EAHP Academy Seminar "What do we need to know about building or reconstructing a hospital pharmacy?"

 
Target group of the seminar
The target group comprises hospital pharmacy managers, mainly head of pharmacies or deputies from the new EU- Countries and new members of EAHP.

Teaching goals
To ensure patient safety hospital pharmacists have to ensure:

• the correct medical supply including purchasing, stock- keeping and delivery of drugs
• the compliance with pharmaceutical and drug-related legal regulations as well as with all other laws and regulations related to pharmacies
• the compliance with the general rules of hygiene and of the science of pharmacy
• the quality assured production and compounding of medicines
• pharmaceutical counselling like drug information and clinical pharmacy services.

EU- legislation on production of medicines in hospital pharmacies like GMP guidelines and influences the technical and interior equipment of the production areas. Recent developments of logistic of drugs were characterised by the improvement of the supply chain using automation and track and trace.
A huge number of hospital pharmacies are more then 15 years old and do not fulfil the state of technology and science. Hospitals therefore are forced to reconstruct or rebuild the hospital pharmacy.
The seminar should give support in planning or replanning the hospital pharmacy.

Learning objectives

Seminar I: Planning of a state of the art hospital pharmacy production

The seminar gives theoretical information about regulatory requirements for hospital pharmacy production. This includes process description, quality risk management, quality management, feasibility study and user requirements to design qualification. In the following workshops the participants will work on the above mentioned topics on practical examples.
At the end of the seminar the participants will:

• have the skills to identify the relevant requirements for the hospital pharmacy they are working for.

Seminar II:Planning the logistic of a hospital pharmacy

This seminar gives theoretical information about logistics of hospital pharmacies and examples of the recent developments in the supply chain of drugs.
At the end of the seminar the participants will:

• get an overview about actual developments in the supply of medicines
• know about advantages and disadvantages of automation systems for picking packages
• know about advantages and disadvantages of unit dose systems
• know about track and trace during transport and delivery including the use of RFID
• know about the latest developments in barcoding
• be able to take in consideration the different developments either material or administrative and adapt to the hospital and hospital pharmacy needs.

 Speakers' biographies

View the bios of presenting speakers for the Academy seminar 2012.

2012 Academy seminar programme

View the detailed programme schedule.

The city of Thessaloniki

Some useful information on the most interesting places to visit in Thessaloniki.

10/01/2012 

 

Registration and hotel reservation

Welcome participants to the 2012 EAHP Academy Seminar!

Venue and public transportation

View the Academy Seminar's venue and how to reach the hotel by public transportation

Source 

EAHP

EU: PONTE platform prototype to be released soon

A prototype of the 'Efficient Patient Recruitment for Innovative Clinical Trials of Existing Drugs to other Indications' platform (PONTE platform) will be released this month (April 2012). The wider research community will thus have the opportunity to test run and review the tools that the platform will offer.


PONTE is a European project intended to establish a platform to help new uses for existing drugs. It will offer vital assistance throughout each stage of the process - from the moment an idea is generated through to the selection of suitable volunteers for the trial.

Once work on refining and perfecting the system is complete, PONTE will act as a one-stop search, query and decision support tool. By linking to existing medical knowledge databases, it will give near-instant access to information about any disease, drug or drug properties. This will aid researchers as they develop their hypotheses for new applications for existing medicines. If, for example, there is the possibility that a particular drug for high blood pressure may be useful in treating arthritis, PONTE will help to uncover it. The platform will then utilise data stored by individual hospitals to establish whether sufficient patients meet the criteria for a trial to be able to proceed. PONTE can select pre-consenting volunteers immediately - ensuring the right people for the right trial at the right time. To complete the jigsaw, the system will provide a step-by-step guide for setting up clinical protocol, in turn ensuring all aspects have been completed well in advance of the start of the trial.

PONTE will simplify the whole clinical trials process so that it will be easier to come up with the right concept and select the right patients. As well as saving money, this will give the public quicker access to drugs which may be able to help them. The platform is expected to be launched in a year's time.

Further information: 

• Source - PONTE Project
• PONTE Project website  

Source

ePractice

European Commission establishes new eHealth Stakeholder Group

European Commission establishes new eHealth Stakeholder Group

Following the recent call for expression of interest (closed in January 2012), the European Commission has selected the members to participate in its new eHealth Stakeholder Group. Members of the group, appointed for a period of three years, are expert representatives of European umbrella organisations active in the eHealth sector.

The group is expected to contribute to the development of legislation and policy related to eHealth. Policy areas of specific interest include relevant actions of theDigital Agenda for Europe on eHealth and the forthcoming eHealth Action Plan.

Complete list of the 29 selected member organisations, representatives and substitutes (pdf)

Source

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/health/policy/stakeholders_group/index_en.htm

New 24-hour drug robot at Worthing Hospital, UK

WORTHING Hospital has employed a new worker who never sleeps.

The newest addition to the pharmacy department at Worthing Hospital is a drug-dispensing robot, which works 24 hours a day to give staff instant access to 1,700 different medicines around the clock.

While the department has had a pharmacy robot for the last four years, the development means the majority of drugs can now be dispensed to ward staff at all times, compared to just 200 of the most common drugs. The new machine will also increase the reliability and accuracy of dispensing the drugs.

Saffron Mawby, head of medicines management at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

“This latest development, giving patients those benefits around the clock, is a significant improvement to the service we can provide. Having key medicines available when they are needed is an important part of our patients’ clinical care and this new technology will help our in-patients get the medicines they need, faster than ever before, no matter what the time.”

The £20,000 system was bought by the Friends of Worthing Hospital, and will mean the trust will save on the expense of on-call pharmacy staff having to travel to hospital out of hours.

Lucy Shade, senior pharmacist at Worthing Hospital, said:

“The machine brings real benefits in terms of speed, safety, and releasing pharmacy staff to spend more time on the wards during the day, seeing patients. This new improvement to our out-of-hours service will significantly improve the service to our in-patients at night and at weekends.”

Source

http://www.shorehamherald.co.uk/

EAHP meet European Commission to discuss hospital pharmacy specialisation

On Wednesday 22 February Dr Roberto Frontini, President of the EAHP, accompanied by Policy Officer Richard Price, met with senior officials at the European Commission to discuss the future possibilities for recognition of hospital pharmacy specialisation. 

EAHP presented a paper to the Internal Market and Services Directorate General (DG MARKT), which is leading a review of the Professional Qualifications Directive, exploring the feasibility of a new mechanism called a Common Training Requirement, being applied to specialisms in the sectoral professions. 

This would enable a minimum of 9 member states to collaborate in the construction of a framework for recognizing common qualifications. EAHP consider this has the potential to greatly increase the mobility of hospital pharmacists with specialized qualifications in the future. 

However, the Commission do not currently intend that the proposed Common Training Requirement will apply to the 7 “automatically recognized professions” (medical doctors, veterinarians, dentists, architects, nurses, midwives and pharmacists).

A useful exchange of views took place at the meeting and a greater understanding of each other’s positions was achieved. There is still much deliberations to be held on the proposed reform of the Professional Qualifications Directive, with Member State Governments beginning their examination of the Commission’s December 2011 proposals in the coming weeks, and the European Parliament commencing its formal discussions on 28 February. 

EAHP will continue to make the case for new mechanisms to be created to enable hospital pharmacy specialization to be recognized across borders and will present its proposals to MEPs and others for consideration over the coming months.

Source

EAHP

112 day: 74 % of Europeans don't know what emergency number to call when travelling in the EU

Whether for skiing holidays, family days out, business travel or visits to this summer's sporting events, including the London Olympics or Euro 2012 UEFA football in Poland and Ukraine, millions of Europeans and visitors need access to emergency services in and outside their home country. Yet only 34% of regular travellers and 26% of all Europeans know that 112 is the single emergency number they can call, both in and outside their home country when in trouble. 
 

Many major rail, air and other transport companies have joined Vice Presidents Neelie Kroes and Siim Kallas in a campaign to raise 112 awareness rates. The emergency number will be publicised without cost to taxpayers on e-tickets, in on-board magazines, on their company websites and through their staff. The list of participating companies can be consulted on www.112.eu. 

Vice Presidents Kroes and Kallas have decided to work together to ensure every European can access a 112 smartphone app, in their own language. In recent years many 112 mobile apps have been developed, but much more can be done in this field. 

Vice President Neelie Kroes said "You can save a life by knowing and dialing 112. But 112 only helps if people know about it. So we are working with travel companies to catch attention while people are en route to their destination."

Vice President Siim Kallas said "I welcome the commitment of the transport sector in Europe to make every traveller aware of the 112 emergency number. 112 is an essential safety tool in transport. The list of participating companies will be open all year long and judging from the interest shown, many more companies are likely to follow." 

 

Background

112 is the European emergency number, reachable from fixed and mobile phones, free of charge, everywhere in the EU. 112 links the caller to the relevant emergency service (local police, fire brigade or medical services) and is available 24-hours a day. 112 is now operational in all EU member states alongside existing national emergency numbers (like 999 or 110). Denmark, Finland, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Sweden, and have decided to make 112 their sole or main national emergency number. 112 is also being used in countries outside the EU, such as in Croatia, Montenegro and Turkey. Ukraine has also committed to introduce this number in the cities which will host Euro 2012 football matches (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kiev and Lviv) by the beginning of the sports event.

The Eurobarometer survey published today shows that Europeans' awareness of the availability of 112 in their country and in other EU Member States is stagnating. To address this issue, Vice-Presidents Kallas and Kroes wrote to the main transport companies on 27 January 2012 calling on them to inform their passengers about the 112 emergency number. This initiative builds on a similar campaign successfully launched by former MEP Diana Wallis last year. It is also supported by the 112 European Foundation.

Mobile phone applications – apps – are computer software developed for mobile phones that help users complete a task. They can be pre-installed on phones by manufacturers and are available for purchase and download through "app stores".

A report on how each Member State is implementing 112 (also issued today) gives a snapshot of the different languages to which 112 call centres can respond

• English can be used in 25 countries (besides UK, Ireland and Malta): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, as well as Croatia, Iceland and Norway.
• 14 countries (besides Belgium, France and Luxembourg) can deal with calls in French: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
• German can be used in 112 calls in 12 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Romania (in addition to Austria, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg)
• Italian speakers can also make 112 calls in their native language in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.
• Russian speakers can get help over 112 in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
• In the UK, emergency call centres can rely on interpretation services covering 170 languages, while in France a similar service can deal with 40 languages;

Useful links

112 website (available in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish): www.112.eu

Transport companies and organisations participating in the 112 promotion campaign

How 112 works in my country:

Kids' corner (available in all 23 official EU languages):

Full report and summary of Eurobarometer "The European Emergency Number 112" and

COCOM report and annex on the implementation of 112:

Digital Agenda website

Neelie Kroes' website

Follow Neelie Kroes on Twitter