescription, creating automated alerts and advising in administration.
The main objective was to identify and standardise in prescription and administration the high-alert medications (HAM), included in pharmacotherapeutic guide (PG) in a network of Spanish hospitals with about 1.330 beds.
Literature about HAM and recommended strategies was reviewed. We divided these drugs into two groups: HAM (heightened risk of causing significant patient harm when they are used in error) and very HAM (an error could cause death of patient). We identified both groups in electronic prescription system as follows:
– HAM: all prescribers are able to prescribe these drugs and they find yellow warning sign in left side of the drug in prescription screen and nursing electronic work plan for administration.
– Very HAM: these drugs need tracheal intubation or monitoring measures when they are administered to patients. Only prescribers in intensive care (ICU) and surgery units (SU) are able to prescribe them. For certain drugs, needed in medical hospitalisation units, all prescribers are able to prescribe them and they must confirm the prescription with confirmation message: “You are prescribing a HAM, an error could cause significant patient harm. Are you sure to continue?”. They find red warning sign in prescription screen and nursing electronic work plan.
Alerts were configured by systems team in our electronic prescription system.
We have identified 379 drugs as HAM. 324 drugs were configured with yellow warning sign.
Sixty-five drugs were identified as very HAM. Fifty-eight drugs were disabled to prescribe by all prescribers (only in ICU and SU).
Seven drugs were configured with red warning alert and confirmation message: dobutamine, isoprenaline, ketamine, labetalol, levosimendan, carboprost and methylergometrine.
As next phase of our project, we must develop a procedure to identify and create alerts in new drugs added to our PG as systematic risk assessment process. Moreover, we must evaluate the real impact of our alert system in prescribers and nurse team, to reduce alert fatigue. We will work in automatic reports with ignored alerts.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Suzanne Al-Rawi, Sadeer Fhadil, Sotiris Antoniou, Rodnie Oro, Paul Wright
It is suggested that 40-80% of information provided by healthcare professionals is forgotten immediately by patients (1). The trust has a checklist of counselling requirements for anticoagulants, completed in consultations with patients before discharge. Recognising the complexity of anticoagulation counselling and its time constraints, we sought to assess the use of pre-recorded counselling videos for use at ward level and as a resource for patients to refer to post discharge.
We sought to develop anticoagulation counselling videos for ward use, with hyperlinks for patient access post-discharge. We aimed to improve information provided to patients and optimise pharmacists’ time undertaking counselling.
Using a patient focused questionnaire, feedback was sought on patient satisfaction as well as time totality following anticoagulation counselling. A series of short and digestible video clips (1-2minutes each) that reflected the trust checklist were recorded. The videos were played to the patient and then a follow-up face-to-face consultation was undertaken to answer any questions. Patient satisfaction and time taken was assessed through the use of the questionnaires and compared to consultations without the pre-recorded clips.
Over 4 weeks, 121 patients received anticoagulation counselling. 77 patients were counselled using videos and compared to 45 patients counselled without videos. There was a 70% reduction in time spent; an average face-to-face counselling required 24 minutes, compared to only 7 minutes if the patient had seen the videos. There was an overall increase in patient satisfaction with use of videos to 86% from 70%.
We have shown optimisation of the anticoagulation counselling process through the use of pre-recorded videos. Time spent counselling has been significantly reduced and feedback from pharmacy staff has suggested more patient-centric counselling is achieved. It has allowed for information to be standardised, with an increase in patient satisfaction and understanding. Patients have access to the videos on discharge to improve patient safety. There have not been any reported incidences since switching methods. There has been a reduction in patient queries related to anticoagulation post- discharge. Areas for further development include dubbing of the videos to several languages to improve access to all.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Annamaria Tesse, Cataldo Procacci, Domenica Ancona, Salvatore Lenti
Often the elderly patient suffers from several pathologies at once and commonly he is in polytherapy. According to the Italian Ministerial Recommendation No. 17, errors in drug therapy can cause serious harm to the patient. By increasing the patient’s awareness and reducing the number of potentially inappropriate prescriptions, it will be possible to improve the effectiveness of therapies and to reduce side effects.
In an Internal Medicine department, the concurrence between doctors and pharmacists has led to a project that aims to reduce duplications of therapy and to improve the health status of the patients. This through pharmacological recognition and subsequent therapeutic reconciliation carried out on patients in discharge.
In Internal Medicine ward, from June to August 2022, we gather the terapies for 48 hospitalised patients aged over 65 years and suffering from two or more chronic diseases. Reconciliation boards were then developed using Intercheck Web a “Mario Negri” Institute of Pharmacological Research’s software. Sequentially the physician, according to the chemist, proceeded to remodulate the therapies especially in those cases where there were serious interactions.
140 drug interactions were detected, on average 2.91 interactions per patient. Especially, 16 class D (very serious), 22 class C (major), 83 class B (moderate), 19 class A (minor) reactions were archived. The modified or partially modified therapies at discharge were 71%. This restriction bought to a curtailment of drugs taken and a removal of unnecessary drugs.
The team are doing a patient follow-up to six months and a year so earlier results will be soon available. Reducing drug intake is possible, and it involves a downsizing in side effects and in an increase in patient compliance. Information to the patient is essential and, by using this procedure on a large scale, it will be possible to optimise the management of the chronic patient at home and inpatient care.
