EAHP represents over 30,000 hospital pharmacists across 37 member countries. EAHP represents and develops the hospital pharmacy profession within Europe in order to ensure the continuous improvement of care and outcomes for patients in the hospital setting. This is achieved through science, research, education, practice, as well as sharing best-practice and responsibility with other healthcare professional
The EAHP Board, elected for three-year terms, oversees the association’s activities. Comprising directors responsible for core functions, it meets regularly to implement strategic goals. Supported by EAHP staff, the Board controls finances, coordinates congress organization, and ensures compliance with statutes and codes of conduct.
The EAHP staff supports the Board in executing EAHP’s mission. The Staff assists in financial management, events organisations, policy activities and all EAHP projects. The EAHP staff works closely with EAHP’s members and ensures the effective communication all relevant stakeholders.
The first member countries were Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands in 1972. EAHP has now 36 EAHP members and 2 Associate Members. EAHP is open to countries members of the Council of Europe and since 2022 to organisations representing the interests of hospital pharmacists from outside the Council of Europe (Associate Membership)
EAHP’s structure is also composed by different standing committes: EAHP Scientific Committee, EAHP Education Executive Committee and the EAHP CTF Steering Committee.
At EAHP, we are committed to transparency in our governance, ethical standards, and funding practices. This section provides open access to our foundational documents, including the EAHP Statutes, Code of Conduct, and Funding Sources. By sharing these resources, we aim to uphold accountability and foster trust with our members, partners, and the public.
Keep up with all EAHP’s events and webinars. Contact the team at info@eahp.eu should you have any questions about upcoming events or activities.
Here you can find all upcoming events organised by EAHP and by all its members and associate members. Do not hesitate to contact the events team at events@eahp.eu should you have any questions about the organisation of these events.
Hospital pharmacists conduct a critical role in the care of patients in hospitals. Learn more about what they do here and in all the pages under Hospital Pharmacy practice and Policy.
Self-Assessment
SILCC
Closed SIGs
EAHP brings together experts from many areas of hospital pharmacy practice providing and highlighting good local sustainable practices as that can be up-scaled and shared with other countries. The EAHP Working Group on Sustainability has the aim of reducing the environmental burden of the hospital pharmacy services.
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), and its 36 member country platforms are creating a Common Training Framework for the hospital pharmacy education in Europe. The goal of this project is to allow the free movement of hospital pharmacists within the European Union.
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) have collaboratively developed the Oath to Society. The Oath to Society is all encompassing and acts as a contract for excellence in providing compassionate patient care, working as part of the healthcare team and advancing the pharmacy profession, and showcasing how clinical and hospital pharmacists work every day
A day created to highlight the importance and to celebrate the work done by hospital pharmacies. This day celebrates all hospital pharmacy teams.
Catch up with EAHP’s press releases
Find all EAHP relevant publication like the EAHP Surveys, annual reports and the history books.
The European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP) is the only official journal of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and is committed to advancing the science, practice and profession of hospital pharmacy. As the premier communication platform for hospital pharmacists worldwide, EJHP is a major source for continuing education as well as updates on advances in the practice and standard of pharmaceutical care for patients.
When EAHP and Hospital pharmacists appear in the news.
EAHP publishes a monthly EU monitor with updates about the latest EAHP initiatives and information relevant for the hospital pharmacy profession.
Sponsor Channel
The Sponsor Channel is designed to maximise visibility and engagement, allowing sponsors to connect with the hospital pharmacy community and partners in a dynamic and interactive environment. From product demonstrations to networking sessions, the Sponsor Channel offers a range of opportunities for sponsors to showcase their offerings and generate leads in the new EAHP Website.
Introductory Statements and Governance
JLV, Johanne Lundgaard Vedersø; CEGP Constance Eline Grandjean Poulsen; SLO, Sigrid Linnemann Otnes
Pediatric medication poses challenges due to frequent off-label drug use in this population. Managing pediatric medications requires close interdisciplinary collaboration. The aim of a strategic network was to improve knowledge sharing and collaboration across hospitals and organizations, finding common solutions to challenges related to pediatric medication.
The Pediatric Pharmacist Group (PPG) in the Capital Region of Denmark and Region Zealand established a strategic network.
Many hospitals, only have one pharmacist assigned to the pediatric department. This creates challenges for managing complex issues, with hospitals potentially opting for different solutions to a common issue. Cross-hospital knowledge sharing is therefore crucial. PPG has members across hospitals as well as in the pharmacy’s Department of Implementation and Information. This allows easy access to clinical teams, pharmacologists, and the hospital pharmacy, including the production department.
PPG was organized with a clear mandate, structured communication channels, meeting frameworks, and a knowledge-sharing system. This structure combined with the large interface of PPG, resulted in a strategic network which can quickly mobilize relevant experts to discuss pediatric medication challenges of common interest.
An example is a seminar on 3D-printed medicine, hosted by PPG and the pediatric team from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology. The hospital pharmacy’s production department is working on developing 3D-printed medicine. The seminar was used to share knowledge and discuss the clinical need for such medications in pediatrics. Stakeholders included representatives from the pharmacy, hospitals, two Danish regions, and various professional disciplines (pharmacists, clinical pharmacologists, nurses, and pharmacy technicians).
A strategic network has been established, enabling the rapid mobilization of experts to find common solutions to complex challenges across hospitals and organizations.
During the 3D-printed medicine seminar, knowledge was successfully shared across organizations, providing insights into clinical needs and production possibilities. These discussions will guide future work on 3D-printed medicine.
The “strategic network” concept can be applied to other clinical areas e.g., intensive care units and the area of antibiotics.
The long-term goal for PPG’s strategic network is to evolve into a national network, enhancing knowledge sharing and finding solutions to pediatric medication challenges across Denmark.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Mia Pavelics Rehn
Trine Rune Høgh Andersen
Clinical Pharmacists (CPs) in the Region Zealand Hospital Pharmacy (30 CPs) are scattered over great geographical distances on multiple hospital wards. When working with Clinical Pharmacist Services (CPS), usually just one CP is present per ward. All 30 CPs have different knowledge, seniority and specialization. To enhance the professionalism of the individual pharmacist on duty, digital communication such as chat functions are implemented for quick and easy intra-pharmacist consults.
The ward physicians and nurses experience the combined specialty knowledge of 30 CPs from each CP when engaging CPS. This is highly relevant to maintain the position of having CPS through the hospital pharmacy instead of employing one individual CP directly on the ward, which has become more common over recent years.
To illuminate how the CPs from the hospital pharmacy share knowledge by using each other in their clinical operation, data was collected during three weeks of daily work. The CPs at 10 department wards registered each time they consulted a CP colleague. Furthermore, they recorded what type of communication they used (Microsoft Teams®, telephone or face-to-face) and what the inquiry was about. Written communication in Teams chat was saved for qualitative analysis.
The collected data illustrate the utilization of collective knowledge. In the three weeks 34 consults were made using primarily Microsoft teams. In 9 cases the contact was face-to-face and in 6 cases by phone. Most common was pharmacological discussion about specific cases during medication reviews (23), followed by questions about technical issues in the electronic patient record (11), general professional discussions (7) and consults about medication shortages and alternatives (8).
This initiative illustrates how using easy and available digital communication such as Teams chat functions across geographical distances will increase professionalism and harness the collective knowledge of many CPs working in collaboration for the benefit of improved CPS.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Lotte Borg
In the home care team (HTC), it is often assistants, who may be unskilled workers, that administer the medication from a multi-dose compliance aid. The quality control they perform before administration involves verifying that the number of tablets and capsules for the designated time slot matches what is recorded in the HTC’s digital system.
The hospital may not have all the strengths in stock, and therefore a dose can be composed of multiple or fewer tablets.
If the number of tablets deviates from the HCT’s digital system, the assistant is not allowed to administer the medicine and must call on a nurse to make sure that the hospital has dispensed the correct medicine.
This is time consuming for the HCT and the patient may receive their medicine at a later time than prescribed with consequent health effects. Furthermore the phone call between the assistant and the nurse can be worrying for the patient to hear.
Communication with the local HCT regarding deviations from the medication list was enhanced through the use of an existing digital discharge report (DDR).
A DDR was already in place, and the enhancement is that nurses and pharmacy technicians now use it to report any changes in the number of tablets and capsules dispensed when discharging a patient to the HTC. A nurse from the HTC then adjusts the quantity of tablets in the HTC’s digital system based on the number of days for which the hospital has dispensed medication to be administered by the HTC.
The implementation was initiated on May 1st, 2024, in two hospital wards.
It is not technically feasible to generate a report of all the DDRs where this improvement has been implemented; however, the HCT has indicated that each time deviations are noted in the DDR, they will save a significant amount of time.
If a DDR is available and the hospital wards and clinical pharmacy department can reach an agreement on its usage and timing, there is no reason not to utilize it, especially if it can enhance patient safety during transitions in care.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Solís-Cuñado S. (1), Sánchez-Cerviño A.C. (2), Martínez-Núñez M.E. (1), Gómez-Bermejo M. (1), Martín-Zaragoza L. (1), Rubio-Ruiz L. (1), Onteniente-González A. (1), Molina-García T. (1)
1. Hospital Pharmacy Service, Getafe University Hospital, Getafe (Madrid), Spain.
2. Hospital Pharmacy Service, Puerta de Hierro University Hospital, Majadahonda (Madrid), Spain.
The implementation of multidisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship teams(AST) in hospitals optimizes antibiotic use in order to improve clinical results, reduce antibiotic toxicity and minimize the emergence and spread of multidrug resistant(MDR) bacteria.
The objective is to present targeted interventions for the improvement of the management of lower respiratory tract infections(LRTI) and to reflect the impact of these strategies through the presentation of antibiotic use results.
Two main interventions have been implemented in LRTI:
-Protocolize the management of community-acquired pneumonia(CAP) in order to prioritize beta-lactam plus macrolide(bLM) combination versus fluoroquinolones(FQ) monotherapy. The aim is to decrease FQ consumption due to their safety issues and the major role of this antibiotics in the emergence of MDR bacteria.
-Identify patients with severe LRTI and/or risk factors of multi-drug resistant(RFMDR) bacterial infections to encourage nasal swab screening(NSS) for meticillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) to promote de-escalation of anti-MRSA antibiotics.
Study period: 2023 and first semester of 2024.
-CAP guideline: we studied the bLM vs FQ consumption expressed as the ratio between bLM DOT/FQ DOT (Days Of Therapy; DOT) in all hospitalized patients. Analysis was carried out on forth-month period.
-NSS: we reviewed the total number of NSS performed and the impact on duration of antiMRSA antibiotics therapy. Analysis by semesters.
After protocolization, the BLM´s DOT/FQ´s DOT ratio increased 39.4% from the beginning of 2023 until 2024: 0.66 vs 0.92.
Our AST reviewed 378 episodes of LRTI. At least one nasal screening was performed in 60.6% of episodes (n=229/378) of which 29.2% were positive (n=67/229). The mean duration of treatment with anti-MRSA antibiotics in the positive cases was 7.42 days, while in the 214 negative cases it was 6.4 days.
69% of the patients with LRTI that have been reviewed in our AST meets at least one RFMDR.
The frequent lack of diagnostic value of respiratory samples, coupled with the high percentage of RFMDR patients, results in long-lasting broad-spectrum empirical antibiotic treatments.
It is therefore proposed that a polymerase chain reaction(PCR) test be performed on candidate patients for the purpose of screening for MRSA, with a view to obtaining rapid results that will facilitate earlier antibiotic de-escalations.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Mafalda Cavalheiro 1
Maria José Rei 1
Ana Rita Silva 1
Patrícia Batalha Silva 1
Carolina Marques 1
Miriam Capoulas 1
1- Pharmacy Department, Hospital da Luz Lisboa, Portugal
Low serum Infliximab are associated with lost of response and development of immunogenicity. Moreover, therapeutic levels without the control of the inflammatory activity may inform about the necessity of changing the therapeutic class. While monitoring serum levels in the absence of response is already well established, the proactive monitoring of serum levels at defined timings during the induction and maintenance phases of therapy is beginning to be recommended by several leading organizations.
Establishment of a protocol for proactive serum monitoring of Infliximab in inflammatory bowel disease, to guide the interpretation of serum levels, optimize dosage and therapeutic response.
Implementation took place in several stages. 1) Theoretical and practical training culminating in the discussion and drafting of a technical guideline including a monitoring protocol with the Gastroenterology team. 2) Organization of the sample collection and analysis circuit. The analytical technique is a rapid test that allows the detection of infliximab levels and anti-infliximab antibodies. 3) Finally, dosage optimization (maintenance of the reference dosage or intensification – shortening the administration interval or increasing the dose) is carried out with the support of population pharmacokinetic models using the DoseMeRx software, interpreted in the context of the overall response assessment in conjunction with the clinical team. The main limitation identified had to do with awareness of the medical team to rational dosage adjustments based on the population model.
15 patients were included with a median age of 33 years; 11 of these were diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and 4 with Crohn’s Disease. A total of 24 tests were carried out (21 with a proactive strategy and three with a reactive strategy). Of the doses taken at week 6, 60% were below the reference range considered. The dosage regimen was intensified in 64% of the recommendations. Of the patients analyzed, 76% maintained their response, although the duration of treatment was less than a year in most cases.
The strategy of proactive monitoring and dose intensification may have contributed to achieving and maintaining the response to treatment with Infliximab, but the small number of patients and the duration of the analysis call for further analysis.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
M. López López-Cepero, H. Padilla Castaño, G. Arrufat Goterris, P. Clares Rubio, T. Bonnin Garau, A. Tugores Vázquez, C. Martorell Puigserver.
A pharmaceutical care consultation (PCC) was implemented for patients waitlisted for kidney transplantation (PWKT). The PCC focuses on transplant medication education, accurate medication history, allergy review, adherence assessment and self-perception of therapeutic complexity.
Medication non-adherence is the major issue in transplantation, and it is associated with increased risk rejection, allograft loss and patients’ death.
Medication education after the transplant was not enough. Intervening before the transplant enabled pharmacists to know the patients and develop an individualized therapeutic plan, so the patients arrive as prepared as possible on the day of the transplant.
PWKT were scheduled in PCC and the pharmacist review their medical history and prescriptions. Patients were contacted by telephone for an interview. A face-to-face consultation was also possible.
PCC evaluate:
1) Clinical variables: etiology of renal pathology, comorbidities, previous transplantation, current renal replacement therapy (TRR), CYP3A5 genotype.
2) Medication: allergies, current medication plan, adherence (Morisky-Green test and electronic prescription record), organization and self-perception complexity.
3) Pharmaceutical interventions (PI): deprescribe or update current treatment, reinforce adherence, propose Monitored Dosage System (MDS) or pillbox, immunosuppressants education, arrange for a second PCC, contact with their community pharmacy, send to Pharmacogenetics Committee.
The PCC was implemented in June 2024. Among the first 4 months, 28 of the 58 PWKT have been evaluated.
Analyzing the clinical variables has allowed us to describe PWKT profile. Knowing how patients manage medication, as well as the perception they have about the importance of their treatment, helps to create an action plan and better prepare the patient for the transplant.
Given that one third of the patients were non-adherent, most of the PI focused on adherence reinforce, including additional monitoring, propose MDS or pillbox pillbox and resolve medication doubts.
The next step is to include a PCC in our clinical practice and get to visit all PWKT before the transplant.
It is needed to evaluate the impacts of PCC and PI as regards clinical outcomes. Detecting improvement actions will be enriching for patients care.
The PCC can be extended to other types of solid organ transplants.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Maibritt Skov Olsen, Bernd Utech
Pharmacy technicians at the Medical Ward of Bornholm Hospital adjusted medication orders to align with the hospital’s medication assortment. Operating under delegated prescribing authority; they prescribed, paused, and discontinued specific medications within a framework agreement and documented changes in the Electronic Medication Module “Sundhedsplatform” system.
Patients often bring medications outside of the hospital’s assortment. Adjustment of these medications is time-consuming and can lead to documentation challenges. Delegating this responsibility to pharmacy technicians aimed to enhance patient safety by ensuring scan-ready medications and freeing up physicians’ time for other tasks.
A medication adjustment list was created by the pharmacy and department physician, outlining which drugs the technicians could adjust or discontinue. Pharmacy technicians were trained, and annual audits were conducted by the department physician. In a period of 13 days, a time study was made to track interventions; consultations with physicians, and time spent adjusting medications in the Sundhedsplatform.Nurses and physicians were asked about their experience of the pharmacy technician’s work.
During the test period, 97 patients were dispensed medication, and interventions was made for 39 (40%) of those patients. Technicians performed 60 interventions, of which 11 were physician-consulted. They spent 220 minutes on adjustments and notes, saving physicians 160 minutes. Feedback from nurses and physicians was positive, with improvements in medication scanning and reduced interruptions for physicians.
The task will be expanded to include all patients in the medical and surgical wards. An extension of the pharmacy technicians’ prescribing authority is also planned.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Amparo Valls-Lattur
Supervisor: Agostina Secchi
Background
Introducing a pharmacist prescriber (PP) in the Community mental health services for older people (CMHSOP) to support with follow-up appointments for memory patients as a new strategy as part of the community mental health transformation (1). The aim of this Service Evaluation was to evaluate the views of patients with dementia (and/or their carers) on a pharmacist prescribing led clinic.
After diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Dementia some patients will be started on medication to treat the disease symptoms in an effort to reduce the rate at which their cognitive abilities will deteriorate. This medication will need titrating and monitoring for compliance and side effects (2).
This new service will allow consultants to focus on diagnosis of dementia while improving waiting times for community mental health services for older people (3).
Methodology
The data was collected from a memory clinic within a community mental health team for older adults. Data was collected from patients’ and/or their carers’ feedback in the form of a survey. The purpose of the survey was explained to the patients and/or their carers and those who took part placed the questionnaire anonymously in a box at reception. The survey responses were collected on a weekly basis from the box, allowing patients and/or their carers to complete the survey in their own time.
Results
During the period of the survey (February until May 2024), 27 questionnaires were received. The majority (21) were completed by carer/family member, and 6 were completed by the person being treated (patient). Patients and/or their carers had to answer 10 questions using a 5-point likert scale: from strongly agree, to strongly disagree.
The majority of participants strongly agreed that the service provided was of high standard. For example:
• the majority agreed that the prescribing pharmacist was polite and considerate
• patients and their carers felt listened to and allowed them to ask questions
• their questions were answered
• everything was explained in a lay language
• they were provided with enough information about their medication
• patients and their carers or families felt involved in their care and treatment
• the majority of patients had confidence in the prescribing pharmacist
• they were given information on who to contact if they had any problems.
Conclusions
This project showed a positive impact of a new service introduced in the CMHSOP. The pharmacist prescribing role in mental health is a new service and has shown that both patients and their carers have all expressed a positive view of this new clinic. Both patients and carers found the pharmacist caring, professional and attentive to address their concerns.
Future work will look at quantifying how this new service has reduced the waiting time for these patients to be seen or followed up.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Palacio-Lacambra, ME
Cabañas-Poy, MJ
Lalueza-Broto, MP
Florensa-Royo, E
Fernández-Polo, Aurora
Marrero-Álvarez, P
Juárez-Giménez, JC
Gabarro-Portella, G
Gorgas-Torner, MQ
The problems caused by medication shortages are significant, pose a risk to patient care, and require good coordination between different levels of the healthcare system (primary care and hospital pharmacy services (PS)). Drug shortages can adversely affect drug therapy, compromise or delay medical procedures, and result in medication errors.
The objectives of the working group are to define the internal processes of the PS regarding the management of and communication between professionals about medication supply shortages and to coordinate the referral of primary care community patients for dispensing at the hospital.
A multidisciplinary working group was established, including representatives from various pharmacy areas (management, outpatient dispensing, drug information center, pediatrics) and representatives from the Primary Care Medication Management Area in our Health Region, where our center serves as the reference hospital.
The “Supplier Shortage Working Instruction” has been updated, and a pathway has been established for referring patients from primary care to the outpatient pharmacies (adult and pediatric) of our hospital.
Internal meetings of the PS were held to update the “Supplier Shortage Working Instruction,” considering the different situations of medications in shortage (exclusive and/or non-substitutable, substitutable, and community pharmacy medications in shortage).
A meeting with Primary Care representatives was conducted to define the pathway for referring community patients with medications in shortage imported from abroad through the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices.
The internal working instruction has been redefined, and a shared resource for the entire PS has been created to centralize relevant information for the management of medications in shortage, which is kept up-to-date.
A referral pathway has been established for Primary Care patients to the outpatient pharmacies of our hospital. Two pharmacists from the PS coordinate shortage information with Primary Care. Primary Care reports the number of patients with active prescriptions requiring medication, which ensures adequate stock levels and enables patient scheduling to enhance their experience.
Having an internal pathway has improved the management of medication shortages in the PS, as well as enabled the coordinated referral of community patients.
It is applicable to all PS involved in dispensing foreign medications due to shortages.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Ina Vierø Rinder, IVR
Handling medication shortages in the hospital pharmacy are time-consuming, and a lot of resources are used to find alternatives. Though shortages are a national focus in Denmark, shortages are not a priority focus in the local hospital pharmacy. Shortages are often handled “on-the-go” locally and therefore not prioritized. The hospital pharmacy uses “Medication News”, posted on internal website, to broadcast information about long-term shortages to the hospitals. The aim was to determine the occurrence of shortages among commonly used medications at Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager and Hvidovre (AHH).
A top 100-list of most bought packages of individual chemical substances (ATC5-level) was generated. The purchase data were obtained from the hospital pharmacy at AHH for the period from October 2023 to September 2024.
The list was analyzed to determine how many medications had experienced shortage during the specified period. The analysis was conducted by reviewing past “Medication News”, historical e-mails regarding shortages, and the hospital pharmacy’s own record of shortages.
The top 100-list of most bought packages of individual chemical substances (ATC5-level) revealed a total of 1149 item numbers. The 500 item numbers in ATC-level V07AZ** (Chemicals and reagents for analysis) were excluded due to their use. Of the remaining 649 item numbers, 43 item numbers had experienced shortage during the specified period. Of the 43 item number shortages, 22 (51 %) had resulted in a “Medication News” on the internal website. The shortages were distributed in the ATC-levels A (16 %), B (9 %), C (5 %), D (2 %), H (9 %), J (12 %), L (5 %), M (7 %), N (30 %), R (2 %) and S (2 %).
The generated data of the top 100-list of used chemical substances has given rise to more attention on shortages in the hospital pharmacy. In the future it is assumed that the number of shortages will rise, and it should be possible to increase the attention of short-term shortages by using the obtained data e.g., integrate the data in a daily status meeting. Thereby the shortages can be handled as a priority and not “on-the-go”.
