European Summit on Hospital Pharmacy
Change is a constant in the modern world, and the European hospital pharmacy profession not only wishes to keep pace with it, but to lead it and ensure that patients are the ultimate beneficiaries. Accordingly, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) called an international Summit on 14 & 15 May 2014, to set out the future direction of the profession.
A robust set of 44 hospital pharmacy practice standards for Europe has been agreed at the Summit in Brussels. These standards should be met across European health systems to ensure safe, effective and optimal use of medicines in collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams.
The European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy include:
- All hospitals should have access to a hospital pharmacist who has overall responsibility for the safe, effective and optimal use of medicines.
- Hospital pharmacists should be involved in all patient care settings to prospectively influence collaborative, multidisciplinary therapeutic decision-making.
- All prescriptions should be reviewed and validated as soon as possible by a hospital pharmacist.
- Hospital pharmacists should play a full part in decision making including advising, implementing and monitoring medication changes in full partnership with patients, carers and other health care professionals.
- Hospital pharmacists should have access to the patients’ health record. Their clinical interventions should be documented in the patients’ health record and analysed to inform quality improvement interventions.
- Clinical pharmacy services should continuously evolve to optimise patients’ outcomes.
The 44 European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy are available here.
Dr Roberto Frontini, President of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) said: “Through the new European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy, patients, hospital pharmacists and our sister healthcare professionals have set out a clear vision for what hospital pharmacy should be achieving in every European country. (…) The positive support from patient organisations and other healthcare professionals assures us that the statements are a shared aspiration and provide a route towards continuously improving patient care within hospitals in every European country.”
"The hospital environment can be a frightening experience for patients, who may find themselves in a vulnerable position, ill, worried or in pain, but they can now count on hospital pharmacists to support them. During their Brussels Summit, EAPH worked together with key stakeholders to produce a ground breaking Statement that will ensure patients get the best possible care from their hospital pharmacists. This could be life-saving", concluded Hildrun Sundseth of the European Women’s Institute for Health.