Background and importance One of the strategic projects of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacy (EAHP) is the creation of a common training framework (CTF) for the hospital pharmacy profession in Europe. For this purpose, CTF working group 2 has performed a comprehensive literature review. It concluded that education and training of health personnel improves patient outcome and that the benefit of a CTF is lacking. Nevertheless, it was not reported unequivocally whether or not the pharmacists were specialised.¹

Aim and objectives To find relevant publications that confirm that postgraduate education of hospital pharmacists can improve patient outcome and patient care, in order to support a hospital pharmacy CTF legislation process in the European Union.

Material and methods We identified 70 publications based on data up to 2010 from our previous study¹ and were evaluated with indepth assessment regarding pharmacists’ qualifications.

Results Forty (57%) publications had sufficient information on the qualifications of pharmacists and an additional 7 (10%) papers had partial information. Of the papers with detailed information on pharmacists’ qualifications, 30 (43%) defined the pharmacists as ‘clinical pharmacists’ having additional training. Other qualifications were mentioned, such as intensive care, pain, oncology, paediatric, internal medicine and infectious diseases specialised pharmacists, that also verified the importance of postgraduate training. Further information on the qualifications of pharmacists were included in additional training to highlight their competency in clinical services. The publications provided evidence of the positive effect of pharmaceutical interventions for patient outcomes in many fields, including internal medicine, acute care medicine, oncology, paediatrics and surgery, also demonstrating the economic benefits of the interventions.

Conclusion and relevance Clear evidence was provided that only qualified pharmacists with a postgraduate education can provide the correct services to patients and consequently improve their outcomes, similar to other professions (physicians and nurses) in the healthcare system.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. West LM, Vetter-Kerkhoff C, Miljkovic N, Frontini R. Is there a need for a hospital pharmacy common training framework? Review of the literature on the impact of educational interventions on health outcome. Eur J Hosp Pharm 2018;25:6–9.

No conflict of interest.