EAHP’s 25th Anniversary Congress – focusing on the future of patient care

The 25th Anniversary Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) explored the digital future of the profession. Not only was it hosted virtually but it also provided participants with a glimpse of what is to come in the not so far away future. Pharmacy prescribing and the transfer of care were a few of the topics discussed in relation to the changing roles of the profession. 
 

Over 2100 hospital pharmacists from more than 60 countries joined EAHP over the last 6-days. Although the surroundings of the congress were different than usual the interest in the sessions was as always very high. In particular, the three Synergy Satellite events looking at oncology biosimilars, antithrombotic stewardship and biosimilars in colorectal cancers as well as the interactive workshops triggered lively discussions among the participants. Also, those that joined one or all of the three keynotes touching on artificial intelligence, pharmacist prescribing and the role of computers in the future of healthcare appreciated the outlooks provided by the different lecturers. 

Centring around the theme “Hospital Pharmacy 5.0 – the future of patient care” the scientific programme developed by EAHP’s Scientific Committee did not only provide participants with a look forward but also looked back at the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had and still has on the profession. Besides being reflected among the different poster submissions the topic also was the focus of two sessions looking at multi-disciplinary care for COVID-19 patients and the repurposing of treatment options. 

This year’s poster presentations combined the submissions from 2020 and 2021. The Scientific Committee awarded two first prizes. The winner of the 2020 poster submission is Ulrika Gillespie. She received the award for the abstract “Facilitators and barriers to performing comprehensive medication reviews and follow-up in older hospitalised patients by multiprofessional ward teams including a clinical pharmacist”. The 1st prize for poster submissions in 2021 went to Tessa Jaspers for her abstract “Effect of a multifaceted clinical decision support intervention on adherence to thromboprophylaxis guidelines in non-surgical patients”. Like every year, EAHP also awards a prize to the best Good Practice Initiative (GPI). Matts Balgård’s GPI “Inclusion of pharmacy students in an interprofessional training ward placement for health care students in Sweden” was recognised with the first prize for 2020, while Lotte Deschepper received the first prize for 2021 for her GIP  “Role of pharmacists during COVID-19 pandemic in a Belgian general hospital”.

 

For the first time, EAHP handed out a Statement Implementation Award to acknowledge contributions with a specific emphasis on implementing the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy which express commonly agreed objectives that every European health system should aim for in the delivery of hospital pharmacy services. Vito Ladisa won the Statement Implementation Award for his GIP titled “Multidisciplinary CAR-T team”. Also, research in hospital pharmacy conducted by a student was recognised with Teodora Bulog winning this year’s EAHP-EPSA Student Science Award for her abstract “Identification of drug-related problems in elderly patients during hospital care”.

 

EAHP would like to thank Platinum Partner: Amgen, Gold Partner: Bayer, Silver Partner: Clinigen, and Corporate Partner: Omnicell for their continued support.

 

For 2022, you can already mark the 23rd to 25th of March. Come and join us in Vienna, Austria to explore the changing roles of hospital pharmacists in a changing world.