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.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
EDURNE FERNANDEZ DE GAMARRA MARTINEZ, NÚRIA PI SALA, RAQUEL AGUILAR SALMERON, ANTONI BROTO SUMALLA, MILAGROS GARCÍA-PELÁEZ, LIDIA MARTINEZ SÁNCHEZ, SANTIAGO NOGUÉ XARAU
Antidotes are drugs used in emergency situations. Some of them often present availability issues due to shortages, high cost, complex acquisition (foreign drugs’ importation) or short validity periods. This tool was implemented in July 2015 to improve the availability of antidotes.
A virtual network was designed in order to have a tool that allows pharmacy departments to locate antidotes: to know in which centres they are stocked, how much there is of each drug and when it would expire. It also facilitates communication between centres and loan movements in case they are required.
A web-based application was developed (www.redantidotos.org). It includes a public site with general information, an updated antidotes guide and a section where non-urgent toxicological consultations could be submitted. In addition, there is a private site (accessed through username and password) where each pharmacy department might introduce the stock they have of 18 selected antidotes (anti-digoxin antibodies, anti-vipera serum, botulism antitoxin, dantrolene, deferoxamine, defibrotide, dimercaprol, calcium disodium edetate, ethanol, fomepizole, glucagon, glucarpidase, hydroxocobalamin, idarucizumab, pralidoxime, physostigmine, silibinin and uridine triacetate). Each Hospital has two key users: a ‘farmatox’ (pharmacy department) and an ‘urgetox’ (emergency department). Their participation has been crucial for the success of the project.
Currently there are 63 Spanish hospitals included in the Antidotes Network. It has been used 49 times to locate an antidote that was needed and to request a loan between centres. Thirteen antidotes were involved in these movements. The most requested drugs have been anti-vipera serum (10/49), glucagon (6/49), anti-digoxin antibodies (5/49), botulism antitoxin (5/49) and fomepizol (5/49). Additionally, recommendations were published about stock availability and use of antidotes according to hospital complexity (Emergencias 2016;28:45-54).
The network was first implemented in Catalonia and now the project is being extended to other Spanish regions (currently it has been implemented in three out of 17 regions). We aim to continue improving communication between professionals involved in intoxication management, sharing knowledge and improving the care we offer to our patients.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Gregorio Romero Candel, Maria Jesus Sanchez Cuenca , Nieves Cano Cuenca, Jose Marco del Rio , Julian Castillo Sanchez, Luna Carratala Herrera
The healthcare provided in the SSC is not fully integrated into the structures of the National Health System. These patients present a higher risk of adverse events related to pharmacotherapy, due to patient factors, with the treatment, the health system and the institutionalisation. The integral approach of the pharmaceutical benefit was necessary for improving the efficiency, safety, health and economic results due to the process using drugs and other health products in the SSC.
A pharmacotherapeutic benefit model has been started through the hospital pharmacy to the Socio-Sanitary Centres (SSC) of our health area. A pharmacotherapeutic management system based on the evaluation and selection of drugs and diet therapy items has been established.
An adherence protocol was made to the hospital pharmacy service, with the benefits that were to be provided to them. A guide was prepared with drugs and nutritional supplements that were available to them according to the Pharmacotherapeutic Guide of the Hospital Pharmacy Service, thus guaranteeing the most efficient products. A request model of both drugs and dietotherapics was developed for the SSC, assigning each centre one day per month to request the order and another day of dispensation. Finally, a calendar of distribution routes for each SSC was prepared.
For 12 months, eight SSC have been assigned to this programme, with 538 patients. Twelve shipments have been made to each centre, which have been provided with a total of 682,484 units of 223 active ingredients. The dispensation in diet therapy contained 28,045 units of 13 specialties. It has been possible to improve the pharmacotherapeutic coverage of these patients and reduce the expenditure on drugs in the area through centralised supply.
Development of follow-up programmes for patients with high health or economic impact drugs. Also, the adherence of new SSC, as well as increasing the dispensing portfolio, and achieving the integration of information systems, to have a total traceability from the patient to the different assistance levels.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Lars Munck
After years with increasing numbers of backorders and unplanned drug changes implemented in the hospitals under time pressures, we decided in 2017 to replace firefighting with proactive action through better transparency between hospital pharmacies and drug suppliers.
We established a national Sales & Operations planning (S&OP) unit able to develop and implement a national S&OP process for drugs on national tender:
• All hospital pharmacies estimate their expected purchase volume (number of packs) of each item-number.
• National estimates for each item-number are shared on a national supplier portal (web-page).
• Advise suppliers, when new estimates are shared on the portal, to confirm supply capability or report potential supply problems.
• Proactive solutions/decisions are made for potential supply problems.
• Suppliers share production lead-time to enable planning of tenders and drug-changes accordingly.
• Monthly review process in place: hospital pharmacies/clinical pharmacy update estimates for changed drug use, suppliers re-confirm their supply capability accordingly, and national solutions/decisions are made for new potential supply problems.
1. INVOLVING hospital pharmacies and suppliers in step-by-step development.
2. HELPING hospital pharmacies to estimate and identify estimates that require revision to improve estimate accuracy.
3. ACTIVE COMMUNICATION of estimates to suppliers.
4. Rebuild supplier’s TRUST in our estimates as accuracy improved.
5. Ask suppliers to confirm supply capability.
6. Open and CROSS-FUNCTIONAL DIALOGUE. Dialogue concerning possible solutions to potential supply problems.
Proactive solutions/decisions for potential supply problems have improved the overall supply situation/information, and have improved patient safety, as fewer unplanned drug changes are implemented under time pressures. The number of backorders have stabilised during 2017 to 2018. We have not experienced the explosions in backorders that some of our neighbouring countries have experienced. Transparency across the supply chain has generated trust and enabled more value-adding and cross-functional dialogue such as sharing causes of estimate changes and early sharing of potential supply problems. Positive feedback from hospital pharmacies and suppliers regarding resources/benefits from participating in the S&OP process.
Continue to improve the S&OP process/tools. Helping hospital pharmacies in predicting changes in drug estimates, based on the impact of national decisions about drug selection in therapeutic areas. Willing to help other countries.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Ismail Bennani, Amine Cheikh, Hafid Mefetah, Mustapha Bouatia
The strict control of medicines cold chain is linked to a triple risk for a hospital: a risk for the patient through the efficiency and safety of the drug, a financial risk, and a regulatory risk.
Our study aimed to map the process of management of medicines requiring a strict cold chain control at a referral pediatric hospital and to identify the critical points associated to this process in order to realize a risk analysis using the FMEA method
The method used is FMEA for a priori inductive risk analysis which aims to identify potential system failures. These failures are analyzed to determine their criticality by establishing an index for each failure that will be scored and calculated using the formula: Criticality index = frequency × severity × detectability.
The rating of each criterion is based on predetermined rating tables.
Process Mapping: The mapping of the process allowed identify 7 major actors: the supplier, the general store, the logistics platform for product reception, the transportation, the logistics department of hospital, the pharmacy and the patient.
Identification of the critical points: All failures modes that were ranked between 201 and 504 on criticality index are considered as main critical points:
Problem of breakdown of electricity and its management: 504
Respect of the cold chain at the level of the care services until administration: 448
Temperature indicators at the level of care services: 384
Conditions of transportation: 315
Temperature monitoring at pharmacy level: means and management: 245
Logistics agents transport time management: 210
Implementation of improvement actions: Corrective and preventive improvement measures have been defined and implemented, such as: setting up alternatives to power outages, periodic temperature assessments at all critical levels, and integration of remote control and monitoring computer devices.
The continuous improvement of the medicines’ cold chain remains an important topic for the institutions in view of the overall risks associated with the quality of these medicines, therefore to the medical treatment of the patient.
Education and Research
VIRGINIA SAAVEDRA QUIRÓS, BELÉN ESCUDERO VILAPLANA, ELVIRA SANTIAGO PRIETO, MARÍA BELLA CORREDERA GARRUDO, INÉS GUMIEL BAENA, MARÍA DOLORES GARCÍA CEREZUELA, AMELIA SÁNCHEZ GUERRERO
It is important to provide continuous training to all professionals working in the healthcare system, especially when staff turnover is frequent, and when their job is directly related with drugs management, where a failure in the chain of drug utilization can have an impact on patient health.
We developed a technology-training strategy of the Pharmacy Department to improve the training resources of the professionals working in it, through the support of information and communication technologies (ICTs), in order to achieve the highest quality in our actions.
The initiative was targeted at the nursing assistant staff of the Pharmacy Department, in the dispensation process to in-bed patients. The development period was between March and April 2017, focusing on activities related to the management, conservation, storage and dispensing of medicines.
This information-training material was developed as follows:
‐ By editing video-tutorials, which would be accessed after recognizing an associated QR code.
‐ Through the preparation of summary sheets in poster format that reflect in a schematic, concrete and visual way those key aspects in each of the processes.
After its implementation, a user satisfaction survey was conducted to evaluate the initiative.
Five training video-tutorials were made on different subjects: preparation of unit-dose dispensing carts, preparation of medication from automated dispensing systems (ADS) in Pharmacy, order reception, replenishment ADS in the wards and preparation of medication “on demand”. The average duration of the videos was 5 minutes 45 seconds.
In addition, 7 summary sheets were designed for the management of other types of activities: returns, expirations, special orders, priorities in normal situation – critical situation, management of medicines not included in pharmacotherapeutic guide, interhospital medication loans and calls procedure in the Unit-dose dispensing area.
Satisfaction surveys conducted by nursing assistants have positively valued the initiative.
The strategy developed allows the integration of ICTs in staff training, helping to manage the information of the Pharmacy Department, achieving a better optimization of available resources.
The degree of satisfaction of the users was good for what we consider important to promote this practice, making it extendible to the other areas and members of the Pharmacy Department.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Kim Florian Green, Torsten Hoppe-Tichy
Drug shortages are an increasing problem for hospitals in Germany. The management is time consuming and might endanger safety of drug therapy. Therefore, it is essential to take precautions to deal with upcoming shortages in advance.
Development of an algorithm to create an essential drug list in consideration of logistic and clinical aspects.
The first step was classification of the hospital formulary. We used 4 types for classification (oral medication, parenteral medication, medicinal products, and dietetics). Following a priorisation for parenteral and oral drugs cause of the fact we discovered in an internal benchmark that durgshortages with parenteral drugs lead to a larger workload. After that we assessed drug consumption for each drug by year, quarter and month and conducted an extending selective inventory control (ABC-XYZ-Analysis).
Next step was to create a step-by-step decision-tree considering local clinical pathways and logistics define essential drugs. The algorithm displays typical procurement processes and infrastructure in German hospitals pharmacies and the common search for alternative drug therapies.
The combination of the algorithm and the ABC-XYZ-Analysis lead to an individual list of essential drugs and allows to define logistic measures for each of them.
The list allows us to define an adequate stock for upcoming drugshortages. Internal benchmarking for process robustness. External validation of our algorithm is necessary.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
MERCEDES GIMENO-GRACIA, TRANSITO SALVADOR-GOMEZ, ROSA MARECA, JOSE IGNACIO GARCIA-MONTERO, MIGUEL ANGEL SALVO, PILAR ABAD, BEATRIZ ABAD, CESAR VELASCO
The Spanish Agency of Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) issues drug and health product-related alerts to the health centres through each region’s Department of Health. The means through which said alerts reach the health professional is not always adequate. The procedures for alert dissemination in our hospital hadn’t been standardized yet: some professionals were alerted more tan once while others weren’t alerted at all. Furthermore, there was no record of these alerts
We developed a safety alert management and dissemination system implementation in a hospital setting.
In April 2014, a multidisciplinary workgroup was established (3 members of the Preventive Medicine Service, 2 pharmacists, 2 members of the Supplies Service, 2 computer technicians and 2 members of the hospital’s Management) to analyse management and dissemination of alerts within the hospital at that time. Safety alerts can attain to different elements: drugs, medical devices and public health. Throughout 2015 new circuits and actions were established and in 2016 their implementation was initiated.
The workgroup held 7 meetings from April 2014 to June 2016. The project started focusing on drug-related alerts. An algorithm was designed to handle them, in which a pharmacist filtered the alerts (via e-mail) and assessed which had to be spread, and among which professionals. Additionally, the pharmacist managed the alert. The dissemination worked as follows: from the Pharmacy Service to Medical or Nursing Directors, who spread the message to the different units recommended by pharmacist, specifically to their respective Manager, Tutor of Residents and Quality Manager. All alerts were recorded in a database, along with how they were handled.
From January to June of 2016, a total of 235 drug-related alerts were sent from AEMPS. The dissemination was as follows: 44.3% (104) were spread among pharmacists, 36.6% among doctors, 5.5% among nurses and 9.4% to other professionals. The types of drug-alert received were classified as: supply problems (84.7%), use recommendations (7.2%), quality alerts (7.7%) and others (0.5%).
Next step is implantation of this alert management system with medical devices alerts and public health alerts.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Hanne Fischer, Bente Dam, Bitten Abildtrup, Helle Pasgaard Rommelhoff, Lars Munck
Challenges with drug supply is a global as well as a national problem. A decline in interest among the suppliers to submit tenders in our country, has been detected. This is more profound compared to other European countries due to a small market and a strict interpretation of EU public procurement rules.
The aim of the study was to evaluate whether three selected contract types motivated suppliers to submit tenders, submit with a lower price and whether they affected national backorders.
In 2015 and 2016, the national purchasing authority for all drugs used in all the public hospitals, tested three new contract types on 18 drugs: a) Purchase obligation for the national purchasing authority b) Limit on reimbursement obligation for replacement drug and c) Two national suppliers of one drug. Contract type a and b aimed to reduce the suppliers’ economic risk and c was primarily tested to secure national drug supply.
Suppliers, who had the opportunity to submit tenders for the new contract types, were included in the study. For the 2015-tenders’ 7 of 8 semi structured interviews were carried out and for the 2016-tenders, 10 electronic questionnaires were provided (50 % respond rate). In total 2 parallel importers and 15 generic suppliers participated.
The respondents reported that contract type a motivates to submit tenders and submit with a lower price. It might reduce national backorders due to a predictable sale.
The generic respondents reported that contract type b reduces their economic risk, which motivates to submit tenders and due to that might reduce national backorders.
The respondents reported that contract type c did not have considerable effect on the national supply, since the forecast and amount of orders from both suppliers is fixed months in advance.
In order to address the challenges with drug supply, new types of contracts, which reduce the suppliers’ economic risk, will be further implemented in future national tenders.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Alison Anastasi, Karl Farrugia
The amount of shortages was considerable leading to interruption of treatment, hoarding, wastage, hospital admissions incurring more expenses. Malta is one of the small EU Member states and its geographical position does not facilitate sourcing. Thereby on analysing the matter further, walking directly into the chaos creating order, inventing, creating, connecting and making things happen was the mainstay since then. The industry accepted the partnership invitation and sourcing increased both from the local and international scenario. Best in class operational efficiency, quality & functional excellence was achieved. According to the National Audit office in 2012, Malta had a recurring issue with shortages of medicines and now in 2016 we have had nil shortages for 30 weeks.
1. Establishment of a dedicated team – Emergency Response Unit (ERU)
2. Enterprise Resource Planning inventory management
3. Customer demand forecast modelling
4. Partnership with the industry
5. Innovative procurement strategies e.g. negotiations, therapeutic time-based agreements, e-auctioning, framework agreements, managed entry access
6. Registration: Allowing bidders to register after they were awarded the tender; parallel importation
The challenges faced included influencing and providing leadership to partners in the delivery of on demand innovative solutions, strategic sourcing involving language translations, registering medicines by the department, demand supplier relationships, payment within 60 days, ageing population, procurement services revenue and profit growth. The winning strategy foundation was the interaction and integration of people (internal and external stakeholders) to business information and business intelligence.
The department has achieved good results measured by the number of shortages, better quality of life, by reduction of hospital admissions thereby reduction in costs. The average medicine shortages in 2013 was 56; in 2014 (40); in 2015 (5) and in 2016 (1) till October. The budget allocated per year has increased due to longevity however more patients are being treated and the cost savings lead to innovative technology access.
Having mitigation measures in place such as pre-planned need analysis; choosing the right process; reducing unnecessary care and focusing on sustainability is good practice. Locally this is being implemented for the procurement of non-medicines and in fact cost savings running into millions have resulted.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Chloé HERLEDAN, Laura BEAUMIER, Laurence MINISCHETTI, Marie-Christine ALBERTO-GONDOUIN
Existing floor stocks are limited to usual psychiatric drugs. On-call resident pharmacists dispense additional treatments during pharmacy closing hours. Hence, extending the floor stocks would facilitate continuity of care. SASC centralisation enables simple and secured access to medication while saving space in care units.
A new drug and medical device floor stock was implemented in our psychiatric hospital. The floor stock is contained in a secured automated storage cabinet (SASC) located in a protected area inside the pharmacy and accessible during its closing hours. Utilisation training was offered to nurses through multiple formats.
Floor stock composition has been established from frequent requests made during on-call time and can be consulted on the pharmacy website. Prescriptions and patient informations can be checked before removal on a computer in the SASC area. The SASC requires badge identification, unit and patient name entry and provides traceability of removals. Moreover, cold storage requiring drugs are housed in a refrigerator unlocked through the SASC. Regarding utilisation training, all night nurses had to attend a demonstration of the SASC performed by the resident pharmacists. This demonstration was also offered to day nurses and head nurses during weekly pharmacy open days for three months. In addition, an instruction manual and a video tutorial were produced and uploaded on the website.
60/67 (89.5%) night nurses, 80/256 (31.2%) day nurses and 10/20 (50.0%) head nurses have attended the SASC demonstration. A satisfaction survey conducted among trained nurses or head nurses had an 18.7% response rate. 26/28 (92.9%) of respondents attended the demonstration and all were satisfied by its quality. 2/28 (7.1%) only used the instruction manual. All respondents declared being able to use the SASC, however 7/28 (25.0%) would need assistance from the instruction manual or video tutorial.
Further utilisation training or assistance will be provided by the video tutorial. Removals and prescriptions will be checked by pharmacists to uncover picking errors. Impact on resident pharmacists’ workload will be assessed within six months. Finally, SASC centralised floor stock is an interesting approach for hospital pharmacies with limited staff to improve continuity of care.
