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
Bitten Abildtrup, Lone Deleuran, Mira Dysgård, Nina Müller, Sofie Pedersen, Trine Schnor, Ulrik Wøldike
It is estimated that medicine contribute 20% of the Danish regions total CO2e emissions. Amgros and the Hospital Pharmacies of Denmark are committed to develop carbon reduction initiatives to assist the regions CO2e reduction strategy. It is essential to identify the main contributors of CO2e emissions in the lifecycle of a drug to support CO2e reduction.
The Danish procurement organization Amgros I/S is responsible for buying medicine for Danish public hospitals. As part of the ambition for sustainability, The Capital Region Pharmacy (RAP) in collaboration with Amgros has made a bottom-up hotspot life cycle analysis (hLCA) of the carbon-footprint of morphine in tablets and solution for injection. The hLCA identified the main CO2e emission factors from API/excipient production to administration of the drug.
The energy consumption of the production processes was mapped at RAP. Five reference flows were modulated (tablets in three types of primary packaging and solution for injection in two types) and reported. The hLCA data for the API was extracted from literature while data for the excipients and packaging material were calculated using Ecoinvent. Ecoinvent is a life cycle inventory database used to support environmental assessments of products and processes.
The preliminary conclusion of the analysis shows the largest CO2e emissions per DDD originates from administering the drug due to the use of single-use materials.
Leaving out administration of the drug, the main CO2e emissions from tablets are API production and packaging materials. Packaging materials are the main CO2e contributor for the solution for injection.
The end report of the LCA was available, end of autumn 2023.
The hLCA’s are being used internally in Amgros to develop criteria for tenders. The hospital pharmacies can use the hLCA calculations to identify key subprocesses where reduction of the CO2e footprint is greatest.
The results contribute to:
• Danish hospital pharmacies better understand the CO2e emissions when prescribing and administering medicines
• Dialogue with the pharmaceutical industry about their CO2e emissions hotspots
Finally, the results will hopefully encourage other countries to incorporate environmental criteria in future medicinal tendering process for medicines.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Sam Coombes, Cath Cooksey
Inhalers account for 3% of the total NHS (National Health Service) carbon footprint and 73 million inhalers are dispensed every year in the UK. There are legal obligations for the NHS to reduce the emissions it can influence and reach net zero by 2045, with an ambition to reach an 80% reduction by 2039. There is no national program to recycle inhalers. We wanted to establish a recycling model which is efficient and can be easily replicated.
We established an inhaler recycling model which enables patients to drop off any inhaler at multiple healthcare settings and for these inhalers to be collected and recycled, using a pre-existing logistical model.
This work is part of a collaborative working project in conjunction with NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board and Chiesi Limited. Alliance Healthcare are a sub-contracted service provider in the project to support with the logistical model. We wanted to demonstrate a new model for inhaler recycling using existing infrastructure aiming to improve return rates whilst keeping costs as low as possible. In Kent and Medway, East Kent with a population of 720,000 people, was chosen as a pilot area, as this presented a mixed patient demographic, and the highest volume of acute hospitals, community pharmacies and dispensing GP practices. Inhalers are collected from recycling sites made up of acute hospital sites, community pharmacies and GP dispensing practices, at the same time as medicine supplies are delivered, using a sophisticated logistical model which already exists therefore not requiring any additional transportation. Once collected by a specialist waste management company, from the wholesaler depot, the inhaler components are then recycled and gases from MDI inhalers captured and reused in other industries.
A 12-month pilot has been initiated, the infrastructure a logistical model has been put in place and data is being collected.
The data from the collection process will continue to be collated, the carbon savings calculated, and a toolkit developed so this can be easily adopted in other regions.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Pilar Lalueza Broto, Laura Domenech Moral, Alba Pau Parra, Ángel Arévalo Bernabé, Danae Anguita Domingo, Anna Rey Pérez, Jacinto Baena Caparrós, Marcelino Baguena Martínez, María Queralt Gorgas Torner, Mónica Rodriguez Carballeira
The four-year specialist training program for Hospital Pharmacy in Spain includes one year of clinical training, involving rotations through various medical units where residents develop their clinical skills. This forms an essential component of clinical proficiency and integration into the healthcare team.
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was chosen because the presence of a pharmacist during rounds as a full member of the care team has been associated with a reduced rate of adverse drug events.
We developed a standardized medication audit tool to ensure uniform pharmaceutical care delivery, aligned with the Hospital Pharmacy Specialty training program.
We designed a pharmacotherapeutic monitoring chart containing biodemographic and clinical data, analytical parameters, and clinical issues for each patient. A multidisciplinary team, comprising staff physicians and pharmacy resident tutors, identified the most common clinical problems or key issues for different types of patients admitted to critical care units, as well as specific clinical problems related to particular pathologies. Pharmacotherapeutic recommendations were based on clinical evidence or internal protocols. Common key issues included nutritional support, fluid resuscitation, thromboembolic prophylaxis, hemodynamic monitoring, infection management, drug monitoring, and sedative and analgesic therapy. We defined specific efficacy and safety indicators for each clinical problem. Additionally, we monitored specific outstanding problems in particular patient types.
We also implemented a model for recording and coding pharmaceutical interventions.
The pharmacotherapeutic monitoring chart has enabled us to establish standards for pharmaceutical care in the ICU, promoting consistency among the entire care team and optimizing pharmacotherapy outcomes in patients. It also facilitates the assessment of residents’ skill acquisition during their training.
In the future, assessing the tool’s usefulness and its impact on residents’ training benefits will be of interest. Moreover, it may serve as a reference model for other clinical rotations.
Education and Research
There are five accredited faculties of pharmacy in Bulgaria – two in Sofia, one in Plovdiv, one in Varna and one in Pleven. The training is only full-time with a duration of 5 years, with 26 compulsory courses in which hospital pharmacy is covered to a very small extent. Only one of the faculties in Sofia offers the opportunity to specialise in clinical pharmacy during the studies, which include 30 hours of lectures and 45 hours of exercises in hospital pharmacy. The disinterest of graduating students in pursuing a career in hospital pharmacy prompted the BAHP Board to organise this competition to bring attention to hospital pharmacy in a non-traditional way.
The Bulgarian Association of Hospital Pharmacists /BAHP/ organises during its annual conference a National Competition for Pharmacy Students “Become a Hospital Pharmacist” – for the first time in 2021. Since then, it has been held annually with increasing interest from students.
The areas in which the students will compete – Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Regulation of Hospital Pharmacy and Practical part, as well as the regulations of the competition were determined. An invitation with information was sent to all faculties. For the year 2021, teams from three faculties participated, for 2022 four faculties, and for 2023 all faculties will participate. Each team has a scientific supervisor and the costs of participation are covered by the university.
1.Strengthening the links between the BAHP and the faculties
2. Repeatedly increased student interest in hospital pharmacy.
3. Increased number of students wanting to do their pre-graduate internship in hospital pharmacy
Continuation of the annual competition and deepening the collaboration with the faculties. It is also possible to organise such an event between different countries.
Education and Research
A wide range of women sustain a perineal tear after delivery with a need of perineal repair. If the suture material fails to last as expected, women might experience wound rupture, impaired healing, and inferior functional outcome.
A clinical observation of increased risk of early breakage of the suture material in women anaesthetized with Xylocaine spray for perineal tear repair, compared with women anaesthetized with Xylocaine gel led to this study. Thus, in an observation period of 9 months 79% of the women who had to go through early secondary wound repair due to suture failure, had received local anesthesia in the form of Xylocaine spray.
The Clinical Pharmacy was contacted by the Obstetric Department with the following inquiry; whether there is a pharmaceutical interaction between local anaesthetics and the suture material.
An in-vitro experiment to compare the tensile strength of fast absorbable suture material when impregnated with various agents for local anaesthesia was performed.
An in-vitro experiment was performed in collaboration between midwives, pharmacists and the Danish Technological Institute. We impregnated 120 suture materials divided in four groups (Xylocaine Spray, Xylocaine gel, Isotonic Sodium Chloride and Ethanol 96%) for 72 hours at 37 degrees and then measured the tensile strength of the suture material.
In the experiment we saw that Ethanol and Xylocaine spray weakened the tensile strength of fast absorbable sutures. Use of Xylocaine spray containing ethanol for local anesthesia might lead to early breakdown of the suture material and wound rupture.
After the experiment the majority of obstetric departments in Denmark changed their procedure for local analgesia/anaesthesia during perineal repair from Xylocaine Spray to Xylocaine gel.
Observing and registering the suture breakage percentage in a period of 9 months after application of Xylocaine gel.
Publishing the results at a broader level.
Education and Research
Maria Agerboe Sondrup, Anette Sand Østergaard
Training of operators has previously been performed, however there was no consistent programme for continuing training in the department to secure optimal training of operators. Equally the effectivity and durability of the training was not evaluated. The aim was to establish a thorough system for continuing training focusing on ongoing confirmation of proper training as well as adaptation and optimization throughout.
A programme for continuing training of operators was designed and implemented in a clean room production department by GMP-responsible operators and academics.
A template was designed for the programme. One module takes up to 3 months.
The template is the following:
Observation:
– Trainers observe operators in a clean room
– Current technique is observed and if necessary corrected
Training material:
– Developing educational material based on SOPs
– Short videos, PowerPoint presentations etc.
Individual training:
– Operators answer handed out multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ) by themselves
Group training:
– The correct answers to the MCQ are presented by the trainers at a plenary session
– All answers are discussed
Observation:
– Trainers observe operators in a clean room
– Current technique is observed and if necessary corrected
Evaluation:
– Trainers evaluate the training in terms of improvement from the first to the second observation
– Trainers write a report that is presented to the operators
A systematic and relatively simple training programme has been implemented. This streamlines the training of operators, thereby making it easier for the trainers to introduce new subjects and ensures that all new operators are trained the same as the experienced operators. The programme also makes the training system recognizable for the operators, which gives a higher compliance.
The program has only been implemented on processes related to production in clean room, but the training method can easily be applied to subjects outside of the clean room or in other healthcare settings. To involve the operators in the process, the second observation could be delegated to other operators and not just the trainers.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Thewodros Leka
Population Health Management is about improving population health by data driven planning and delivery of proactive care to achieve maximum impact.
The aim was to Introduce ‘Making Every Contact Count’ approach in the pre-assessment unit of engaging in conversations with patients about their lifestyle and providing the tools and information they need to make meaningful changes in managing
Hypertension, Diabetes
Smoking, Consuming alcohol, high BMI
Regular physical exercise, Healthy eating schedule
Adherence to prescribed medicines
In addition, establish link with the community public health team for continuous intervention and support.
We proposed to the hospital executive management board to develop and test a novel clinical nurse and pharmacist led ‘Population Health Management clinic’ for the hospital that is grounded in connections to key stakeholders in the community, so that patients are followed up to get lifestyle change interventions to improve their illnesses and medication adherence. The board approved the funding and we established the first of its kind population health management clinic in the hospital.
Obtaining funding for the project was an obstacle.
We surveyed 1,000 patients who attended the pre-assessment unit during the year.
31% were hypertensive, 13% diabetic, 12% were smokers, 29% had anxiety/ depression, 51% drink alcohol more than recommended limit; 50% have BMI >29; 41% were not adherent in taking their regular medicines, 41% do not practice any physical exercise and 50% said they do not follow healthy eating. We presented the audit data to the hospital executive management board proposing to develop a ‘Population Health Management clinic’. The board approved the funding as they found that this is a step forward to improve the health of the population.
Since the initiation of the project, the concept of proactive health intervention and life style change approach is well established in the hospital becoming daily practice of the pre-assessment team.
Establishing Population health management clinic in surgical pre-assessment unit provides a unique ‘teachable moment’, where a patient can be encouraged by a perioperative team to make positive and lasting changes to their lifestyle and medication adherence.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Outi Lapatto-Reiniluoto, Suvi Sivula, Elina Ahomäki
Price has been the most prominent criteria in procurement quality being the second. Environmental aspects haven’t been assessed earlier. Differences between the pharmaceuticals’ environmental burden can be considerable and by choosing wisely we would be more sustainable.
Environmental criteria have not been used in Finland in hospital procurements earlier. We created the criteria which would be acceptable to all parties (hospitals, suppliers), would be reliably assessed, and easily copied to other hospitals.
Our tender had six questions for everyone and two more questions for antibiotics or hormones. The common questions were answered by yes / no / we do not know. Points given were 0, 1, 2. An example of the common question is: Does the company have a plan how to reduce CO2 emissions caused by itself?
Questions for antibiotics and estrogen hormones were: Company has told in which country and in which plant the API is produced and the formulation happens.
132 providers answered so far. Quality of answers varied considerably, from 0 to 12 points, mean 7 points. Questions for antibiotics created the most discrepancies: 41 providers; 15 were not able to answer these questions acceptably. The answers showed that the questions were not too difficult, these questions could be answered, and the answers can be analysed.
The criteria were very simple and assessing the answers was not difficult. Only one question was widely misunderstood. Questions were universal and can be used in other hospitals, too, which is the wish from the industry (same questions everywhere). Wide range of results showed differences between the companies. During this round we did not give any credit for the best products but in the future more responsible products should be rewarded. Antimicrobial resistance e.g., is a global problem but if the company does not know where its products are manufactured how can they look after wastewater treatment of their products.
Education and Research
Anthony Serracino Inglott, Maria Mamo, Amar Abbas, Luana Mifsud Buhagiar
Regulatory science is not some detached activity performed in secluded offices but is applied by pharmacists as an integral part of their daily work, whether thought of as regulatory intelligence or not. This initiative endeavored to offer educational intervention, for streamlining a patient-centric culture and addressing gaps, while waning concerns regarding potential conflicts arising from regulator-stakeholder interactions.
The Malta Medicines Authority (MMA), through the MMA Academy for Patient Centred Excellence and Innovation in Regulatory Sciences, implemented a course intended for collaborative synergy with professionals in patient care settings. Strengthening regulatory intelligence may provide substantial return on investment for the ultimate benefit of patients.
In April 2023, the MMA Academy completed registration as a Further and Higher Educational Institution. An accredited 3-day course, leading to an Award in Basic Regulatory Sciences (Malta/European Qualifications Framework Level 4), was launched across stakeholders. Twenty-four experts were engaged to deliver sessions on legislation, ethics, quality, information sources, digitalization, pharmacovigilance, good practices, risk, and avoiding victims of the system. Registrations were initially slow, owing possibly to the holiday season, increasing to maximal venue capacity following reminder mails and media posts. The course was delivered in September and feedback collected through a Likert scale evaluation exercise.
Thirty participants (8 from public, 22 from private entities) completed the course successfully. All respondents to the course evaluation exercise (n=24) expressed satisfaction with course content and willingness to attend further courses. Promisingly, 92% of same respondents found the information presented relevant to their practice, anticipating performance improvement. Feedback included recommendations for future initiatives, particularly on regulatory oversight of aesthetic medicine services and integration of artificial intelligence in hospital pharmacy practices. A continuous educational needs exchange is encouraged for course development tailored to respective patient care settings.
Interest was expressed by the Health Department (Ministry for Health, Malta) to support eligible candidates for participation, auguring well for enhanced prospective engagement by clinical pharmacists and colleagues in the state hospitals. This may also serve as example to other competent authorities. Going forward, the MMA Academy intends to invest in online provision to reach a wider audience through a virtual environment.
Education and Research
Tom Simpson, Kristin Michaels, Kylee Hayward, Nick Sharp-Paul
The need to establish a recognition framework that resonated with pharmacists, aligned with their career journeys, and held tangible benefits prompted the inception of ANZCAP. Recognising that existing programmes lacked broad appeal, ANZCAP aimed to redefine recognition in a way that was meaningful, inclusive, and motivated pharmacists towards continuous development.
The Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (ANZCAP) represents a pioneering advancement in pharmacy recognition and career progression. Addressing the limitations of previous models that struggled to gain broad support, ANZCAP emerged as a strategic response to bridge the recognition gap within the pharmacy profession.
The development of ANZCAP commenced with the acquisition of the Advancing Practice (AP) credentialing programme by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA). Previous efforts to engage pharmacists with the programme were reassessed, and a comprehensive review process was initiated to devise an innovative and pragmatic model of recognition. Development comprised multiple phases, including qualitative surveys, workshops, focus groups, and expert consultations. An iterative approach was adopted to refine the model, culminating in a prospective, merit-based system that recognises specialty areas and levels of practice. The focus shifted from individual competencies to broader domains within the National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia 2016, fostering flexibility and practicality.
ANZCAP has already recognised pharmacists at all levels – Resident, Registrar, and Consultant – through a Prior Professional Experience process. The college also extends its reach globally, welcoming international pharmacists to join its transformative community.
ANZCAP’s future involves strengthening the alignment of recognition with promotion and remuneration mechanisms, enhancing engagement among pharmacists. By seamlessly integrating learning experiences with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities, ANZCAP aims to foster a culture of lifelong learning and advancement. In the broader landscape, ANZCAP’s journey involves cultivating partnerships with international pharmacy associations, leveraging collective expertise, and fostering an inclusive recognition culture. The programme’s evolution will be guided by feedback, research, and a commitment to advancing pharmacy practice globally.
