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Today, the European
Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) released the results of its 2019 Medicines
Shortages Survey which showed that the number of hospital
pharmacists reporting shortages to be a problem in their hospital increased
compared to data published by EAHP in 2014 and 2018.
For the first time,
EAHP also reached out to patients, nurses, physicians and other healthcare
professionals to gather their impressions. EAHP’s data collection aimed at
obtaining more information on reasons for and management of medicines
shortages as well as details on their impact on patients. The survey was open
between November 2019 and mid-January 2020 and therefore did not take into
account the availability problems that are currently arising due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
More than half of the
participating hospital pharmacists indicated that they had experienced
shortages having an impact on patient care in their hospital. A similar
response rate was observed for physicians and other healthcare professionals.
Delays in care or therapy, suboptimal treatment, including inferior efficacy,
and cancellation of care were most frequently communicated. Hospital
pharmacists, physicians and nurses named antimicrobial agents as the type of
medicine mostly in shortages, while other healthcare professionals noticed
more frequent shortages for oncology medicines.
The 2019 EAHP
Medicines Shortages Survey also collected impressions about the
reasons for medicine shortages. For hospital pharmacists, the global shortage
of an active pharmaceutical ingredient as well as manufacturing and supply
chain problems ranked the highest, while physicians included the pricing of a
medicine, supply chain problems and issues related to parallel export as the
leading reasons for medicines shortages. Several patients that participated
in the data collection activity stressed their dissatisfaction with how their
problem was handled since they desired the provision of more detailed reasons
behind not receiving the prescribed treatment.
When comparing the
percentage of hospital pharmacists disclosing that medicines shortages are a
problem for delivering the best care to patients, it was observed that this
figure rose between 2018 and 2019. While in 2018 91.8% of hospital
pharmacists stressed that shortages are a problem in hospitals, 95% of
hospital pharmacists had this impression in 2019. Feedback from the other
professions differed, with 89% of healthcare professionals taking the survey
agreeing that medicines shortages are a problem, while only 62% of nurses and
71% of physicians shared this view.
Medicines shortages
affect patient care and healthcare professionals’ daily work. Better
enforcing the mandatory early notification requirements and requiring
structured mitigation responses is recognised by all respondents as the best
strategy to tackle shortages. EAHP consequently seeks to encourage all
involved actors, including hospital pharmacists, to adopt reactive measures,
such as carrying out prospective risk assessments, as well as proactive
measures, like prudent tendering practices. Also, the Association would like
to reiterate its request linked to the improvement of transparency and
information sharing. Only a comprehensive communication strategy on shortages
targeting all European states will ensure that all supply chain actors,
including hospital pharmacists, receive adequate information on the shortage
of medicines in their country.
The information of the report is also summarised in
infographics for:
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