Medicines information education

The Hospital Pharmacy Europe Spring issue is now available in print and online. In this issue we look at treating rare cancers in children: Marc Dooms, Senior Orphan Drug Pharmacist, Belgium, addresses this topic and the importance of adapting doses to the paediatric population. Dooms also discusses the various European networks that are being built as centres for excellence to diagnose and treat these rare childhood cancers. We focused on pharmacy education and technology in this issue, and this was highlighted with the articles from Trevor Beswick (Bristol Royal Infirmary) and Simon Wills (University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust) on medicines information training, Kathryn Phillips and Laura Gibson (Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust) on SMART pumps and Keith Farrar and Ann Slee (NHS England) on ePMA. In addition to these features, you can read about the incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections from a recent study by Michael Scott and colleagues in Northern Ireland, as well as how big data can support hospital pharmacy services by Jose Manuel Martinez Sesmero from the Pharmacy Department in Complejo Hospitalario de Toledo, Spain. Meetings that were covered in this issue include ASHP in New Orleans, GERPAC in Hyeres, France and ESCP in Lisbon, Portugal. The practical therapeutics articles include an important feature on what pharmacists need to know about intravenous immunoglobulins by Tiene Bauters, Clinical Pharmacist in Paediatric Haematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation at Ghent University Hospital. Also, Gabor Hollo, Professor of Ophthalmology in Hungary reviews open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension with colleagues from across the EU. Click here to read online.