The HAPPY PATIENT project aims at reducing the inappropriate use and dispensing of antibiotics in the most common community-acquired infections (i.e., respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, dental infections) with a multifaceted intervention in health care facilities as suggested in point 4.2 of the EU guidelines for the prudent use of antimicrobials in human health. The multifaceted intervention will be carried out in five countries with a diverse pattern of antibiotic consumption: ES, FR, LT, PL and GR.
We will follow a model which both promotes both stakeholder stewardship and is patient-centred. The critical focus will be on the most important interaction in determining usage of antibiotics: contact between patients and health professionals at different levels of the Health Care System. Hence, activities of HAPPY PATIENT will target patients, primary care professionals (general practitioners, nurses, and dentists), secondary care (out-of-hours services), nursing homes and community pharmacists.
We will follow the Audit Project Odense (APO) methodology developed in FP6 HAPPY AUDIT project. APO consists of an audit-based registration to perform a context analysis before the implementation of the multifaceted intervention, and then to perform an assessment of changes after the implementation of the multifaceted intervention. Based on the Normalization Process Theory for changing behaviour, the multifaceted intervention will include: a) peer feedback with reflexion and discussion, b) enhancement of communication skills in order to improve the communication process between the health professionals and the patients, c) patient information leaflets and posters, d) country-tailored information on antibiotic usage(incl. the “antibiotic foot-print”).
HAPPY PATIENT expects to reduce the inappropriate prescription of antibiotics by 40%. Its key outputs will be both scalable and capable of implementation throughout the diverse health systems in the EU.

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Topic: 4.4 In line with the Action Plan against the rising threats from antimicrobial resistance, improve the prudent use of antimicrobial agents and reduce the practices that increase antimicrobial resistance, particularly in hospitals; promote effective prevention and hygiene measures to prevent and control infections; reduce the burden of resistant infections and healthcare-associated infections and secure the availability of effective antimicrobials.
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TogethERN ReCONNET, the European Registry Infrastructure for data harmonization in rare and complex connective tissue and musculoskeletal diseases (rCTDs), aims at integrating all existing and newly developed registries on rCTDs across Europe and providing a sufficient number of cases that will help in better understanding the natural course of the diseases, characterizing diseases in the early phases, mapping disease history, identifying different disease phenotypes and distinguishing predictive variables for disease outcomes. Information gathered through the long-term follow-up of a large number of patients will facilitate a better assessment of the clinical problems of patients with rCTDs and may help in determining an improved management of these patients and healthcare planning in general.
The creation of a European Registry Infrastructure on rCTDs is crucial to improve clinical practice and disease understanding in the field of rCTDs and the ERN ReCONNET offers the natural framework for the development of this project, providing an established Network of rCTDs experts, patients and patients representatives, health economists, policy maker and quality assessors.
TogethERN ReCONNET will represent a European Registry Infrastructure integrating both existing and novel registries within the project timeframe. In detail, TogethERN ReCONNET aims at:
• Promoting a harmonised data collection approach on rCTDs in Europe;
• Integrating and implementing existing rCTDs data;
• Improving disease knowledge, clinical management and care provided to rCTDs patients;
• Facilitating rCTDs research, post-authorisation studies and cost-effective healthcare planning.
TogethERN ReCONNET integrates and improves the existing knowledge in the field of rCTDs, addressing the needs of different stakeholders, supporting the improvement of the disease knowledge and management, current and future policies on the treatment and management of rare diseases.
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Topic: 4.1 Support the establishment of a system of European reference networks for patients with conditions requiring highly specialised care and a particular concentration of resources or expertise, as in the case of rare diseases, on the basis of criteria to be established under Directive 2011/24/EU.
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The main objective of this application is to develop a comprehensive approach for rare disease registration in ERN GUARD-Heart by establishing the first overarching registry of ERN GUARD-Heart (the Heart-Core Registry) using standards and tools provided by the European Platform on Rare Disease Registration (EU RD Platform). To harmonize data and facilitate semantic interoperability, in the Heart-Core Registry a minimal dataset (including the Set of Common Data Elements for Rare Diseases Registration provided by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre) will be prospectively collected for new patients in the ongoing ERN GUARD-Heart registries and in the future ERN GUARD-Heart registries. In addition, the Heart-Core Registry will signpost users to the detailed disease- or gene-specific ERN GUARD-Heart registries. To render its data more searchable and findable, the Heart-Core Registry will be registered on the European Rare Disease Registry Infrastructure (ERDRI). It is expected that the activities proposed in this application will facilitate ERN GUARD-Heart to reach its goals and specific objectives, create a cost-effective and comprehensive approach of rare disease registration in the ERN GUARD-Heart, lead to increased awareness of ERN GUARD-Heart patient registries and improved reusability of data in these registries among various stakeholders, and enable better interaction among rare disease registries in Europe.
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Topic: 4.1 Support the establishment of a system of European reference networks for patients with conditions requiring highly specialised care and a particular concentration of resources or expertise, as in the case of rare diseases, on the basis of criteria to be established under Directive 2011/24/EU.
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