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.
The Early Career Network aims to empower early-career pharmacists by sharing opportunities, insights, and success stories from across 25 member countries.
Together, we’re building a stronger, more connected hospital pharmacy community: one story, one country, one pharmacist at a time.
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.
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.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Cruz Pardos, S. González Andrés, D. López San Román, MA
One of the standards established by the Joint Commission (JC) involves the identification of medications that may have risk to patients and/or be a potential source of error during its dispensation or administration. This includes look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medications, high-risk medications (HRMs) defined by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), concentrated electrolytes, and hazardous drugs (HD) according to NIOSH classification.
A tag system was designed using color-coded stickers with specific text to identify each of the medication groups defined above:
• Red stickers with the statement “High risk medication” for HRMs.
• Red stickers with the statement “Dilute before administration” for concentrated electrolytes.
• Yellow stickers with the statement “Reproductive risk” or “Hazardous drug – handle with care” for HD.
• LASA medications: Red stickers were used for those that are also high-alert, while green stickers were applied to non-high-alert LASA drugs.
In addition, for medications requiring repackaging, the repackaging protocol was modified. The changes included:
• Labelling the medication profile with either HIGH-ALERT MEDICATION or HAZARDOUS DRUG.
• Using different photoprotective packaging paper: red for HRMs and yellow for HD
At first, two working protocols were developed:
1. Labelling protocol, detailing the characteristics of each type of sticker used to identify the different medication categories.
2. Repackaging protocol, ensuring proper identification of these medications during the repackaging process.
Secondly, lists of every category were compiled of the hospital’s available medications.
For LASA medications, brand names and images were included to improve differentiation and minimize errors.
• Identification of each medication according to their category at every stage of the medication use process: reception, storage, dispensing, and administration.
• Increased awareness among nursing staff regarding the safe and appropriate handling of these medications.
• The impact of these labelling project among all medicaments available in our hospital was: MAR: 18,6% , MP: 6,1% and LASA: 15,24%
• Develop a procurement protocol aimed at reducing the number of LASA medications.
• Raise awareness within the pharmaceutical industry about the importance of clearly differentiating pharmaceutical products.
• Automate the labelling process as much as possible, to avoid repetitive work.
Introductory Statements and Governance
Ane Hornbaek Mortensen
Previously, a quarterly report showing adherence to national treatment guidelines was issued to all hospital administrations in our region. It was their responsibility to forward this to the appropriate specialists/consultants. This often failed and even when it was done, our experience showed that it wasn’t read by the consultants. Consequently, prescription patterns didn’t change despite the report highlighting the wards that weren’t complying with the national treatment guidelines.
Short newsletters including graphs/tables showing the ward’s degree of adherence to national treatment guidelines were emailed to the chief consultant of the specific ward.
In our region a 6-person analytical team, which includes 3 hospital pharmacists, monitors adherence to national treatment guidelines issued by our national council for the use of expensive hospital medicines (RADS). Based on the results, the analytical team decides which newsletters to write. The hospital pharmacists in the analytical team are responsible for writing the newsletters and emailing them direct to the relevant specialist/consultant.
It seems as if the introduction of more targeted information has led to more rapidly changing prescription patterns. One example is oral iron chelating agents to hematological patients where a RADS guideline was issued recommending that all new patients should receive deferipron instead of deferasirox. This information was initially issued through the usual channels (via hospital administration) but no change in the use of deferipron/deferasirox was seen. This only happened after emailing a newsletter directly to the chief consultants of the three hematology wards in our region, showing the current use of deferipron/deferasirox and the potential cost reduction. Nine months and three newsletters later the percentage of deferipron use on the hematology wards increased from 2% to 27%, leading to a 22% cost reduction. Target was 25% deferipron (the guideline only covered new patients). The total increase in the percentage of deferipron use on hospitals in our region was 351% compared to an increase of between 0 and 19% in the other four national regions.
Continued and increased use of targeted communication in the health care system is required to ensure that specific information reaches the relevant players.
