26th EAHP Congress - Hospital pharmacists – changing roles in a changing world

The 2022 EAHP Annual Congress will bring about a vast of novel scientific and practical knowledge upon which we can further develop and strengthen our services for our patients in Europe and beyond. Therapeutic possibilities are growing rapidly in several disease groups, including those for which treatment options have been seriously limited for many decades. These emerging therapeutic modalities have brought about many challenges for hospital pharmacists and they keep changing the way pharmacy services are delivered. Hospital pharmacists have to acquire more knowledge related to immunology, infection control, the human genome, cell regulation and much more. Besides these novel therapeutic areas, our emerging competencies of frontline patient care in the clinical setting call for new and changing roles of our profession. These "high tech" modalities, going hand-in-hand with the irreplaceable personal touch of pharmaceutical care are paving the way towards the future of our profession.

Besides the professional and methodological challenges, healthcare systems all over the world have to find a way to employ these new possibilities with the limited resources that are available. That rather complex issue calls for a deep involvement and input from hospital pharmacists as well. I am sure that the scientific programme at the Congress will help all of us to face these challenges and find valid answers.