Hospital pharmacy is a speciality that optimises patient health and contributes to the safe, effective, and appropriate use of medicines.1

The Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SEFH) is the largest representative body for hospital pharmacists in Spain.2 Studies have shown that commitment to projects promoted by the SEFH helps to prioritise improvement actions within hospital pharmacy services, with a positive impact on the quality of pharmaceutical practice.1

One of the fundamental pillars of the SEFH is its working groups. The society supports, regulates, and funds these groups to promote professional development in specific areas.3

Each group comprises a governing body consisting of a coordinator, a secretary, and a spokesperson, as well as a coordinating committee of up to 8 members, which is responsible for implementing the different projects and strategic lines.3

The coordinator and secretary positions are elected by a simple majority vote among the members of the coordinating committee, following an internal call for nominations. The coordinating committee is renewed through a public call for nominations, which is open to all SEFH members, followed by an academic and professional evaluation of the candidates by the group. Finally, the spokesperson is appointed directly by the board of directors of the SEFH. These 11 members lead the working group's initiatives and activities, which are open to all SEFH members.3

Working groups may include 1 or 2 fellows with specific functions, a resident non-specialist pharmacist—all of whom are selected by the group's governing body through a public call for applications among SEFH members—as well as several senior consultants (usually former members of the group's governing body).3

In addition, the working groups are complemented by affiliated members, who are professionals aligned with the groups' areas of interest. Their role is to assist and support the group's activities, thereby enabling the participation of an unlimited number of SEFH members committed to the working groups' objectives.3

Currently, the SEFH has 29 working groups, whose main objective is to promote, coordinate, and update the specific areas of work conducted by pharmacy services.3

The Pharmaceutical Care in Infectious Diseases (Spanish acronym: AFinf) group comprises professionals who share the common goal of promoting and standardising the work conducted in hospital pharmacy services in the areas of antibiotic therapy and antimicrobial control policies.4

By July 2025, the AFinf group comprised 232 hospital pharmacists, including the governing body, fellows, resident pharmacists, senior consultants, and affiliated members, following the addition of 59 new members between February 2024 and July 2025.

This study aimed to analyse the professional profiles, concerns, and potential contributions of affiliated members of the SEFH AFinf group, with a view to better guiding its initiatives.

We conducted a survey in Spain of pharmacists affiliated with the AFinf working group. Participation was voluntary. The survey comprised 5 questions (see Table 1). The first 3 questions addressed the professional profiles of the affiliated members, the fourth focussed on their concerns regarding the AFinf group, and the fifth explored how members could contribute to the group.

The survey was launched in March 2023 on an online platform via the working group's internal communication list hosted by the SEFH. The society sent an email to all registered AFinf members based on information previously provided by each professional. To encourage participation, a reminder was sent via the same channel in October 2023. Data collection was completed in February 2024, and the online platform allowed the results to be exported to an Excel database.

The respondents were asked about the group's areas of interest, including antimicrobial stewardship programmes (ASPs), therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), and home intravenous antimicrobial treatment (HIAT).

Multidisciplinary ASP teams aim to improve clinical outcomes in patients with infections, minimise adverse effects associated with antimicrobial use (including the emergence and spread of resistance), and ensure the use of cost-effective treatments.5 Hospital pharmacists play a key role within teams due to their knowledge of antimicrobials.

The use of TDM effectively guides dosage adjustments to ensure therapeutic antimicrobial concentrations, particularly for certain drugs and clinical situations with a high risk of variability in exposure.6 Hospital pharmacists interpret these levels and propose individualised therapeutic regimens to physicians, using population pharmacokinetic models.

Finally, HIAT (or outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy) is the administration of intravenous antimicrobial therapy at the patient's home, thereby avoiding prolonged hospital stays and the associated costs. Using elastomeric infusion pumps has also proven to be an effective way of optimising the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of time-dependent antimicrobials.7 Hospital pharmacists are responsible for preparing these pumps and for ensuring that the mixture remains stable until the patient has received their full dose of the drug.

We conducted a descriptive statistical analysis. Qualitative variables are expressed as relative frequencies with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), and quantitative variables as medians and interquartile ranges (IQR: p25–p75).

As of the study cut-off date in February 2024, the AFinf group comprised 173 members: 1 coordinator, 1 secretary, 1 spokesperson, up to 8 members of the coordinating committee, 1 fellow, 1 resident, 4 senior consultants, and 156 affiliated members. A total of 65 (41.7%) affiliated members responded to the survey. Table 2 shows the complete results of the survey.

The respondents had a median of 5 (IQR 2–10) years' experience in the field of infectious diseases.

Half of the respondents reported dedicating less than 25% of their working day to infectious diseases (50.7% [95% CI: 38.6–62.9]).

The main area of specialisation was ASP (73.9%; 95% CI: 63.2–84.5), followed by TDM (16.9%; 95% CI: 7.8–26.0), and HIAT (3.1%; 95% CI: 1.1–7.3). Other areas of specialisation (6.1%) reported by respondents included management (procurement, consumption monitoring, indicators), adjustment of antimicrobials in specific situations (chronic kidney disease, liver failure, obesity, or extracorporeal purification techniques), and pharmaceutical care for patients with human immunodeficiency virus.

The first priority for affiliated members was for the AFinf group to provide training and education (52.3%; 95% CI: 40.2–64.5), followed by sharing questions and experiences (27.7%; 95% CI: 16.8–38.6), and participation in research projects (20.0%; 95% CI: 10.3–29.7).

The second priority was to create a channel for sharing questions and experiences (33.9%; 95% CI: 22.3–45.3), training and teaching (32.3%; 95% CI: 20.9–43.7), and participation in research projects (33.8%; 95% CI: 22.3–45.3).

Finally, the third priority was participation in research projects (46.1%; 95% CI: 34.0–58.3).

Other needs included developing shared knowledge (58.8%; 95% CI: 35.4–82.2), exchanging ideas and innovative practices (23.5%; 95% CI: 3.4–43.7), and obtaining help or advice in clinical practice (17.7%; 95% CI: 0.5–35.8).

Finally, the respondents identified 3 main areas in which their participation could add value to the AFinf group: exchanging ideas and experiences from their work in infectious diseases (50.0%; 95% CI: 39.0–61.0); collaborating on multicentre research projects (31.3%; 95% CI: 21.1–41.4); and participating in teaching activities or other initiatives promoted by the group (18.7%; 95% CI: 10.2–27.3).

This study describes the professional profiles, concerns, and expectations of the affiliated AFinf group members. As far as we know, this is the first study of its kind conducted by a SEFH working group.

In Spain, policies for the rational use of antimicrobials have become a national priority. Antimicrobial stewardship programmes are the main areas of specialisation among members of the AFinf group (73.9% of respondents). Hospital pharmacists play a key role in ASP teams, working within multidisciplinary groups to improve the prognosis of patients receiving antimicrobial treatment, minimise adverse effects, control the emergence of resistance, and ensure the use of cost-effective therapies. These teams constitute a crucial institutional tool for addressing this silent pandemic.8 Ablakimova et al. conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of ASP interventions for hospitalised patients with community-acquired pneumonia. They found that these interventions shortened the time to clinical stability (standardised mean difference = −0.16 [95% CI: −0.24 to −0.07]), reduced 30-day mortality (odds ratio [OR] = 0.69 [5%CI: 0.56–0.85]), improved the diagnostic efficacy of Legionella spp urinary antigen testing (OR = 2.91 [95% CI: 1.56–5.42]), and enhanced adherence to timely antibiotic administration within the first 8 h of admission [OR = 1.32; 95% CI: 1.02–1.72]).9

In addition to the elected members of the group's governing body (1 coordinator, 1 secretary, 1 spokesperson, and a coordinating committee of up to 8 members), the unlimited number of affiliated members enables the broader participation of pharmacists working within the group's area of interest. This structure promotes active feedback from members interested in the specialisation covered by the working group.

However, some affiliated members may feel under-represented or distanced from the coordinating group, despite efforts to ensure smooth interaction between them and involve affiliated members in organising and participating in the group's activities (e.g. conferences, courses, and seminars).

The results of this survey, launched by the group's governing body, indicate that affiliated members can be characterised as professionals who have worked in anti-infective therapy for a median of less than 7 years. They dedicate less than 50% of their working day to infectious diseases, primarily in the area of ASP, and expect to receive training and teaching from the group as their first priority. They also expect to receive assistance in resolving questions and sharing experiences as their second priority.

Members also expressed interest in developing shared knowledge as a team and exchanging ideas and innovative practices implemented by expert pharmacists in other hospitals, with a view to applying them in their own daily clinical practice.

Finally, they also expressed their willingness to exchange ideas and experiences in their daily practice, collaborate on research projects, and participate in teaching activities and other initiatives promoted by the AFinf group.

To address these aspects, the AFinf group's coordinating committee has implemented an open communication channel via the Telegram platform, enabling the immediate exchange of questions, clinical cases, and experiences, thereby promoting more inclusive collaboration. A further development is that members now have the opportunity to participate in and collaborate on activities promoted by the coordinating group, including courses, online seminars, and the quarterly publication of the therapeutic update bulletin on infectious diseases.

A key strength of this study is that it is the first of its kind to analyse the profile of affiliated members, enabling the implementation of improvement strategies aimed at highlighting and leveraging their potential and knowledge. However, the low response rate among members (41.7%) represents a significant limitation, as it reduces the representativeness of the findings.

In conclusion, this study characterises the profile of affiliated members, analyses their interests, and identifies how they could contribute to the working group, thereby laying the groundwork for a more participatory group aligned with members' needs.

This study provides an initial characterisation of the profile of the affiliated members of the Pharmaceutical Care in Infectious Diseases Working Group. It represents the coordinating group's first exploratory approach to better understand its affiliated members. In addition, the study describes the methodology used for this approach, highlights its relevance, and outlines the objectives achieved.

Iván Oterino Moreira: data analysis, manuscript writing. Álvaro Eloy Monje López: data analysis, critical review, manuscript approval. Beatriz Mejuto: critical review, manuscript approval. Alba Pau-Parra: critical review, manuscript approval. Leonor Periañez Parraga: study design, critical review, manuscript approval. Sonia Luque Pardos: study design, data collection, critical review, manuscript approval.