Role of the hospital pharmacist in an Italian antimicrobial stewardship programme
The inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents is contributing to an increasing phenomenon of bacterial resistance. For this reason, there is a growing interest in ‘antimicrobial stewardship’, a series of coordinated and multidisciplinary interventions aimed to promote the safe and appropriate use of antimicrobials in which the pharmacist’s contribution is necessary for the optimal choice of drug, dose, duration of therapy and the implementation of cost containment strategies. AIM OF THE STUDY: We wanted to create a reference model and a specific training manual on antibiotic stewardship to introduce the role of the department pharmacist with specific infection disease skills in the Italian …
Lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic: results of EAHP survey on the future crisis preparedness of hospital pharmacies
Aim The present survey aimed to collect information on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic by hospital pharmacists. It focused on the shortages of health goods and the experiences of hospitals during the first phase of the crisis. Methods A 17-question survey was conducted by EAHP, looking at the experiences of hospital pharmacists during the COVD-19 pandemic. The survey ran from 16 September to 23 December 2020. Statistical analysis included backward stepwise logistic regression (BSLR), Pearson’s χ2 test, t-test and one-way ANOVA, as appropriate; p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results 1466 hospital pharmacists answered the survey fully. 58%, 63% and 69% of them …
The European COVID-19 drugs calculation tool: an aid for the estimation of the drugs needed during the SARS-CoV 2 pandemic
Objective To create an informatics supportive tool, which can assist healthcare professionals in estimating potential requirements for essential drug supplies to respond to the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic based on epidemiological forecasting. Methods The tool was based on a Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) epidemiological model in which the population is divided into three compartments and transmission parameters are specified to define the rate at which people move between stages. Appropriate data entry was guaranteed by the creation of structured guided paths. The drugs needed for the forecasted patients were estimated according to a list of critical care drugs compiled by consulting pr…