EAHP represents over 29,000 hospital pharmacists across 36 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 professionals.
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 of Germany 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.
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
Carmen Redondo Galán, Cristina Ortega Navarro, Ana de Lorenzo Pinto, Beatriz Torroba Sanz, Cecilia Martínez Fernández-Llamazares, Silvia Manrique Rodríguez, Álvaro Narrillos Moraza, Carmen Rodríguez González, Ana Herranz Alonso , María Sanjurjo Sáez
Transitions of care put the patients at risk for medication error as a result of poor communication and information loss. Treatment beginnings, complex treatment and medication reconciliation errors are an important cause of morbidity and have a predominant role in chronic complex patients (CCP). In this sense, collaboration and effective communication between hospital and community pharmacy are considered essential elements to guarantee continuity of patient care, obtaining better health results in terms of safety, effectiveness and efficiency.
Create and implement a collaborative network with direct communication between the Hospital Pharmacy Service of a tertiary hospital and the community pharmacies responsible for patient follow -up.
A multidisciplinary group of hospital pharmacists dedicated to different clinical areas was created: three pharmacists from the Emergency Department, two from the Paediatrics Department, one from the Neurology Department and one from the Outpatients area. They selected and contacted by telephone the 40 community pharmacies responsible for 25% of patient prescriptions in the area. Periodic meetings were scheduled and possible strategic lines of collaboration were shared. The following priority groups were identified: Group 1: CCP (paediatric patients and fragile elderly patients) and Group 2: patients treated in the hospital emergency department. We addressed logistical aspects (supplies and preparation of formulations), pharmacotherapeutic monitoring (adherence, adverse drug reactions and collaboration in the management of CCP). The main limitations were small population and short follow-up time.
From March 2023 to September 2023, the hospital Pharmacy Service has received 50 consultations on 45 patients from community pharmacies: 85% were classified as group 1 and 15% group 2. Pharmaceutical interventions were related to medical shortages (28%), reconciliation errors at discharge (22%), information about formulations (20%), information about new treatments (15%), prescribing errors (12%) and adverse drug reactions (3%). Community pharmacists appreciated accessibility and value of information provided by hospital pharmacists. 50% of patients avoided a hospital visit to solve their queries.
Our first results show the importance of pharmacist interventions with patients and other healthcare professionals.This collaborative network can be applicable to all services that work with community pharmacies to guarantee greater coordination and integration in the different healthcare settings.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
OAM are widely used in the treatment of solid tumors and are administered orally in cycles that require self-administration at home. However, dose adjustments and discontinuations often lead to leftover medication which is discarded as waste. Therefore, the increasing use of expensive OAM comes with the downside of a financial and environmental burden. To reduce this waste, returned OAM to the pharmacy could be considered for redispensing to other patients providing guaranteed quality.
We defined quality criteria for redispensing of oral anticancer medicines (OAM) in our hospital pharmacy. These criteria were laid down in a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to assess the eligibility for redispensing of returned OAM. This SOP was implemented in daily pharmacy practice.
A systematic risk analysis was conducted to determine eligibility of OAM for redispensing taking relevant guidelines and product information into account. The defined quality criteria were translated into a SOP and implemented in daily pharmacy practice. Over a year period, the number of returned OAM accepted for redispensing was quantified, and the reduction in financial waste and environmental burden calculated.
From the systematic risk analysis, four categories of quality aspects were identified: product presentation suitability (stability characteristics, storage requirements), physical condition (unopened or opened secondary or primary packaging, visual appearance), authentication (Falsified Medicines Directive, confirmation of initial dispense, recall), and additional aspects (remaining shelf life, period of storage under uncontrolled conditions). The first category identified that in principle, 75% of the licenced OAM (n=..products) dispensed at our institute is eligible for redispensing. From all combined quality aspects, a flow chart was created according to which each individual returned OAM is assessed . During the study period, 10,415 OAM dose units out of 13,210 returns (79%) were accepted for redispensing. The total value of OAM accepted for redispensing was €483,301, accounting for 0.9% of the total value dispensed during this period. Furthermore, the potential reduction in environmental burden was estimated at 1132.1 g of potent active pharmaceutical ingredient.
We established an easily implementable, comprehensive quality assessment of returned OAM for redispensing. Wide implementation of this approach would result in serious OAM cost and waste reduction.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
This service emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the collection of hospital medication posed patients, many of whom were immunocompromised, at higher risk for COVID-19 and other infections, as they had to enter the hospital facilities. Over time, it was observed that this service was not only beneficial during periods of high SARS-CoV-2 transmission. RutiCar enabled medication pickup from the patient’s own private vehicle, avoiding necessity for parking as well as entering the hospital.
In June 2021, the Pharmacy Department of Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital(HUGTP) established an outpatient medication dispensing point located outside the hospital premises, “RutiCar”. This initiative facilitated patients in collecting their chronic treatments without entering the hospital, enabling direct access from their vehicles.
A new preparation and dispensing circuit was established. The patients specify their preferred date for medication pickup by telephone, e-mail or by a form after scanning a QR code. Pharmacy technicians undertake the responsibility of scheduling the appointment and preparing the medications one day prior to the designated dispensing day. The prepared medications are transported early in the morning to a temporary medication storage facility situated within the hospital’s parking area. Finally, the patient arrives at RutiCar at their scheduled appointment time and, without the need to exit their vehicle, collects their medication.
This service is aimed at patients with chronic treatments who have been on their medication for an extended period (>6 months) and show adherence. Pharmacists play an important role in this context, by ensuring that patients meet the criteria to initiate RutiCar service, reviewing treatments to validate their continuation and overseeing medication pickups to enhance patient adherence.
This service has led to an improvement in the medication dispensing process, assisting 10.46%(282) of the monthly average of patients who collect hospital medication(2695) and extending the hours for medication pickup, facilitating the work-life balance for patients and enhancing access to patients from remote areas.
In the future, improvements can be considered, such as implementing reminders for patients who have not yet scheduled their appointments and are projected to run out of medication soon, or automated appointment systems.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Minke Jongsma, Marja Bogaards
The use of medication is related to almost one-fifth of the total CO2 emission caused by the public health sector. Conservative estimates reveal that the amount of medication distributed by public pharmacies but wasted (thrown away unused) by patients in the Netherlands equalizes a total amount of 100 million euro. Data regarding medication waste in Dutch hospitals is not yet available.
We analyzed the stream of medication waste in our hospital and tried to reduce this by addressing the main causes.
In our hospital setting, medication for each in-hospital patient is distributed daily for the next 24 hours by the hospital pharmacy. All unused medication is returned to the hospital pharmacy. We quantified and analyzed all returned unused medication in our hospital on 9 separate days.
On average, 27,9% of all medication distributed to in-hospital patients is daily returned to the hospital pharmacy. The largest part of this returned medication, 83.5% (23.3% of all medication distributed to in-hospital patients) is wasted daily. This equalizes a total amount of 87.500 counts yearly, representing a value of 41.000 euro. In terms of waste, 60 medical waste bins of 50 liter (a total volume of 3000 L) are needed to dispose of this medical waste.
Analysis of the main causes reveal that distributing both parenteral medication and medication prescribed ‘as needed’ to in-hospital patients contribute largely to medication waste, as well as the inability to adequately anticipate on the discharge of patients.
By addressing the main causes we can decrease medication waste by 45%. Further reduction can be achieved by considering re-uptake of returned medication in our main stock. Our medication distribution process, however, is mainly based on financial and quality based decisions, which excludes re-uptake. But should impact on planetary health not also be considered? To realise this, though, both ecotoxicologic data as well as information related to environmental impact of medication production should be available and easily accessible.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Javier Corazón Villanueva, Natalia Sanchez-Ocaña MartínPast, Virginia Puebla García, Lidia Ybañez García, Maria De la Torre Ortíz, Paloma Pastor Vara, Maria Fernandez-Vazquez Crespo, José Manuel Martínez Sesmero
The PLS is the perception of a non-existent limb that may occur in up to 80% of amputees. The management of this syndrome is complex and alternative drugs are sometimes used for the treatment. The absence of a marketed formulation, off-label use of drugs and the complex treatment of pain make the role of the pharmacist essential.
Development and validation of an oral ketamine compound and a specific pharmaceutical care circuit (PCC) as a part of the treatment of phantom limb syndrome (PLS).
A literature search was carried out on the preparation of this compounding, as well as on the use of oral ketamine (bioavailability, dosage, adverse reactions).
An oral solution of 10mg/ml was prepared (final volume 50ml: 500 mg of injectable ketamine solution or raw material, 20 ml of simple syrup with a sufficient amount of purified water and 2 drops of lemon essence). To establish the expiration date recommendations of Good Manufacturing Practice Guideline were followed and the organoleptic characteristics were evaluated for quality control.
The PCC created consists of the following stages:
1. Setting up a first presential visit to provide pharmaceutical care during admission: to inform the storage conditions, most common adverse effects and recommendations about medication intake.
2. Dispensing at discharge and initially appointments every 7 days for a closer follow-up: control of adverse reactions (confusion, agitation, nausea, etc.), monitoring of the appropriate use of ketamine and other analgesic medication (avoiding possible abuse and addictive behaviour) and pain control. Pharmaceutical interventions are communicated to the pain management unit (PMU).
3. Spacing of visits fortnightly once the treatment is well-stablished and proposing a telepharmacy service.
The ketamine formulation developed has been used in our hospital in three patients with satisfactory results. The interventions carried out were: pain control problems, possible inappropriate use, reduction in the number or dosage of concomitant medication or ketamine itself.
The capacity to provide therapeutic alternatives and a more exhaustive pharmacological control of pain in collaboration with the PMU can improve the safety and effectiveness of these treatments.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
The aim of the study is to assess the crisis impact on the consumption of pharmaceutical products in the intensive care unit in order to estimate, rationalize the need and prevent supply problems.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic and its major economic impact, we carried out a comparative study of the consumption of pharmaceutical products in the intensive care unit before and during the crisis.
A list of pharmaceutical products to be evaluated has been established beforehand. The choice was made for the products most used in intensive care units in accordance with the recommendations of COVID management. The list includes drugs and medical devices.
In order to compare the consumption of these products in terms of quantity and cost, data collection was carried out over two periods, each of 6 months, before and during the crisis in Tunisia. The first from January 1st, 2019 to June 30th, 2019, the second from January 1st, 2021 to June 30th, 2021.
As a result of this assessment, it was possible to quantify the increase in several drugs and medical devices. It led us to:
-modulate our supply of these products
-take rationalization measures in cooperation with doctors
-develop management protocols according to the recommendations and available products
– close monitoring of prescriptions and compliance with protocols in order to optimize consumption, avoid any abuse and limit breaks as much as possible.
Tab. Variation of consumption and cost
Product Consumption2019 Consumption2021 Variation factor of the consumption Variation factor of the cost
Hypnotic curares 25 170 6.8 8.1
Antithrombotics 647 2286 3.5 8.1
Antibiotics 932 4060 4.4 11.2
Fluconazole 240 378 1.6 1.9
Dexamethasone 845 1268 1.5 2.0
Isolation gown 740 6925 9.4 7.8
Masks 6100 13300 2.2 2.2
hydroalcoholic products 123 217 1.8 1.8
A generalization of the drafting and updating of the protocols concerning the management and the dispensing is programmed for all the other departments which will be validated by the therapeutic committee and the antibiotics committee.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Mireia Iglesias Rodrigo, Júlia Pardo Pastor, Alba Manzaneque Gordon, Cristina Sangrador Pelluz, Núria Meca Casasnovas, Clara Sebastián Carrasco, Fernando Salazar Gonzalez, Gemma Garreta Fontelles, Jordi Nicolás Picó
Due to the risk posed by the handling of Hazard Drugs (HD) in the healthcare field, it is necessary to implement circuits that guarantee the professional’s safety.
Create an internal classification of HD based on the NIOSH List of Hazard Drugs in Healthcare Setting 2020, to optimize the circuit of its handling from its receiving to its administration.
Considering the HD included in the Pharmacotherapeutic Guide (PTG) of our center, the stages of reception and adaptation/preparation/dispensing/administration and other precautions were analyzed.
Categories were established, analyzing the needs of each stage according to: NIOSH level of danger, setting (inpatient/outpatient), pharmaceutical form, commercialized pharmaceutical specialties or available alternatives, and material/personal resources.
Prior to its implementation, e-learning training was carried out for the healthcare professional involved.
A total of 25.3% (379/1498) of the pharmaceutical specialties included in PTG were HD. Thirteen HD groups were identified. Due to the fact that in the outpatient setting the drug is dispensed to the patient in its original container, the actions implemented were only carried out for inpatients, representing these 9/13 of described groups. The established training was carried out by the 89% of professionals. Proposed measures for HD are summarized in Table 1.
Monitoring and evaluation of the circuit
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Joana Russo, Maria João Ribeiro, Humberto Gonçalves, Joana Ribeiro, Silva Cristina, António Gouveia
In our country the oncology medication for ambulatory patients is dispensed by the hospital pharmacist (HP). Due to several aspects (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic) the process of distribution of said medication has changed in that the HP and the patient no longer meet face to face (Drive-thru systems, proximity projects in which the medication is sent to a nearby pharmacy of the patients living area). A tool was required that enabled the HPs to continue to monitor the relevant clinical aspects (patient education; medication adherence (MA), drug interactions (DI) and adverse events (AE) evaluation).
We used a mobile application (App) to conduct the pharmaceutical evaluation of clinical aspects that need to be considered when dispensing oncology medication.
In collaboration with the Information Technologies department of our hospital, an App was developed. It integrates the patient’s hospital prescriptions and their answers to an adaptive query that identifies cases that need further clinical data We selected a specific drug (ibrutinib) and developed an algorithm that presented the extended questions accordingly. The App was announced to patients that required hospital medication and wanted to receive it through an alternative method of distribution.
In little over a year, a total of 1720 requests were received (668 patients). The algorithm was successful in differentiating patients whose evaluation needed to include additional clinical information. In 22 requests, further data was automatically gathered (9 patients) enabling us to evaluate MA, DI and AE. These teleconsultations do not require additional professionals (ie an assistant to register the request) nor a compatible time slot for a pharmacist-patient phone call.
The results showed that the concept of pharmaceutical teleconsultations through an App is viable and we intend to extend its range to other drugs and to dissociate the teleconsultation from the dispensing request. This approached also showed that proximity between HP and patients was positively affected allowing patients to consult their hospital pharmacist whenever they need to and wherever the patient was.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
JUDIT PERALES PASCUAL, ANA PÉREZ LÓPEZ, HERMINIA NAVARRO AZNAREZ, ELENA HERRANZ BAYO, MARIA PEREZ MORENO, CARLOS-IGNACIO DIAZ CALDERON HORCADA, Mª REYES ABAD SAZATORNIL
In 2019 the UPEX attended a large volume of patients without a scheduled appointment, long waits were generated and the pharmacotherapeutic follow-up was complicated. The purpose was to implement an appointment management module to avoid crowds, excessive waiting times, allowing better organizational management of care and knowledge of patients in each type of consultation.
An outpatient is a patient who goes to the outpatient unit of their Hospital Pharmacy Service to collect a drug for hospital use/diagnosis or foreign drug (it will be administered without health personnel intervention).
An appointment management system was implemented in accordance with the objectives of the SAMPA project (Service for Registration and Promotion of Adherence to Medicines for Elderly Patients), included in the European STOPandGo project.
Creating a cross-cutting system for the entire clinical circuit from prescription to dispensing involved a great deal computer involvement. Although it began to be used in November 2018, it was not used by the mostly part of prescribing doctors until the end of 2020.
Now, when the patient leaves medical consultation, he/she will go to the pharmacy and will be seen by a pharmacist. Besides, the program will propose a return appointment when it calculates that the patient has a week’s worth of medication, thus preventing the patient from running out of medication. The pharmacist will decide if the patient needs pharmacotherapeutic follow-up.
In 2019, 5 services cited patients while in 2020 it was 14; the percentage of patients attending pharmacy cited increased from 73.2%(2019) to 79.4%(2020).
Currently, the pharmacist knows in advance which scheduled patients he has and can establish a better organizational care management and determine in advance if the patient needs a close pharmacotherapeutic follow-up. Additionally, with this system an average waiting time of 03:55min was achieved (in 2019 appointments with waits >30min were recorded).
The implementation of the appointment management system has made possible to achieve better organizational management of care,avoid crowds,excessive waiting times, and provide better patient care and pharmacotherapeutic follow-up. The proposed solution can be extended to other hospitals.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
ROSARIO MORA-SANTIAGO, JOSE-LUIS ORTIZ-LATORRE, ELENA SANCHEZ-YANEZ, ANGEL JURADO-ROMERO, ISABEL MOYA-CARMONA
During the health alert caused by Covid-19, home delivery was quickly implemented in our country to reduce attendance at the Hospital Pharmacy Service (HPS) to obtain their medications.
In our HPS we transform home delivery into telepharmacy program (TP) with chronic neurological patients, who suffering pathologies that decrease their autonomy, with the purpose to optimize clinical outcomes and reduce the risk of contagion.
The main purpose was to design a telepharmacy program (TP) undertstood as the provision of pharmaceutical care by pharmacists through the use of telecommunications to patients located at a distance. Telepharmacy services include patient follow-up and clinical service delivery. In our case, home delivery is also included.
We design the TP stratifying stable chronic patients (more than 6 months of treatment) by level of autonomy, physical distance to our Hospital and high risk (due to immunosuppressive treatment). Inclusion in the TP was proposed to patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and aminotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Telepharmacy appointments were recorded and scheduled within the outpatient care activity, they were recorded in the patient’s medical history, as a pharmaceutical clinical follow-up, reviewing adherence, interactions and possible adverse events. Later, home delivery was made, through an external logistics company. Patients gave their consent to transfer personal data for home delivery.
Data collected were: sex and age, first or second line treatment in MS patients, pharmaceutical form (pill or syrup ) in ALS patients and number of total deliveries made.
We started on April 2020 with the program, six months later 56 patients were included, 48 with MS (total of MS patients attended by our HPS: 296) and 8 with ALS ( total of ALS patient attended by our HPS: 58). Median age: 45 years in MS group and 65 in ALS group. In MS group 37 patients received 1st line treatment and 10 second line. In ALS patients 6 received tablets and 2 syrup.
420 deliveries took place (average: 3,1 for patient).
The implementation of the TP was well accepted, avoiding longed displacement in patients with neurological pathologies. Our future target is to reach a greater number of patients that can be included in the program.
