(291) The HAPPY PATIENT Project: Measuring and Improving Community Antibiotic Dispensing in Europe

Background: As final point of contact with patients, community pharmacists can play a pivotal role in optimising the use of antibiotics through their dispensing practice.

Objectives: To audit and improve the dispensing practice of antibiotics in community pharmacies in five EU countries.

Methods: A before-and-after implementation study funded by the EU Third Health Programme was conducted according to the Audit Project Odense methodology. Community pharmacists of France, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain were recruited to participate in an audit to measure the antibiotic dispensing process and to receive a multifaceted intervention towards improving their practice according to EU guidelines. Pharmacists self-registered the dispensing of all oral antibiotics during five days in February 2022 and after interventions in February 2023. Results were analysed per country and overall, through nine quality indicators to which Chi-square and Students’ t-test were applied.

Results: A total of 91 pharmacists completed both audits and registered 5.054 dispenses. After the intervention there was a 18% (p=0.000) improvement in the number of safety checks that were performed and a 17% (p=0.000) reduction in the number of dispenses for which no safety checks were performed. Pharmacists provided 17% (p=0.000) more advice to patients and reduced the dispenses for which no advice was provided with 35% (p=0.006). This came with a 44% (p=0.000) increase in inappropriate advice that was provided. Large differences between the countries were observed.

Conclusions: The interventions implemented in the HAPPY PATIENT project have shown promising results. It seems that the interventions have had most significant impact in countries where the baseline audit indicated lower standards of community pharmacy practice.