Inspired by a project carried out in Belgium and
Luxembourg evaluating the effectiveness of the electronic patient information
leaflet and the key principles created by the European Medicines Agency (EMA)
and the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA), the European Association of
Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) conducted a survey on the use of electronic
product information (ePI) in European hospitals. The survey was carried out
in cooperation with the Inter-Association Task Force for electronic product
information composed out of Medicines for Europe, EFPIA (European Federation
of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) and AESGP (Association of the
European Self-Care Industry) from March to April 2021 and targeted hospital
pharmacists in 36 European countries, ultimately receiving 534 answers. Reflecting on the
process and the results of the survey, former EAHP Board member Steffen
Amann, who was involved in the project from the start, highlighted that “Digitalisation is revolutionising
healthcare provision in hospitals across Europe. For EAHP it was consequently
very important to learn more about the use of electronic patient leaflets and
the future potential of electronic product information. It will take a lot of
activity to overcome the lack of means to work with digital information,
which not surprisingly is one of the main barriers for the use of ePI in
hospitals.” Almost 60% of
respondents reported that healthcare professionals use the digital version
when they wish to obtain information on a medicine. Hospital pharmacists
(93%) are those using most frequently the digital format of the product
information followed by physicians (71%) and nurses (43%). Given that the
survey only targeted hospital pharmacists, it should be noted that the presumed
behaviour of both healthcare professionals and patients are always the
opinion of the hospital pharmacists' answering the survey. The survey reveals
that patients are usually not provided with paper package leaflets and only
21% of respondents reported that medicines information is provided orally to
patients. In this regard, the majority of respondents see the potential of
further informing patients by giving them access to ePI. It would also ensure
that the information accessed is up to date. The report
nevertheless acknowledged that some challenges should be addressed
concurrently, especially equipping hospitals with the appropriate IT
infrastructure while at the same time taking into account the structural
preconditions of hospitals in Europe regarding the technical equipment to use
ePI in daily practice. EAHP’s President
András Süle pointed out that “The
survey report provides very relevant information on the overall use of
printed package leaflets and the prevalence of the application of product
information in a digital format within EAHP’s membership. Hopefully, this
snapshot analysis of the situation in Europe will help improve access to the
up-to-date product information on medicines when and where it is needed in
the hospital.” |
No comments:
Post a Comment