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STUDENTS PROGRAMME REVIEW Page 2

KEYNOTE 3 REVIEW Mariona Ribó

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Thank you for attending the 25th Congress of the EAHP “Hospital Pharmacy 5.0– The future of patient care”

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AHP would like to thank you for attending the 25th Congress entitled “Hospital Pharmacy 5.0– The future of patient care”! The success of this year’s virtual gathering confirms that it is the central annual event for anyone interested in hospital pharmacy education and development.

The three keynotes focusing on artificial intelligence, pharmacist prescribing, and a futuristic perspective of health care drew more than 2200 hospital pharmacists.

The workshops, seminars and synergy programme – which featured 3 synergy satellites on the role of the hospital pharmacist on oncology biosimilars, antithrombotic stewardship and biosimilars in colorectal cancer – catered to every need and curiosity.

In line with EAHP’s tradition, the scientific programme was built around the 44 Statements of Hospital Pharmacy which express commonly agreed objectives that every European health system should aim for in the delivery of hospital pharmacy services. This year marked the 7th anniversary of their adoption and implementation by each national association and the news are exciting. Progress has been made, especially in terms of increased awareness supported by a network of national implementation ambassadors, set up last year. Also, more than 380 hospitals assessed their pharmacies using the online Self-assessment tool (SAT), which does not only allow hospital pharmacists to evaluate the level of Statement implementation within

their hospitals, but it also delivers a tailor-made action plan and a list of resources. Last but not least, the Statement Implementation Learning Collaborative Centres (SILCC), an initiative which supports hospital pharmacists (SILCC Fellows) in visiting hospitals (SILCC hosts) from other EAHP member countries to learn about procedures linked to the Statements, is well under way with 9 hospitals having been approved as SILCC hosts and the first Fellows having completed their training in 2019 and 2020.

Also, EAHP’s Common Training Framework (CTF) project is progressing since the first meeting between the EAHP Board, representatives from different CTF working groups and competent national authorities held in spring 20219.

The CTF is a legal tool that will help hospital pharmacists achieve automatic professional qualification recognition across EU countries. EAHP and its members continue to work closely together with the respective European and national authorities to make the CTF a reality in the not so distant future with the aim to improve patient outcomes throughout Europe.

Thank you all for coming to the 1st virtual congress and choosing, once again, the EAHP Congress as the place to be in terms of learning and networking. See you next year in Vienna!

ation t 2021! r t s i g s Re st Augu 1 s ope n

WINNER’S CORNER Page 5

EAHP2021 Gamification winners Daniel Almer 60 400 points Free Congress badge for the next EAHP Congress, travel, and accommodation expenses (with a maximum of 300 euros)

Zoltán Distós 54 800 points

EAHP Team

Free congress badge for next EAHP Congress

Jochen Ulrich Schnurrer 48 750 points Free registration for the next Synergy Master Class

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SYNERGY SATELLITE EVENT REVIEW

The Hospital Pharmacist’s role in antithrombotic stewardship - (sponsored by an educational grant from Bayer)

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n Sunday March 28th, I facilitated a live discussion with Paul Wright and Prof. Patricia van den Bemt on “The Hospital Pharmacist’s role in antithrombotic stewardship “. Paul is an independent prescriber and Lead Cardiac Pharmacist at Bart’s Heart Centre. He is co-chair of the cardiology committee of UKCPA, and a programme guardian for several cardiology topics with CPPE. Patricia is a Hospital Pharmacist in the University Medical Centre in Groningen where, as Head of Patient Care, she is responsible for clinical pharmacy activities. As a professor in clinical pharmacy, her research focuses on the role of the clinical pharmacist in improving patient safety.

(Very important, important, somehow important, not important)

• For you, what is the main benefit to the implementation of an antithrombotic stewardship programme in your hospital? (Patient safety, efficient use of resources, hospital liability, job satisfaction)

When looking at the results of the polls, most of the attendees agreed that the implementation of antithrombotic stewardship in their own hospital would be very important, but they consider costs to be the major barrier to the implementation of the programme. Most of the attendees agreed that patient safety would be the main benefit to the implementation of the antithrombotic stewardship programme.

During the live discussion, the experts answered questions from the audience regarding antithrombotic stewardship. The audience actively participated in the discussion by expressing their opinion via various polls on the implementation of an antithrombotic stewardship programme in their own hospital:

Members of the audience were interested to know the first step to succeed in the establishment of antithrombotic stewardship. From her own experience, Patricia recommended that all the guidelines on antithrombotic therapy be standardised throughout the hospital.

Patricia and Paul concluded that the establishment of a multidisciplinary antithrombotic team should be considered a core service in every hospital and that its implementation is also cost-effective. On this particularly important final message, the live discussion was concluded.

Paul replied to several questions on how to identify and modify the reversible bleeding risk factors of patients on direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), as well as on how to

Dr Virginia Silvari - EAHP Scientific Committee Member

• How do you value the implementation of an antithrombotic stewardship programme in your hospital?

• For you, what is the main barrier to the implementation of an antithrombotic stewardship programme in your hospital? (Costs, cultural aspects, lack of specialists in antithrombotic therapy)

determine the appropriate dose of DOAC. He highlighted how patients on antithrombotic medications benefit greatly from a multidisciplinary approach.

STUDENT PROGRAMME

Discussing the future of patient care with future pharmacists

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he student programme of EAHP’s 25th Anniversary Congress focused this year on “Healthcare professionals’ collaboration as a key to patient-centred care”. The participating students, young professionals and hospital pharmacists were introduced to this topic by Dr Antonella Tonna who is a Senior Lecturer in clinical pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland.

After a brief presentation of the different ways that collaboration is described in the literature, Dr Tonna moved on to two video clips outlining on the one hand examples of bad collaboration and the other hand those that are associated with good communication among healthcare professionals, patients and their carers. For successful collaboration, all healthcare professionals involved in the care of a patient must be aware of their unique strengths and weaknesses so that they can determine when a contribution from their side is needed and in which case another professional should be involved. Also, effective distribution of tasks and keeping the patient’s interest at heart are key ingredients for making interprofessional collaboration successful.

The importance of a shared sense of purpose was illustrated

by Dr Tonna with the help of a video that showed how quickly the mechanics of the Ferrari racing team can change a tire when working together in a team in which each member has a unique part to play. The last part of her presentation focused on interactive exchanges with the help of different polls through which the student session participants shared their take on specific patient situations and the contribution that

collaboration had in them. These examples were also used to deepen the knowledge on the SBAR (Situation-BackgroundAssessment-Recommendation) technique which provides a framework for communication between members of the healthcare team about a patient’s condition.

initiating collaboration with a doctor that she knew well. She accompanied him on rounds at the ward and other doctors picked up on the positive outcomes that their collaboration had and demanded the involvement of pharmacists in their ward rounds.

The question and answer session at the end of the student programme focused on interdisciplinary undergraduate education which already is an integral part of the pharmacy training in Scotland. Participants from other countries underlined that there is still room for improvement since the role of the hospital pharmacist still focuses very much on dispensing. Picking-up on this difference Dr Tonna shared insights into her work in Malta as compared to the UK where the clinical pharmacist is very much at the centre of patient care on the ward. When she still worked in Malta, Dr Tonna tried to improve the system in the hospital by

Students, young professionals and hospital pharmacists that participated in this year’s student programme left the session equipped with positive examples of interprofessional collaboration that enhances patient care, insights on the opportunities that interprofessional education can bring to the future of healthcare and the awareness about one’s roles and the roles of others in a multi-disciplinary team.

Mariona Ribó

Stephanie Kohl – EAHP Advocacy and Policy Officer

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POLICY ARTICLE

Better preparedness is needed to equip hospital pharmacists for future crises

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n the last quarter of 2020, EAHP collected feedback from its members on the crisis preparedness of hospital pharmacies drawing from the lessons learned after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 1664 hospital pharmacists from all across Europe participated in the survey activity and shared their experiences with SARSCoV-2, including the shortages of medicines and equipment that they observed.

The results of the EAHP Survey on the future crisis preparedness of hospital pharmacies showed that hospital pharmacists supported their colleagues through the production of disinfectants and sourcing medicines that were in shortage. Besides, they valued discussions with other healthcare professionals supporting the quest for treatment options and finding solutions to other problems

that occurred during the first couple of months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Room for improvement was found concerning preparedness. Many underlined that better surge management is needed and that the use of risk assessments should be implemented more widely. Some also found improvement opportunities for communication with others.

Compared to other survey activities of EAHP linked to the topic of medicines shortages the feedback received for the survey on the future crisis preparedness was a bit more diverse with 59% of respondents experiencing problems, compared to 38% that did not. This might be attributed to the fact that not only hospital pharmacists working at hospitals that exclusively catered to COVID-19 patients participated but also those that continued to provide care

to other patients. The most common types of medicines in shortage included those used in intensive care units, such as anaesthetics (46%) and muscle relaxants (29%). But also antibiotics (37%) ranked among the top three like in EAHP’s previous shortage surveys.

Have a look at the survey responses, in case you did not manage to do so during the Congress week.

Stephanie Kohl – EAHP Advocacy and Policy Officer

59% of the respondents experienced medicines shortages during the COVID-19. with 46% anesthetics, 37% antibiotics & 29% muscle relaxants as areas of medicines that are frequently in shortage during the first wave of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic.

Help EAHP plan for its next congress by filling in the needs assessment survey.

The survey is available HERE

Handling a higher workload and stress as well as quickly adapting the processes and practices at the hospital pharmacy were lessons that 75% of participants learned during the first peak of the pandemic.

EAHP would like to receive feedback from you about your EAHP 2021 Congress experience.

Participant satisfaction survey HERE

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KEYNOTE REVIEW

Should Hospital Pharmacists specialize in understanding apps and Artificial Intelligence?

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he last but absolutely not least keynote was provided by professor Katarzyna Wac, an expert in the field of health informatics. She focused on being treated by computers and gave us a futuristic perspective of health care. Her presentation started with a female patient with multiple comorbidities who self-adjusted her medication as she knows her body best. This patient was professor Wac’s mother. Probably many of us recognize that our loved ones have their own ideas about how they incorporate medication use in their daily lives. Professor Wac showed us how difficult it is to change behaviour but also how important it is to measure behaviour. In the current digital era, this is possible as we are never offline with our smartphones, which we keep close to us (at least 88% of the time). There are over 300.0000 health apps with 200 added daily and 438 wearables. Did you know that the FDA has approved 72 algorithms? Many of them focus on diagnosis or monitoring. For example, a digital stethoscope that can be attached to your smartphone, a dipstick for urine analysis, or continuous ECG measuring.

provide the patient with information on the right dose and thus to prevent admissions because someone forgot to monitor drug levels? Or could we measure dehydration, potassium, sodium levels and kidney function for patients who are started on diuretics? And how about helping patients to recognize side effects with an algorithm that lists their chance of experiencing a side effect?

Should we have a specialisation for hospital pharmacists in (understanding) the value of apps, wearables, artificial intelligence and the use of big data, just as we have specialisations for compounding, clinical pharmacy or for building decision support rules? Professor Wac showed that the patient of tomorrow is the primary point of care.

The patient will show us data and will expect us to act on

it. Patients are already uniting for better self-management.

There are over 750.000 patients with over 2800 conditions that are sharing their symptoms and how they manage them on the platform “PatientsLikeMe”.

Technologies will empower patients as experts in their health care. Ideally, it will change health care to a more personalized experience and we will be team members in a patient journey. But technology could also lead to a more confusing patient experience if apps and algorithms are not developed accurately or are validated on select patient groups.

This digital era will change health care, that is for sure. How will it shape our pharmaceutical care?

Fatma Karapinar – EAHP Scientific Committee Member

When looking at all these apps, wearables and algorithms I see tremendous opportunities for hospital pharmacists.

Generally, the focus in current apps is on medication adherence. But would it be possible for patients to have an app that contains all medication use? We can log into our bank account all over the world so why is this not the case in health care? Maybe we could have dipsticks for patients to measure blood levels of drugs at home and to automatically

EAHP warmly thanks our industry partners for their continued commitment to supporting the goals of hospital pharmacists.

Platinum partner

Gold partner

Silver partner

Corporate partner

Abstract & Good Practice Initiatives submission deadline for the 26th EAHP Congress is 15th October 2021 Do you have a Good Practice Initiative that you would like to share?

Visit the website www.eahp.eu/gpis and tell us about your GPI. The submission portal is open all year long!

to inspire and encourage fellow hospital pharmacists in other countries to strive for the next high standard in practice

to give recognition to those who have completed successful new initiatives in hospital pharmacy service

VISIT THE GPI’S PORTAL AND DATABASE AND TELL US ABOUT IT! WWW.EAHP.EU/GPIS

to identify how colleague hospital pharmacists were able to overcome barriers and obstacles in order to make improvement happen

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WINNER’S CORNER

Meet the winners of the 25th EAHP Congress Poster and GPI prizes During the 25th EAHP Congress, award nominees gave oral presentations on Tuesday March 23, Wednesday March 24 and Saturday March 27 and GPI’s authors had the chance to give a presentation on Thursday March 25, Friday March 26 and Saturday March 27, followed by a live discussion with judges in both cases.

This year, EAHP has received more than a thousand abstracts submitted by hospital pharmacists from around the globe. All accepted abstracts were displayed in the poster area and published in the abstract book. Authors were also provided an excellent opportunity to present their work to colleagues interested in their field of expertise.

Here’s a glimpse of the number of abstracts received vs abstracts accepted over the years:

Received

Accepted

Paris 2013

950

630

Barcelona 2014

877

525

Hamburg 2015

880

535

Vienna 2016

889

571

Cannes 2017

1053

607

Gothenburg 2018

988

529

Barcelona 2019

1189

625

Virtual 2021

1522

821

(Submitted in 2020 & 2021)

2020 GPI award nominee 1st winner: Matts Balgård for the GPI “Inclusion of pharmacy students in an interprofessional training ward placement for health care students in Sweden”.

2021 GPI award nominee 1st winner: Lotte Deschepper with the GPI “Role of pharmacists during covid-19 pandemic in a belgian general hospital”.

-2020 Award nominee 1st winner: Ulrika Gillespie with 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”

2020 Award nominee 2nd winner: Ana Idoate with the 2020 Award nominee 3rd winner: Charlotte Quintens with the abstract: “Cost Effectiveness Analysis Of Meropenem Dose abstract: “Underdosing With High Dose Piperacillin/Tazobactam Optimisation In Critical Patients” Administered Via Continuous Infusion In Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy: A Stability Or Viscosity Problem?”

2021 Award nominee 1st winner: Tessa Jaspers with the abstract: “Effect Of A Multifaceted Clinical Decision Support Intervention On Adherence To Thromboprophylaxis Guidelines In Non-Surgical Patients”

2021 Award nominee 2nd winner: Trine Andersen with 2021 Award nominee 3rd winner: Stefanie Sauer with the abstract: “A Screening Model To Identify Elderly the abstract: “Using Different Techniques To Prepare Polypharmacy Patients That May Benefit From Pharmacist Orodispersible Films In A Hospital Pharmacy’ Led Medication Review During Hospital Admission”