Development and validation of a national clinical pharmacy competency framework for hospital pharmacists in Austria: a multi-method study

Despite the publication of a European wide competency framework for hospital pharmacy by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacist (EAHP) in 2017, not all countries have adopted and implemented such a framework.

This study aimed to develop and validate a bespoke national hospital pharmacy competency framework for Austria that supports the hospital pharmacy workforce development.

A multi-method study was carried out in three phases. (I) A systematic literature review across 48 websites of healthcare-related associations and six scientific databases was conducted, identifying competency frameworks, guidelines and related documents. (II) Extracted behaviour competencies were reviewed for contextual national appropriateness by three researchers prior to mapping against the “Patient Care and Clinical Pharmacy Skills” domain of European Common Training Framework (CTF). (III) Validation of the resultant draft clinical skills competency framework took place by an expert panel (n = 4; Austrian Association of Hospital Pharmacists (AAHP) board members) discussion. Reporting of findings is aligned with the recommendations for reporting Competency Framework Development in health professions (CONFERD-HP guidelines) and the PRISMA 2020 checklist.

The systematic review (SR) resulted in 28 frameworks, guidelines and related documents and the identification of 379 behaviour competencies, with nineteen mapped to the “Patient Care and Clinical Pharmacy Skills” domain of the CTF (after removal of duplicates). Expert panel discussion resulted in suggested changes to ensure contextual national appropriateness.

This study resulted in the development and validation of the first clinical national pharmacy competency framework for Austria. Future studies should focus on political and practical structures necessary for its successful implementation.