Eur J Hosp Pharm

[Gwenda Arguin]

EuropeanJournal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP) offers a high quality, peer-reviewed platform for the publication of practical and innovative research which aims to strengthen the profile and professional status of hospital pharmacists. EJHP is committed to being the leading journal on all aspects of hospital pharmacy, thereby advancing the science, practice and profession of hospital pharmacy. The journal aims to become a major source for education and inspiration to improve practice and the standard of patient care in hospitals and related institutions worldwide.

European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy considers unsolicited submissions of a wide range of article types, including original articles, systematic reviews and short reports. Interesting case reports and medicines information queries are also welcomed.

The Author Information section provides general guidelines and requirements for specific article types. Information is also provided on editorial policies and open access. All manuscripts should be submitted online.

Candidates should be either a hospital pharmacist or hospital pharmacy technician based in Europe, with experience of using Social Media platforms in a professional capacity. The successful applicant will have enthusiasm for the subject area, creativity, curiosity, and an interest in using digital technologies to disseminate scientific research. They may be based anywhere in the world.

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Methods: This prospective, historical control study included all patients admitted during a 6-month period to a general medicine unit with the highest 30-day readmission rate at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Patients were excluded if they expired prior to discharge, transferred, left against medical advice, were discharged to hospice, or were previously enrolled in the study. Upon admission, pharmacy technicians compiled the medication reconciliation information. Interventions were made by the pharmacist communicating with the patient's primary team. Medication and disease state counseling and final medication reconciliation were performed by the pharmacist before discharge. The primary outcome measure was 30-day readmission rates during the intervention period compared to the preceding 6 months and the same time period the previous year. Secondary outcomes included the total number of pharmacist-identified medication reconciliation interventions, total pharmacy resource utilization, and identification of patients at high risk for readmission.

Results: Study outcomes showed a 27% reduction in readmission during the intervention period. The pharmacist made a total of 546 medication interventions. The average pharmacist and pharmacy technician time per patient were 28.9 and 23.7 minutes, respectively.

Objective

Pharmaceutical Technology in Hospital Pharmacy (PTHP) is an international Open Access journal dedicated to all aspects of pharmaceutical technology in hospitals. This includes pharmaceutical compounding procedure with sterile or non-sterile drug products (chemotherapies, CIVAS, capsules, gels, topical formulations, colloidal carriers, emulsions, eye drops and else), radiopharmaceuticals, sterilization techniques, analytical and biological procedures (stability studies, quality control), monitoring and validation of materials, techniques and environment. It also includes the determination of medical-device performances using technical experiments or modelization. The journal will particularly welcome new pharmaceutical formulations that can benefit hospitalized patients such as infants or aged persons.

Open Access sponsorship

Please note that the GERPAC society funds the APCs for a limited number of manuscripts per year. When you submit your manuscript via ScholarOne, please indicate if you request APC funding by GERPAC.

If you have any questions upfront regarding the sponsorship by GERPAC, please get in touch with the Editorial Office via pt...@degruyter.com.

We are delighted to inform you that Pharmaceutical Technology in Hospital Pharmacy (PTHP) has switched to the Open Access model, which means that all articles are now published under the Creative Commons (CC-BY) license. Please find more information about Article Processing Charges and funding options below.

The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (CJHP) is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal dedicated to publishing information on patient-centred pharmacy practice in hospitals and other collaborative health care settings in Canada and throughout the world.

The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy is pleased to announce that all articles from the most recent issue, Volume 77, Number 2 (June 2024), are now available online. We invite you to explore the complete issue, including the most recently released articles, by visiting:

One of the fundamental principles guiding the pharmaceutical quality of parenteral products is to prevent injecting contaminants from microbiological, chemical or physical sources. It is just as difficult to ensure the absence of chemical and particulate contaminants in injectable products as it is to weigh up the microbiological risk. The problem of particulate matter is mainly related to the preparing and administrating of injectable drugs rather than through the contamination of marketed products. Particulate contamination also arises in situ during the simultaneous intravenous (IV) infusion of incompatible drugs. A complete overview of these problems in the context of IV infusion was carried out to assess their clinical impact. Many studies had already been performed on this theme, but the majority date from the 1970s and 1980s. Clinicians have expressed a renewed interest since the early 2000s, focusing on the impact of particles on patients.

It is just as difficult to assess the risk of microbiological contamination in injectable products as it is to ensure the absence of particulate contamination in these same products [10]. Contamination of fluids with bacteria, endotoxins and/or particles has been observed with intravenous (IV) infusion therapy. It is difficult to control particulate contamination during drug infusion, especially when several different drugs are administered simultaneously. Particulate contamination of IV fluids can result from drug incompatibilities, especially frequent in intensive care unit (ICU) patients who may receive numerous drugs simultaneously through a limited number of venous access sites. When many IV therapies have to be administered through the same central venous catheter, the risk of drug incompatibilities and thus particle formation increases.

There are several causes of particulate contamination of IV fluids. There are two types of injectable drug particulate matter according to its source [11]: 1) intrinsic particles, defined as those initially associated with the solution which have not been eliminated either by filtration or by precipitation from the solution, and 2) extrinsic particles, defined as those that contaminate the container or solution during manufacture or preparation of drug solutions. Some of these have been described [12], including, for example, fibres, dust, rubber or silicone and have been known for some years, which explains the limited use of glass ampoules today in favour of plastic bottles or pods to ensure patient safety [10].

However, despite the neutral property of glass, interactions between the packaging components and the formulation ingredients are possible with the release of glass particles. The presence of such particles in primary containers for pharmaceutical liquids has concerned health authorities in recent years due to claims leading to product recalls. Manufacturers must ensure the absence of any contaminants such as glass fragments to respect the rules of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) to obtain quality products [15]. A working group was set up at the French medical drug agency (ANSM) between December 2006 and September 2007 in partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturers to identify preventive measures which all manufacturers must apply to avoid the introduction or generation of glass particles and to detect their possible presence [16].

Glass ampoules are a high-risk source of particulate contamination. Glass fragments can be introduced into the ampoule when it is opened by the operator [17]. If a needle (for example 18G) is used to withdraw the contents, small glass particles can pass through the needle into the syringe and easily be administered to patients. This risk remains if drugs are administered via the injection port of the IV cannula which is a safety measure to limit sharp injuries to the medical staff [18].

Particulate contamination of IV solutions arises from incomplete reconstitution of drugs, drug incompatibility reactions during IV therapy, or components of the infusion systems [35, 36]. Analysis of samples from the terminal connection of infusion tubings identified plastic particles [37].

Lubricant (silicone oil) in pre-filled glass syringes can cause an aggregation of proteins and therefore generate particles [38]. The reconstitution of L-Asparaginase in siliconised syringes induces protein aggregation [39]. Various technologies may be used to measure particle numbers in protein formulation but they are inadequate to characterise particles in a variety of protein solutions [40]. The siliconisation process may have an impact on the generation of particles in protein formulations in pre-filled syringes [41]. The addition of surfactants at certain concentrations to antibody formulations reduces particle formation in pre-filled glass syringes [42].

In a neonatal ICU, a piece of research work demonstrated that the dosing variability of vancomycin syringes was mainly due to the solvent used to reconstitute the powder and the non-systematic practice of stirring for complete dissolution of the powder [43]. Reconstitution of IV medications by a centralized intravenous admixture service (CIVAS) ensures the microbiological quality and chemical stability of ready-to-use injectable drugs and thus contributes to the quality and efficient management of the patient in hospital [44, 45].

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