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.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Vanesa Alonso Castro, Pablo Jimenez Moreno, Marta Alcaraz Borrajo, Angel Luis Mataix Sanjuan, Beatriz Casamayor Lázaro, Maria Dolores García Cerezuela , Cristian Rosas Espinoza, Beatriz Santos Mena, Estrella Maroto García, Beatriz López Centeno, Daniele Alioto, María Jose Calvo Alcántara
MTX is an immunosuppressor drug utilised in certain types of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Its dosage and frequency of administration varies depending on indication.
Throughout the years, medication errors (ME) have been reported at national and supranational levels where patients have received excessive doses (the most common being daily administration of the drug rather than weekly) with severe consequences for the patients, including death.
In our RHS, 222 ME related to MTX have been reported in the last 5 years,seven of them resulted in harm to the patient.
An integral strategy to ensure the correct prescribing of weekly Methotrexate (MTX) was developed in a Regional Health Service (RHS).
1st PHASE (May 2021):
a. Monthly reporting to prescribers of their patients affected by duplicated prescriptions or incorrect dosing instructions for review and amending. These reports are available on the IT platform that collates prescribing indicators.
b. Development and dissemination of training materials to correctly prescribe medications with non-daily dosing instructions in the RHS electronic prescription tool.
2nd PHASE (After two years of follow-up):
a. Request to implement ME prevention plans (MEPP) to the hospitals of the RHS.
b. Creation and dissemination of informative material for patients and/or caregivers, where the weekly dosing instructions is emphasized.
Incidence of MTX prescribing mistakes: When this strategy was implemented, prescriptions for 2388 patients had been identified as potential mistakes. 1 year later, the incidence had diminished by 78.1% (2146 cases were resolved, 242 were still active and 310 were new). 2 years later, the incidence remained stable with a reduction of 78.5% thoroughout the whole period and 514 patients affected (150 new MTX prescribing mistakes in the last year).
• MEPP implantation (2nd PHASE): In two months, six hospitals (17.6% of all) implemented a MEPP. The key strategies that should be included in the MEPPs were disseminated to all hospitals by our team.
Thanks to this strategy, MTX prescribing mistakes have fallen by 78.5% in two years. However, prescribing mistakes continue to be made, which demonstrates the need for continuous training and awareness raising among prescribers to prevent ME related to MTX.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Maria Elisabetta Uda, Lucia Aledda, Melania Rivano, Monica Enrica Perpignano, Fabio Lombardo
Albumin has a limited availability, but also has a widespread and often incorrect clinical use, especially in hospitals. The check of daily human albumin prescriptions, revealed that the forms were not filled out correctly, the use was often inappropriate, in terms of quantity and indications, as malnutrition or hypoalbuminemia. Moreover, the previous prescription form was obsolete in view of recent studies. Therefore, it was deemed necessary to immediately update the forms for the request of albumin in terms of indications of use and posology.
The hospital pharmacy proposed the introduction of a new form for the prescription of human albumin solutions, in order to improve the appropriate use of this drug.
We carried out a literature review of the latest available evidence on the indications for the use of albumin solutions. The new form includes patient data and albuminemia values, the updated indications and the clinical conditions, in which the use of albumin is strongly encouraged and discouraged and inappropriate. It was authorised and shared with all hospital departments.
In addition, we started the analysis of personalised prescriptions, in paper format, before and after the introduction of the updated forms, and created a summary database of the indications and posology prescribed by clinicians.
Between January and August 2022, 24900 g of albumin were used, with a cost of €46.025. The preliminary analysis of 77 human albumin personalised prescriptions, relating to the months January to April 2022, shows that the forms were not filled out correctly (26%), the use of albumin was often inappropriate in terms of indications (30%) and quantity prescribed (83%).The use of the new introduced prescription forms has already enabled better dialogue between pharmacists and clinicians, providing a more complete guiding tool, fundamental for the discussion of prescribed therapy.
The hospital pharmacy will continue the analysis and discuss the results with the medical management and every hospital department. The aim is to improve the appropriate use of albumin, encouraging the clinicians to focus more accurately to the prescribed therapy. This will improve the quality and safety of patient care, generating significant cost savings.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Monira Alwhaibi
This study is the first project of the STOP ME projects which aims to develop a tool that can assess the application of the essential strategies that can stop or minimize MEs in healthcare institutes in Saudi Arabia. Consequently, stakeholders in the healthcare system can identify current gaps that need feature improvement to enhance patient safety
Medication Errors (ME) are defined as unintentional drug-induced harm that led to morbidity and mortality. The STOP (ME) project is a comprehensive series of research studies that aim to explore MEs in Saudi Arabia and how to stop such harmful events.
Extensive search of the literature review for the essential strategies to stop or minimize MEs was carried by the research team to develop a draft of the aimed tool. The survey tool was sent in round 1 to the Delphi experts’ panel for review. Based on received recommendations, the tool was updated and sent for round 2 review and consensus. The developed tool was then piloted to test the practicability of the tool before running the survey on large sample size (second project). The study was approved by the King Saud University Medical Centre IRB ethics committee [20/0153/IRB].
After using the Delphi technique two major changes happened to the survey. 1) Section A was removed (high alert medications). 2) A new section was added (ISMP publications) with some minor changes. Launching a pilot survey on thirty healthcare practitioners (physicians n=11, pharmacists n=10, nurses n=9) resulted in further minor changes by adding two new columns. The final tool was a survey consists of six sections including Demographics, Prescription, Dispensing, Administration, Monitoring and Quality, and Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals. All combined 86 questions with the determined time to answer the survey is in the range of 25-30 minutes. Overall feedback of the pilot survey was good.
This initiative “STOP ME” will have a significant impact in the field of medication safety research and will build awareness among institutes in Saudi Arabia that are lacking important strategies that prevent MEs
