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.
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
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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.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Carmen Redondo Galán, Cristina Ortega Navarro, Ana de Lorenzo Pinto, Beatriz Torroba Sanz, Cecilia Martínez Fernández-Llamazares, Silvia Manrique Rodríguez, Álvaro Narrillos Moraza, Carmen Rodríguez González, Ana Herranz Alonso , María Sanjurjo Sáez
Transitions of care put the patients at risk for medication error as a result of poor communication and information loss. Treatment beginnings, complex treatment and medication reconciliation errors are an important cause of morbidity and have a predominant role in chronic complex patients (CCP). In this sense, collaboration and effective communication between hospital and community pharmacy are considered essential elements to guarantee continuity of patient care, obtaining better health results in terms of safety, effectiveness and efficiency.
Create and implement a collaborative network with direct communication between the Hospital Pharmacy Service of a tertiary hospital and the community pharmacies responsible for patient follow -up.
A multidisciplinary group of hospital pharmacists dedicated to different clinical areas was created: three pharmacists from the Emergency Department, two from the Paediatrics Department, one from the Neurology Department and one from the Outpatients area. They selected and contacted by telephone the 40 community pharmacies responsible for 25% of patient prescriptions in the area. Periodic meetings were scheduled and possible strategic lines of collaboration were shared. The following priority groups were identified: Group 1: CCP (paediatric patients and fragile elderly patients) and Group 2: patients treated in the hospital emergency department. We addressed logistical aspects (supplies and preparation of formulations), pharmacotherapeutic monitoring (adherence, adverse drug reactions and collaboration in the management of CCP). The main limitations were small population and short follow-up time.
From March 2023 to September 2023, the hospital Pharmacy Service has received 50 consultations on 45 patients from community pharmacies: 85% were classified as group 1 and 15% group 2. Pharmaceutical interventions were related to medical shortages (28%), reconciliation errors at discharge (22%), information about formulations (20%), information about new treatments (15%), prescribing errors (12%) and adverse drug reactions (3%). Community pharmacists appreciated accessibility and value of information provided by hospital pharmacists. 50% of patients avoided a hospital visit to solve their queries.
Our first results show the importance of pharmacist interventions with patients and other healthcare professionals.This collaborative network can be applicable to all services that work with community pharmacies to guarantee greater coordination and integration in the different healthcare settings.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Vanessa Gomes, Jonathan De Gregori, Greta Dusabe, Hélène Feyeux, Cyril Boronad
MiS is a telephone service that provides free, reliable information about medicines to all patients and their caregivers. Requests are handled by experienced hospital pharmacists. It is important to know how patients behave after calling MiS in order to assess the benefits of this service on the proper use of medicines.
The aim of this study was to assess patients’ behaviour regarding their medication after calling the MiS.
After prior agreement, patients were called back 7 days later to answer a specific survey including six questions: Was the medication changed after the call? Did the patient follow the advice of the MiS pharmacist? Did the patient consult a doctor? or another source of information? Did the patient feel that their health had improved? What are the benefits of this service?
Between 2024/03/05 and 2024/03/18, 20 callers completed the survey (65%). Most questions concerned drug interactions (48%), followed by side effects (22%), drug stability (7%), administrative information (7%), indications/contraindications (7%), product availability (3,%), proper use (3%) and dosage (3%). Thanks to the advice of MiS pharmacists, 47% of callers started taking their medication: half of these were prescribed by their doctor and the other half self-administered. Around a third of treatments were continued without change, while 6% were modified. Finally, 12% of treatments were discontinued because of side effects. After calling MiS, 15% of patients consulted a doctor and 15% consulted other sources of information (neighbours, health professionals, etc.). More than half of the patients felt that their health had improved after calling MiS. Lastly, 70% of patients described MiS as safe, 40% as accessible, 35% as available and 30% as a time-saver.
The demand for MiS shows that patients are looking for more information about their treatments, even if they have already consulted a healthcare professional. The number of treatments prescribed by the doctor that were only initiated after the call also illustrates the benefits of the MiS service. It is an additional service that can reassure callers and contribute to the proper use of medicines by conveying a positive image of treatments and information suited to callers’ knowledge.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
NURIA FERNANDEZ PIÑEIRO, CRISTINA GONZALEZ PEREZ, LIDIA YBAÑEZ GARCIA, NATALIA SANCHEZ-OCAÑA MARTÍN, JOSE MANUEL MARTINEZ SESMERO
In our area all care for PrEP users was centralised in a specialised centre. Here, a multidisciplinary team made up of doctors, nurses and pharmacists integrated in a patient-centred care model. PrEP users are a potentially vulnerable population. Health education and motivation are provided in the PhC consultations to raise awareness about the use of medication and adherence to treatment, which are key to avoiding HIV infection. The use of sex-related drugs is a growing health problem in this population and has been associated with increased HIV transmission risk.
Development and implementation of a monographic pharmaceutical care (PhC) consultation for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users.
On 20 January 2020, the PhC consultation was launched in a monographic STI care centre linked to a tertiary hospital.
– On the same day as the first medical appointment, the user attends a PhC appointment. In this unit the user receives the necessary information to properly take the medication. Possible interactions are reviewed, not only with medications, but also with natural medicine, sports supplements and drugs. All doubts are resolved and the medication is dispensed.
– Every 3 months medical follow-up is carried out and, in the PhC consultation, where not only possible adverse effects are reviewed, but also adherence and related problems are specially monitored. To increase the quality of care, active communication between all health personnel was ensured.
Until 30 September 2022, 3,460 initial visits and 13,349 follow-up visits have been made (411 of them through telepharmacy during the lockdown as a result of the global pandemic by SARS-CoV-2). From the users, 98.98% were men who have sex with men (MSM), 0.80% transgender women, 0.04% transgender men and 0.18% were women. 70.3% used sex-related drugs (Chemsex), with the most used substances being Popper (37.1%), mephedrone (28.2%) and gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) (24.6%).
In our experience, the role of hospital pharmacists as a reference health personnel for HIV-PrEP users has become clear, not only as an expert in medication. Given the prevalence of drug use in this population makes the health education that we hospital pharmacists can provide especially important.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Ana Rita Silva, Cláudia Santos
Low-risk pregnant women are also prone to suffer from minor pathological conditions, such as migraines, low back pain, gastrointestinal disorders. In view of this particularity, collaboration was requested from the pharmaceutical services to prepare a therapeutic guide to make available to all doctors in the hospital, in particular general and family medicine.
Develop a pocket guide with OTC medicines classification in pregnant women for the following symptoms: pain control; colds; gastrointestinal changes and skin changes, according to Food and Drug Association (FDA) classification, for general and family practice physicians in the hospital.
It was necessary to define which pathologies/symptoms we would focus on, this choice was made in collaboration with the person responsible for the obstetrics service. Then, focusing our work on low-risk pregnant women, we selected some drugs that are prescribed to non-pregnant women for chosen pathologies/symptomatologies. These drugs were thus analysed in view of their safe use in low-risk pregnant women using tools such as the summary of drug characteristics, the FDA website, the UpToDate online platform. The guide was made available to general and family physicians.
The drug classification was compiled in a table organised by INN, divided by pathology/symptomatology, with the FDA classification and also a column with a pictogram indicating the safety of the drug for use during pregnancy. The acceptance by clinicians was very positive, reinforcing that it is important to pay special attention when prescribing in the 1st and 3rd trimester of pregnancy, use the lowest effective dose and for the shortest possible period, avoid using “new” drugs unless there are safety studies.
The next step to support clinicians will be to develop other tools to help prescribe other classes of drugs as well as another population group, such as safe drugs in breastfeeding.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Mathilde ROCHE, Niccolo CURATOLO, Marion ADLER, José POLO DEVOTO, André RIEUTORD
Many smoking patients are not identified as smokers when admitted at the hospital, depriving them of any help to quit smoking. During medication reconciliation at admission (MR), the pharmacist is in a position to identify smoking patients and then offer a support programme.
An integrated care model based on a smoking cessation programme was designed to assist smoking patients to quit tobacco. Pharmacy and addictology departments co-built and led the project. It was implemented and proposed to patients from May 2018 in three medical and surgical wards.
The project included five steps:
1. Training of one clinical pharmacist about smoking cessation by the addictology team.
2. Designing the process and developing tools used for a smoking cessation programme.
3. Implementing the programme.
4. Evaluating the pilot phase.
5. Developing a comprehensive training programme (including role-play sessions) for the pharmaceutical team.
The process counted six steps:
1. Smoking patients’ identification (MR, patient record, request from doctors). If the patient was polyaddicted, the addictology team was informed.
2. First patient visit: patient consent was collected, anamnesis related to tobacco and explanation about nicotine’s mechanisms and nicotine substitutes given. Appropriate nicotine substitutes were selected and tested with the patient.
3. Prescription and administration of nicotine substitutes.
4. Second patient visit (24 to 48 hours’ later): nicotine substitutes adjusted if needed.
5. Third patient visit if needed.
6. Discharge medication reconciliation.
During 4 months, 62 patients were identified as smokers during MR interviews. Twenty-seven per cent of the patients (n= 17) were sent to the addictology team because of polyaddiction, 39% (n=24) refused the programme and 34% (n=21) accepted to experience our support programme. Of these, 62% (n=13) either reduced or quit smoking during hospitalisation.
According to our encouraging preliminary results, this programme will continue to be carried on by the pharmaceutical team, while keeping a close link with the addictology team. We decided to call the patients one week and one month after discharge to better assess the performance of our smoking cessation programme.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Gregorio Romero Candel, Paula Ruiz Belda, Carmen Caballero Requejo, Maria Jesus Sanchez Cuenca, Jose Marco del Rio, Juilan Castillo Sanchez, Luna Carratala Herrera
Some drugs dispensed in the outpatient office present interactions with food, leading to changes in their bioavailability. These changes which can result in a decrease in therapeutic activity or an increase in adverse effects, when dealing with narrow therapeutic margin drugs, may lead to alterations in their efficacy and/or toxicity. Developing the quick and accessible consultation table, we improved the quality and effectiveness of the treatment.
Preparation of the drug and food interaction guide for outpatient consultations.
The technical specifications of all drugs that are dispensed in the hospital outpatient office were consulted, and the possible interactions with food of every one of them were analysed by consulting the following electronic databases: Technical sheet, Bot Plus, Micromedex, Pubmed, UpToDate and Online Medicine Information Centre of the AEMPS. A database was developed with drugs that presented some type of restriction with meals, designing a quick reference table for outpatient consultation.
One-hundred specialities were reviewed, of which 22 were to be taken without food, 43 with food and 35 could be taken with or without food. The information given to the patient was quick and efficient, improving the effectiveness and safety of the treatment.
Our goal is to continue developing tools that allow us to provide quality information to the patient, improving the effectiveness and safety of treatments.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Maria Kundracikova, Petra Pölzleitner, Katharina Ocko, Bernadette Aretin, Barbara Datterl, Klara Jadrna, Eva-Luise Hobl, Martin Holbik, Sonja Steininger-Salmer, Helga Fend, Gerda Laml-Wallner, Martina Anditsch, Gunar Stemer
Due to limited human ressources (8 FTE) in the medicines information and clinical pharmacy department only selected wards could be provided with daily clinical pharmacists’ presence offering medication review, patient discharge counselling and ward round participation. To expand the reach of our clinical services, two further service pillars were introduced complementing the already existing services.
The Vienna General Hospital is a 1900 bed university hospital in which patients and health care professionals have access to hospital pharmacists’ expertise via various channels. In addition to already existing services (i.e. provision of hospital-wide medicines information and clinical pharmacy services on particularly selected wards) two new services (i.e. e-pharmacy consult and a dedicated drug interactions and pharmacotherapy clinic) have recently been implemented.
As ward services are staff-intensive, alternatives to expand the access of patients and health care professionals to the hospital pharmacists’ expertise were examined. An e-pharmacy consult was designed, implemented, and promoted in collaboration with the hospital IT department. E-consults can electronically be requested by all wards (e.g. for medication review, patient counselling), but mainly aim at those areas which are not regularly covered by a clinical pharmacist. E-consults are executed by the medicines information pharmacist on duty. Recently, a special clinic was implemented as a collaborative project with the clinical pharmacology department addressing the specific medicines-related needs of patients with complex medication regimens.
The scope of services provided by the department currently comprises four pillars: (1) provision of medicines information (2016: 1.200 requests), (2) clinical pharmacy services (2016: 9.000 medication-related problems prevented), (3) pharmacy e-consults, and (4) the drug interactions and pharmacotherapy clinic. While the scope and reach of services was expanded by diversification, the two new services are operated with existing ressources after reassignment of tasks.
After the implementation of new services (i.e. e-consult, clinic) constant promotion is needed to increase the awareness level among health care professionals in the hospital. Quality assurance and continuity of service provision is crucial for acceptance.
E. Celikkayalar, E. Suvikas-Peltonen, J. Palmgren
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
A. Rodríguez-Perez, M.I. Sierra-Torres, M.D. Toscano-Guzmán, A. Monzón-Moreno, M. Soriano-Martinez, A. Lluch-Colomer, M.D. Santos-Rubio
According to the guidelines and recommendations for the rational use of medication, prescriptions of HAARTs must be standardised following the principles of efficiency and based on the best evidence available.
A multidisciplinary group of clinical pharmacists and physicians made an easy-to-read handout that summarised the main recommendations of GESIDA for the treatment of naive patients, treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The hand-out consisted of a table with the allowed and not-allowed antiretroviral combinations and the exceptions. The multidisciplinary group disseminated the handout to the prescribers through clinical sessions. The multidisciplinary group made a 6 month study to evaluate the adherence to GESIDA, previous and after the implementation of the easy-to-read handout.
We did not have any problem implementing these recommendations or organizing the clinical sessions.
The multidisciplinary group made a retrospective study of the 6-months previous the implementation of the handout, by a chart review of the prescriptions. One hundred naive patients were evaluated. We found an eleven per cent of deviations of the recommendations, none of them justified. The multidisciplinary group made a prospective study during a 6-months period after the implementation of the handout, by a chart review of the prescriptions. Seventy-one naive patients were evaluated. We found a 7% of deviations of the recommendations, three of them were justified because of co-morbidity that contraindicated the recommended medication. We also made a follow-up of the treatment of the patients of the retrospective study, six of the eleven patients of that group changed their HAART to the recommended ones.
The multidisciplinary team has periodic meetings to evaluate the adherence to the recommendations and to study news reported by GESIDA. The economic impact of the practice is planned to be evaluated.
