Taxis and Lambert conclude EU project on the correct use and prescription of antibiotics

Recently, Katja Taxis and Maarten Lambert have finished their three-year HAPPY PATIENT project (www.happypatient.eu) funded by the Health Programme of the European Union.

In this large EU consortium project, with 17 EU partners, the main aim was to improve the correct use of antibiotics curbing antimicrobial resistance in Europe. Katja and Maarten have, for the first time, implemented a specific audit-and-feedback methodology (Audit Project Odense Methodology) in the community pharmacy setting in five EU countries. Pharmacists from 91 pharmacies in France, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain have registered their dispensing practice of oral antibiotics from February 2022 until February 2023, with a year of interventions in between. These interventions included communication training, educational materials for pharmacists and patients and an e-learning platform.

The interventions implemented in the HAPPY PATIENT project have shown promising results and have succeeded in steering pharmacy practice towards a better future. Pharmacists performed more safety checks on interactions, contraindications, and allergies and they provided patients with more advice, although it seems that the interventions have had the most significant impact in countries with a lower baseline of community pharmacy practice. Pharmacists from all countries of the study specifically mentioned that they were enthusiastic about their involvement. They believed that there is a role for pharmacists in improving antibiotic use and felt that they have not been involved sufficiently in earlier research.