OBJECTIVES: Hospital Pharmacists (HP) have an important but sometimes invisible intervention in the patients access to therapeutic innovation in hospital setting. This study aimed to characterize their intervention by mapping and quantifying the access pathway activities, while identifying improvement opportunities.

METHODS: Data collection was performed through an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with HP to map the activities in the access pathway. A subsequent anonymous online quantitative survey was implemented to detail the involvement of HP in each activity, evaluating their participation, time spent and level of importance.

RESULTS: A total of 49 HP from 27 Portuguese Hospitals answered the survey between October 2021 and March 2022. HP reported participating in all main activities of the access pathway to innovation, from the development and approval of hospital protocols to therapeutical acquisition and dispensing. All participants considered their role in legislation analysis to be crucial for decision-making. However, 63% of them mentioned that information regarding legislation is dispersed and difficult to interpret. Pharmacists’ activity in multidisciplinary treatment decision meetings was considered one of the most important. Nonetheless, 65% stated they are not a part of these meetings – the main reason (43%) was the lack of human resources. HP rated some of their daily activities as unimportant (e.g. public tender opening) and time-consuming. HP also identified the lack of communication among healthcare professionals (HCP) as a bottleneck in the access pathway.

CONCLUSIONS: HP’s role is essential in the therapeutic innovation access pathway. However, results show that time allocation should be further discussed and improved, as HP often perform tasks rated as unimportant, while lacking time for the most important activities. Furthermore, legislation, lack of human resources, and sub-optimal communication between HCP, are also improvement areas that must be addressed.