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.
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
MARIANNE DE LACROIX DE LA VALETTE
Managing medications in hospitals is both a health and an economic issue.
Hospital pharmacists are working to improve supply, traceability, safety and stock management in order to meet these challenges.
Healthcare staff must be able to administer the medications prescribed to patients in complete safety, with the products available at the time of order. The management of medications within the department represents a significant amount of time that needs to be reduced.
The objective of this study was to analyse the impact of deploying automated dispensing cabinets (ADC) in a cardiac surgery intensive care unit within a university hospital in France.
In 2022, an on-site study was conducted in the cardiac intensive care unit (18 beds) at Rennes University Hospital. The aim was to quantify the time allocated to manage medications before and after the installation of the automated dispensing cabinet.
Several types of measurable metrics were identified and compared. These include picking time for nurses of medications for administration to the patient; time allocated for ordering and storing medications; time to respond to emergency orders; management of narcotics; and time in the management of expired medications.
A comparison of the pre and post installation of the automated dispensing cabinet showed nursing time savings in the picking of controlled drugs of 53%. Overall restocking time was decreased by 9%. The number of urgent order requests to pharmacy was decreased by 51%.
The time allocated towards removing expired medications was reduced by 3.8 days / year (nurse FTE). Lastly, the implementation of automated dispensing cabinets reduced the value of the department’s stock by 26%.
The time spent by nurses in managing medications was significantly reduced after the installation of automated dispensing cabinets. However, some of this time is transferred to the central pharmacy towards restocking the medications into the automated dispensing cabinets.
The automated dispensing cabinets makes it possible to monitor the stock of medicines in a department on a daily basis. This enables for data driven decision making on selection of decentralized stock and respective quantities to maintain.
The deployment of automated dispensing cabinets improves overall efficiencies and allows more time for nurses to provide direct patient care.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Easter Mark
Medicines storage was low tech in a new high tech Private Finance Initiative (PFI) hospital and security was operationally heavy on nursing teams. The trust was on a journey to Electronic Patient Records (EPR). What was needed was a solution that bought both challenges together – how we implement improved medicines storage that fully leverage the power of a hospital EPR system.
Trust-wide implementation of Automated Dispensing Systems, initially to drive safer and legislative compliance with storage. Since implementation, we have improved management of medicines during shortages, taken waste out of operational delivery around supply of medicines, informed teams around medicines safety during heat waves, and we are on a journey to closed loop medicines administration.
A business case recognising the reputational impact of poor Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessment of security, nurse led audit work recognising the impact of medicines handling on Time to Care and recruiting enthusiasts to support the programme.
All wards and departments have automated dispensing systems for medication storage – 72 units, including two in pharmacy for controlled drugs and after-hours support.
Medication Safety officer (MSO) used live view to track high risk medicines throughout Covid-19 and beyond. Never missed a dose of high risk medicines by utilising this technology over the Covid period.
Temperature monitoring gives an overview of real time temperature of all stock areas to support informed decision-making during hot and warm weather. Digital ordering by automated dispensing systems has reduced nurse time handling medicines by using pharmacy team time saved from ordering medicines redeployed to fill cabinets instead of nurses.
Increasing breadth of stock holding as top up thrice or more weekly rather than just weekly across Trust.
Planning benefits of integrating a robot dispensing system and hospital information system next spring. Robotic storage supporting real-time medicines management from stock to temperature all with enhanced security and removes process waste from process especially when combined with other digital initiatives. Trust Go-Live with Cerner in spring 2023 and use of cabinets to support closed loop administration.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Louise Refsgaard, Linda Skovsted, Nina Bøggild
The medical supply vending machines were implemented during 2021 as a way of direct-to-patient distribution of medicine with more flexibility. The aim was to offer 24-hour access to collect medicine at a location that suits the patient, e.g. close to the patient’s home.
Medical supply vending machines were implemented in the Capital Region of Denmark. The vending machines allow patients to collect their medicine whenever and wherever it suits them. It is the patient’s healthcare professional that controls and orders the medicine. The hospital pharmacy staff consults the prescription and labels, dispenses and records the medicine and places it in the vending machine for collection.
Patient and staff satisfaction was surveyed.
The implementation of this new direct-to-patient distribution method was carried out by the Capital Region Hospital Pharmacy in close collaboration with the region’s hospitals and outpatient departments. Installing the machines was fast but a full implementation requires that the clinical staff rethink their practice and accept that dispensing is no longer their responsibility. This has been the biggest obstacle along with creating patient safe procedures.
7 medical supply vending machines were installed centrally in hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark. The machines are now used to distribute medicine to some of the region’s outpatients.
The patient satisfaction survey showed that the patients are very satisfied with the vending machines: 100 % are either ‘highly satisfied’ (86 %) or ‘satisfied’ (14 %) with the new service, and 97 % would like to use it again. The staff was also satisfied with the new service.
Additionally, the quality of medicine dispensing is increased due to hospital pharmacy staff dispensing the medicine rather than nurses.
In order to offer flexibility to patients and increase the quality of dispensing of medicine, we aim to increase the number of patients that collect their medicine from the vending machines by using the current machines in their full capacity and installing more machines. We also aim to collaborate with Denmark’s other 4 regions, so that patients, who are treated outside their home region, can collect their medicine in a vending machine closer to their home.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
PALOMA CRESPO-ROBLEDO, MARIA SEGURA BEDMAR, IRENE ESCRIBANO VALENCIANO, NURIA BLAZQUEZ-RAMOS, BEATRIZ MARTIN CRUZ, CARMEN MORIEL SANCHEZ
Patient safety is an essential component of quality care. It’s known that EDs are an element of risk for the onset of adverse events due to conditions related to patients’ comorbidity, communication problems, medication errors and working conditions like limited information about the patient, workload, interruptions, shifts, etc. It was detected that reconciliation of medication was not performed; neither validation of the medication prescribed and medications were stocked with no order and control.
A project was developed to increase patient safety in the Emergency Department (ED) based on the presence of a hospital pharmacist in the team.
First thing was to review and validate the medication prescribed in patients who were under observation, at the same time performing a reconciliation given their acute situation. This way a relationship between nurses, physicians, patients and pharmacist was established.
Then, electronic prescription software was integrated within the automated dispensing cabinet (ADC), eliminating potential errors choosing the right drug. Only when a pharmacist has checked the medication, the list appears in the display and can be taken out all at once. The main problem has been to agree the stocks and how nurses can return easily and operatively the medication in order to not accumulate it out of the ADC.
Pharmacists’ clinical figure is being disclosed in a country where Hospital Pharmacy is a central and close department. In 43 days, 428 patients got their prescription checked in the ED, 346 pharmaceutical interventions were made in 198 patients, a median (IQR) average of 1 (1,2) interventions per patient. The main reason for an intervention was the adequacy to pharmaceutical forms included in the Hospital(n=130), followed by reconciliation interventions(n=77). Category of errors detected were mostly B (NCC MERP), showing pharmacists can detect an error occurred but that did not reach the patient
Hospital pharmacists should show their clinical and logistic potential, fighting with other health professionals to increase safety and care in patients. ED is the entrance of patients into the health system and where more errors can be committed, the work of a pharmacist should start at ED to prevent errors and give support and be part of the team.
