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.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Mirna Momcilovic, Anita Simic, Petra Turcic
Croatia was hit by 2 big earthquakes in 2020, both happened just right after 1st and 2nd lockdown due to high number of COVID-19 cases. Since most of the hospitals were strategically built on the hills, it was more destructive for them. It also hit a number of community pharmacies responsible for drugs supply to specific areas in the country. There was no electricity, no heating, no drugs supply, no fridge to store drugs, for days, so quick back-up plan was needed to provide minimal healthcare.
Croatian hospital pharmacists organised a temporary pharmacy in a tent, filled it with drugs and medical products donated from community pharmacies, hospitals and wholesalers from Croatia and other European countries and started supplying patients with it.
It was modified way of dispensing, without prescription because there was no doctors and no place to prescribe it, based on patient’s medical documentation, if available, and patient’s medication history according to what patient said only. Pharmacists needed to use their knowledge about dosing, duration of action – difference between immediate release or modified release formulations, possibility of splitting tablets into equal parts to get the needed dose and, most important, substituting drugs from the same pharmacologic class (ex. switching from one inhaler for treatment of asthma containing ICS + LABA to another one that was available at the moment), taking into consideration patient’s needs and avoiding drug to drug interactions. Pharmacists provided patients with OTC drugs, free of charge, followed by an advice of how to use it. Non having prescription problem was solved afterwards by Croatian Health Insurance Fund. Also, all the supply of vaccine against COVID-19 available in Croatia at that point, was sent to an area hit by the earthquake. Vaccination was done by doctors, and pharmacists assisted by supplying them with all the equipment needed (needles, alcohol, cotton wool, etc.).
Patients were supplied by all the drugs/medical products needed in the first, critical week after an earthquake.
Following the Croatian example of handling an earthquake situation, there is an idea of organising a medical crisis team, would include pharmacist, in each European country.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
ANA SANGRADOR, MARIA RIOJA, VICTOR MORA, MARTA VALERO
reduce the variability of the process, standardize decisions, reduce medication errors, and quantify and measure results, among pharmacists who care for lung transplant patients in the hospital.
Prepare a guide to support the pharmaceutical validation of treatment in lung transplantation
The circuit that has served as the script to develop the guide has been the Manual for the Preparation of Clinical Practice Guidelines in the Spain National Health System.
• Initial meeting of pharmacists with the LTx team: presentation of the need and definition of the desirable contents according to the proposals of pharmacists and pulmonologists.
• Task assignment meeting among participating pharmacists.
• Subsequent pharmacist-pulmonologist meetings to outline the aspects that could generate more doubts and controversies.
• Inclusion of the pharmacist in the TX team, to know in situ all the phases of the TX process (from the visit during the pre-TX study, going through the surgery and its subsequent recovery stage in the plant, until the subsequent follow-up in consultations).
• Put in common of the elaborated contents.
• Review by the multidisciplinary team of Ltx.
• Publication of the guide.
• Introduction to lung transplantation (LTx): idiosyncrasies of it and transplanted patients, inclusion on the waiting list, common diseases that lead to LTx.
• Most common pretransplant Disease : cystic fibrosis, autoimmune diseases, occupational diseases, obstructive diseases, etc …
• Reference laboratory values and most common deviations in LTx.
• Clinical pharmacokinetics: immunosuppressants and other drugs monitored.
• Clinical immunology of LTx.
• Pharmacology of LTx: Immunosuppression (induction and long-term), antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal infectious prophylaxis, pain treatment, prevention of osteoporosis and treatment of the most common comorbidities in post-PTx: arterial hypertension, supraventricular fibrillation, hyperglycemia and post-transplant dyslipidaemia.
• Inclusion of current pharmacological treatment protocols: initial and subsequent treatment of LTx, cytomegalovirus infection according to the donor-recipient pairing, humoral and cellular rejection, anticoagulation and osteoporosis.
• Treatment validation criteria.
• Drug-drug and drug-food interactions with clinical significance.
• Most common chronological complications in post-LTx.
• Nutrition in the post-LTx.
• Reconciliation of medication.
• Information on medicines and healthy lifestyle habits.
• Usual documentation: informed consents, uses outside the technical data sheet, etc …
This guide will help to other pharmacist.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Giuliana Lo Cricchio, Margherita Galassi, Ernesto Ruffino, Claudia Tirone, Vito Ladisa
In accordance with regional provisions and national guidelines, the initiative has had the dual objective of reducing hospital access, and potential infections, and ensuring therapeutic continuity for cancer patients.
Some therapy protocols have been modified for the treatment of blood, gastrointestinal, lung, breast, head and neck tumors, in order to obtain equally effective patterns but with longer intervals between doses.
Patients have been stratified on the basis of the neoplasia location and biology, the general conditions and the treatments characteristics and they have been shifted to modified treatment regimes, even outside the indications temporarily authorized by regional decision: Nivolumab from 240 mg Q2W to 480 mg Q4W for Hodgkin lymphoma, non-small-cell lung-cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck; from weekly Paclitaxel to Docetaxel Q3W for breast cancer; Pembrolizumab from 200 mg Q3W to 400 mg Q6W for lung cancer and melanoma; remodulation of protocols including fluoropyridines and platinum coordination compounds for gastroenteric tumors.
The schedule modification allowed a reshaping of agendas to reduce the frequency of day-hospital access and the risk of infection with Sars-Cov-2 for patients, carers and health professionals, in addition to reducing the costs of outpatient services. Treatment interruption rate, with possible consequent progression of disease, as reported by early Chinese data in the literature, has been reduced.
The extraordinary health emergency changed the clinical practice and aroused interest especially in oncology, where the evaluation of the relationship between benefits and risks associated with therapies has required greater attention because they are life-saving therapies that cause immunosuppression in patients for which the adverse course of viral infection is more frequent than that of the non-neoplastic population.
The possibility of using the modified therapy schemes has been limited only to the emergency period and has not yet resulted in an extension of the indications. The achievement of the therapeutic objective, together with the feedback that the new dosages have not led to a significant increase in adverse events compared to normal clinical practice, encourage us to hope that the indications can be extended in Italy, as has already happened in Canada and USA for the Nivolumab.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Eliln Trapnes, Nina Carstens, Merethe Nilsen, Solveig Vist, Margareth Wiik, Janne Kutschera Sund
In 2012 all the regional hospital pharmacy trusts in Norway decided to implement the IMM-model as a national method for clinical pharmacy practice in hospital settings. Although an extensive amount of training and education has been provided locally and regionally, there was a lack of defined core competencies for clinical pharmacists in Norway. Furthermore, a complete post graduate education program for clinical pharmacists did not exist. Based on this, the managements of the regional hospital pharmacy trusts requested defined skills sets and identification of relevant educational needs and opportunities.
A joint national overview of core competencies for clinical pharmacists working in Norwegian hospitals has been compiled. Learning objectives have been defined for each of the steps in the Integrated Medicines Management (IMM)-model (Medication Reconciliation, Medication Review, Patient Counseling and Discharge Service). Relevant education opportunities were identified and recommendations on courses, practical training and other educational activities were described.
A group of six experienced clinical pharmacists representing all the hospital pharmacy trusts in Norway agreed upon core competencies needed to perform the main steps in the Integrated Medicines Management (IMM)-model (Medication Reconciliation, Medication Review, Patient Counseling and Discharge Service) in Norwegian hospitals. Existing education opportunities were compared to the defined learning objectives and a recommended time schedule for the training was made.
A national consensus on core competencies in clinical pharmacy services has been reached among all hospital pharmacies in Norway. The consensus, including the evaluation and recommendation of educational activities, makes it easier for leaders of clinical pharmacists to decide on which educational activities to prioritize, and for the Universities to know what educational areas they should cover.
The report with the identified core competencies will be adjusted according to local requirements and implemented in all Norwegian hospital pharmacies. Hopefully, our work will encourage further cooperation on educational activities between regions. An initiative has already started towards Norwegian Universities to try to integrate relevant competencies into the curricula of pharmacists, and this will continue.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Gregorio Romero Candel, Esther Domingo Chiva, Jose Marco del Rio, Marca Diaz Rangel, Wals Valladolid, Sergio Plata Paniagua, Nuria Maryinez Monteagudo
Critically ill patients often require the administration of several intravenous drugs. Besides, we have many times limited intravenous accesses in which the administration of drugs and other intravenous compounds such as parenteral nutrition must be shared.
Because of that, it is very important to have drug administration guides standarizing every-day clinical practice.
This guide was developed in order to reduce the health care workers burden and promote patient’s safety.
We developed an updated guide on direct intravenous administration of drugs for health care workers of both critical care and emergency departments.
A database with every intravenous drug that is included in the Pharmacotherapeutic Guide in our hospital was prepared, alphabetically organized by Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API). The following data were collected: API, tradename, available dosage forms and recommendations for direct intravenous administration.
For each API, a bibliographic research of information was conducted, among other hospital administration guides, manufacturer´s product information, drug databases (BOT plusR, Micromedex) and requests of information to the technical departments of the manufacturer.
In case of a discrepancy in the information, the guide with higher evidente or more recent was selected.
The antineoplastic drugs were not included in this guide because they are not used or prepared in critical care or emergency departments.
This guide promotes safe administration of drugs in critically ill patients, being a useful, accesible and easy-to-use tool for nurses.
Its elaboration allows us to standarize the direct intravenous drug administration, to inform every health care worker and make them aware about its importance. Besides, the Pharmacy Department actively participated in the process of safe drug administration in our hospital
We are still working on the same departments to improve safety in drug therapy in critically ill patients. Currently, improvement measures that are being developed are: new pharmacotherapeutic protocols specifically for this unit; drugs and drug-diluent compatibility guidelines and new training sessions.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Ishrat Saddiq Ali, Gemma Harris
The idea behind setting up this group was inspired by passionate Pharmacy Team members who wanted to ensure that the Department was abiding by the Trust’s promises and standards for patient care, making sure that patients feel welcomed, cared for and in safe hands, and to raise the profile of the work carried out by the Hospital Pharmacy Team.
In October 2014, the Pharmacy department set up a Pharmacy Patient Forum Group (PPFG).
The main aim of PPFG was to discuss ideas and share experiences from patients to support the Pharmacy Department, regarding implementing new changes to enhance patient safety and experience. This would support in delivering the Trust’s objectives for becoming best in class for patient experience.
Meetings are arranged approximately every 6 weeks and attended by:
• Trust Membership and Engagement Manager
• Pharmacy staff – Senior Pharmacist and Ward Based Services Technical Manager
• Trust members
Patient representatives were given a complementary tour of the Pharmacy Department where they could see the workforce in action and appreciate the workload of the team. The tour included:
• Dispensary
• Aseptic Unit
• Out of hours Medication Area
• And a visit to the Admissions ward where they saw the Ward Based Pharmacy team in action.
Several projects are being carried out simultaneously. The main project arose when patient representatives raised concerns about correctly identifying indications of medicines due to polypharmacy. We have designed a universal sticker images to enable patients to identify indications when faced with language barriers or vision problems. We have successfully developed a cardiology, indigestion/heartburn and pain specific sticker.
We have gained approval from other specialities regarding the images.
Another project focussed on tackling patients’ negative perceptions about discharge delays regarding medication. Patient representatives were invited to view the MEDI-365 automated dispensing machine which are utilised by Ward Based Clinical teams. This led to patient representatives viewing the pharmacy Prescription Tracking System (PTS) which is used to provide live information to all ward staff about pharmacy workload and track patients’ medication. The PTS has been further refined to produce a label which is attached to discharge medication detailing the time taken to process the prescription.
Patient representatives reported that they welcomed the opportunity to see a Pharmacy Department functioning within a busy District General Hospital
• We are looking to involve local primary schoolchildren/college students in the design of future images. This will aid in helping strengthen local community relations and raise awareness of the projects.
• We are currently working on producing a Discharge Leaflet explaining the Pharmacy Discharge Pathway.
• We find it extremely beneficial to meet via PPFG. We are keen to pursue with these meetings so we can work in collaboration on future initiatives to improve patient experience and safety
We have currently showcased our work in the following:
• Article published in Membership Connect Magazine in September 2015
• Article published in the PJ recently(http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/correspondence/obtaining-patient-feedback-via-a-forum-group/20201596.article)
• Presentation given to ‘Friends of Expert Patients Programme’ September 2016
• We have submitted an application to West Midlands Innovation Day to consider our work
• Article published in the Trust Connect Magazine in October 2016
