The activity of the SIG Working Towards Eliminating Avoidable Harm (financially supported by Baxter) centres around the supply, preparation and safe administration of all types of medicines in Europe. The group is evaluating current critical incidences and will be proposing approaches on how to minimise the occurrence of risks, critical incidents, and therefore also harm. The discussions of the SIG are going beyond the hospital pharmacy, meaning that the whole processes along the supply chain of medicinal products will be taken into account as well as the legal framework.

The delivery of healthcare is changing quickly and requires a constant adaptation of the safe and efficient patient care that hospital pharmacists provide every day. Especially, since avoidable harm can occur frequently along the entire supply chain of medicinal products in hospitals ranging from provision over dispensing to administration. Addressing problems in a dynamic work environment whilst accommodating increasing and diversifying demands of the healthcare system can be challenging for healthcare professionals and requires a robust design of processes. 

To better understand the many factors that can impact the supply, preparation, and administration of medicines in Europe, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) created a Special Interest Group (SIG) Working Towards Eliminating Avoidable Harm (financially supported by Baxter). The work of the SIG focused on matching different sets of measures with medication error root causes and advocating for their implementation to drive forward change in European hospitals.