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Council of Europe resolution to promote pharmaceutical care in Europe
  1. Stephanie Kohl
  1. Policy & Advocacy, European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, Brussels 1200, Belgium
  1. Correspondence to Stephanie Kohl, Policy & Advocacy, European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, Brussels 1200, Belgium; Stephanie.Kohl{at}eahp.eu

https://doi.org/10.1136/ejhpharm-2020-002305

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    In mid-March, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a new Council of Europe resolution on the implementation of pharmaceutical care for the benefit of patients and health services. The resolution aims at improving medication use and the quality of patient care across Europe.

    To address inadequate use of medicines which can lead to suboptimal patient outcomes pharmacists are encouraged to use their expertise and that of the pharmacy team to contribute to the appropriate use of medicines and health promotion, both locally and nationally. The guidance and recommendations of the resolution seek to provide health authorities across Europe with information on how the promotion and implementation of pharmaceutical care can be supported. The resolution can also be used by healthcare professionals and associations as a legal basis for the implementation of pharmaceutical care and related working methods in their daily activities.

    The potential of prospective risk-assessments for combatting medicines shortages

    A new article published in Frontiers in Pharmacology provides insight into the potential of prospective risk-assessments to address medicines shortages in Europe. The researchers reviewed existing strategies for minimising patient-health risks through applied risk assessment and looked at experiences related to the practical application of such assessments. In light of the findings, key stakeholders involved in managing medicine shortages are encouraged to consider combining their efforts through conducting proactive and prospective risk assessment in a harmonized manner to support patient harm reduction.

    The authors of the publication involved members of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action 15 105 and hospital pharmacists of EAHP in the collection of data via semi-structured questionnaire focusing on medicine shortages. The analysis revealed that 62% of participants were aware of the use of risk assessment procedures as a coping strategy for medicine shortages. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), root cause analysis (RCA) and the healthcare FMEA (HFMEA) …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.