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.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Marie Guedon, Maëliss Laurent, Thibault Vallecillo, Catherine Mennesson, Mélanie Jennesson Lyver, Dominique Hettler, Céline Mongaret
In March 2021, the “Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament” initiated an experiment to evaluate the relevance and feasibility of the availability of MC as a narcotic drug, in France. In our hospital, we included children to treat drug-resistant epilepsy, and performed a dispensing process to secure the patient care pathway and strengthen collaboration between hospital pharmacists and primary care professional.
The aim of this study is to secure the care pathway of patients included in a national experimentation of medical cannabis (MC) by developing pharmaceutical interviews. Thus, to optimize the continuity of patient care, a pharmaceutical report was developed, and addressed to the community pharmacists of the patient.
A working group was created including clinical pharmacists, a neuropediatrician and a coordination nurse. During medical consultations, pharmaceutical interviews were conducted and led to pharmaceutic reports, sent to the community pharmacies of the patients. In order to evaluate this report, a satisfaction survey was carried out.
During the first six months of the experimentation, three children were included. The clinical pharmacist team (two senior pharmacists and two pharmacy residents) performed ten dispensing processes. During the eight pharmaceutical interviews, four pharmaceutical interventions were performed. Firstly, the interaction between clobazam and MC (noticed in one patient) required a dosage adjustment. Then, the association between MC and hepatotoxic drugs (found in two patients) requires hepatic monitoring. A pharmacovigilance statement was also drafted to report side effects (digestive disorders). The satisfaction survey of community pharmacists showed that the transmitted information, mostly related to the medication review, was considered as useful for the community pharmacies of the patients. This data helped to guide the pharmaceutical interviews during their dispensing process.
Pharmaceutical interviews and their reports lead to secure the patient care pathway and improve the communication amongst health care professionals. Those measures provide an optimal case management and avoid therapeutic breakdown. Nevertheless, difficulties have been reported, mostly due to delay in the supply chain of the community pharmacies. Therefore, this system requires some adjustments before it can be applied on a larger scale. One of the suggestions is a provisional calendar of consultations and dispensations.
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
Chemotherapy prescribing errors could arise even when computerized systems are used. Additional evaluation of prescribed chemotherapy is needed, to prevent any harm to the patient and rise the level of patent’s safety.
Preparation of written standard operating procedure that could help recognize the errors between the electronic chemotherapy record of prescribing and actual drug delivery.
Chemotherapy prescribing is a complex process encompassing prescription of cytotoxic medicines, infusion fluids and supportive care. Cytotoxic medicines have a narrow therapeutic range and actual dosage is usually adjusted according to the body surface area, weight or creatinine clearance. Minor alterations can have a significant effects on cytotoxicity, therefore the computerized prescribing is preferred. The dose is automatically calculated from the pre-inserted chemotherapy protocols and patient data.
Each computerized chemotherapy prescription should be closely reviewed by standard operating procedure, step by step, to complete the validation of chemotherapy accordingly.
Detected error should be noted by the pharmacist and corrected by the referring oncologist.
During the period from 1st January to 30st September 2021, approximatly. 13.400 chemotherapy prescription have been received at our pharmacy department. In 848 cases of prescribed chemotherapy, intervention of a pharmacist has been required because of inappropriate prescription. Among that, in 100 cases, computerized prescribing errors were identified. These errors identified were: wrong patient (2), incorrect dose prescribed (38), incorrect chemotherapy protocol chosen (30), incorrect day of chemotherapy administration prescribed (3), erroneous height or weight (1), incorrect glomerular filtration rate calculation for carboplatin (1), dual chemotherapy (9), change of the drug in pre-entered protocol (5), incomplete prescription (missing validation) (11).
Good cooperation with oncologist and oncology nurses, who are aware of clinical pharmacists pivotal role in
error avoidance, is needed.
Written standard operating procedure should be useful to detect common errors and to guide corrective actions, which can help
experienced clinical pharmacist and should be used as a tool for pharmacist trainees and student to learn
how to work accordingly to the protocols in use.
Production and Compounding
PILAR RANZ ORTEGA, MARÍA ARRIETA LOITEGUI, DANIEL GONZALEZ ANDRES, ANA MARÍA AGUI CALLEJAS, MARIA TERESA POZAS DEL RIO
– Optimize the workflow:Nursing staff are independent in final product quality control.Dissapear the manual register of compounding sterile preparations.Fewer mixtures are discarded.Also in Pharmacy Service only elaborate the sterile preparations with an economic and safety impact.
– Improve the safety of drug administration in pediatric patients: there are ready-to-use commercial parenteral presentations, which can lead to errors when dosing per kilo,fe: enoxaparin…
– Optimize economic savings:all excess vials are reused
Previously,some parenteral drugs were compounded at Pharmacy Service.The rest of the vials were discarded daily,so the pharmacist had to anticipated some elaborations not to throw,so then some were suspended.
Also, the pharmacists done the final product quality control,it could be delayed the dispensing and specially when it´s necessary to repeat the mixture.
The changes were:
– Re-selection of the parenteral drugs compounded at Pharmacy Service by:
• Economic criterio:the cost of drug has to be >20 euros/vial
• Safety for the pediatric patient:redose individually parenteral drugs “readytouse”
– Review the storage conditions:physicochemical (technical data sheet drug,Stabilis web) and microbiological stability (Good practices for preparation drugs in hospital pharmacy services publised by Spain Goverment) of all parenteral drugs previously selected.Although the physicochemical stability is higher,the final stability will be limited by the microbiological stability and the risk level microbial contamination(USP 2004).
– Standard Operating Procedures with structured and updated information
– Reuse of partially used multi dose vials:we reviewed the physicochemical and microbiological stability of open vial
– Final product quality control by nursing staff
– Save time to pharmacist:daily scheduling instead of anticipated elaboration of sterile preparations
– A nurse involved in the circuit change giving her feedback on the changes
– Traceability of the rests of the vials:stickers are affixed to the opened vials indicating the reconstitution data and the expiration date
– Final product quality control should be done by a diferente nurse to elaborated to detect potencial errors
The total cost savings for this year is 295.778€. After the circuit´s change, the savings have increased by 55% for liposomal amphotericin b, 51% defibrotide, 24% micafungin.
Compounding sterile preparations individualized in Pharmacy Service to patients hospitalized at home, transplanted of hematopoietic progenitors and immunocompromised
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
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Mariosa Kieran
Review of the 2019 Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Medication Safety Monitoring Programme, and in-house Emergency Department (ED) medication variances review identified that risk reduction strategies for specific high-risk drugs and high-risk situations were required.
A multidisciplinary team reviewed and implemented initiatives to improve medication safety practices for procedural sedation, emergency tray drugs and ketamine use in emergency settings was undertaken.
• Multidisciplinary teams (MDT) of key stakeholders were formed to review each high-risk drug / practice requiring improvement.
• The MDT developed the required procedures and policies that were further reviewed and approved by the relevant hospital committees.
• The MDT supported roll out of the improvement initiatives through communication, staff education and process review.
• A hospital wide procedural sedation policy and patient information leaflet was developed. Competencies for staff that perform procedural sedation have been identified. A specific procedural sedation incident report form has been piloted. A poster detailing the process for sedation reversal is in development.
• Emergency tray drug preparation, storage and use has been standardised across all hospital settings, including the introduction of dedicated emergency drug bags. The bags enable prompt drug retrieval during emergencies and supports safe storage, documentation and disposal of used /unused emergency drugs.
• A protocol for ED use of ketamine was developed. The protocol supports safe use of ketamine for specific emergency indications for which there is little published information, e.g. procedural sedation, analgesia and agitation.
• The initiatives were implemented and included in ED simulation training.
The described medication safety initiatives have considered the practice challenges for high risk drug access and use in emergency settings. The initiatives have standardised processes for specific high-risk drugs, supporting safer use. MDT collaboration ensured early and ongoing staff engagement from applicable disciplines, facilitating implementation and practice changes. Evaluation of the initiatives in practice is currently under review. The initiatives and learnings are transferrable to other emergency clinical settings.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
MOHAMMED ADNANE EL WARTITI, WAFAA ENNEFFAH, BOUCHRA MEDDAH, MUSTAPHA BOUATIA
The GPG was developed in a concern of practices standardization to guarantee the safety and efficacy of parenteral antibiotics, especially those stored in vials which reuse in possible only if conditions of administration and stability are respected.
We developed a Good Practice Guide (GPG) for the usage of major available parenteral antibiotics.
After we listed all parenteral antibiotics available at the hospital pharmacy, we selected the most used ones and we synthesized all manufacturers’ data to establish a GPG for their administration. We also used literature data to complete missing information in “Summaries of Product Characteristics” related to pediatric use of these drugs. Finally we determined the most antibiotics consuming units according to their defined daily doses, where GPG recommendations will be implemented, before their extension to all other units.
The GPG concerned the most used antibiotics, which mainly belong to the following classes: Beta-lactam, Glycopeptide and Imidazole antibiotics, Aminoglycosides and Quinolones. It specifies the galenical presentation, used solvents, volume and duration of administration, stability after reconstitution as well as incompatibilities and special measures relating to the use of these drugs. The most antibiotics consuming units are pediatric intensive care units, “IIB” pediatric unit and pediatric surgical emergency department.
The approach used in this work can be adopted in other similar structures in order to establish GPGs within the framework of a quality control policy aiming to raise the standard of care.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Jon Michaeli, Bryan Li
The novel delivery method provides an on-demand option for senior citizens at higher risk of serious Covid-19 infections to receive health essentials while maintaining social distancing. The program launched before Covid-19 vaccines were publicly available, and was sustained during a period of especially intense Covid-19 spread in the US from Nov 2020 – Jan 2021.
In early May 2020, Matternet, CVS, and UPS launched direct-to-consumer drone delivery of prescription medicines and other health goods to The Villages, the United States’s largest retirement community with more than 135,000 residents. The operations have expanded in scope since and are ongoing
The drone flights were conducted by Matternet’s M2V9 UAV platform and drew upon the companies’ experience operating other US healthcare drone networks. Deliveries are dispatched from CVS store 8381 and flown to New Covenant United Methodist Church, with final delivery to front porches via golf cart. This is an important milestone on the journey to drone delivery to individual homes at scale.
Matternet and UPS have completed 2,500+ deliveries to date. The partnership has expanded operations to Elan Buena Vista, another retirement community nearby. The program’s success helped pave the way for other healthcare drone programs, including a new route at Wake Forest Baptist where Matternet and UPS are transporting Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines (first ever in the US).
Full automation achieved via Matternet’s proprietary drone port, the “Station,” will permit pharmaceutical drone delivery at scale and accelerate the roll-out of city-wide networks that give pharmacists more flexibility around where and how patients receive medicines. These networks will support and accelerate the shift to tele-health and “hospital at home” as well as just-in-time inventory management, with significant potential to reduce medical waste through stock centralization. First commercial deployment of the Station occurred in Lugano, Switzerland in September 2021. The same month, Matternet announced a partnership with the Abu Dhabi Department of Health and the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority to launch a city-wide medical network serving 40+ locations by 2023. Similar systems are planned for Europe, in cities such as Zurich, Berlin and Athens.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
To achive the international Organization for Standardization (ISO)´s objectives related to medication errors.
A multidisciplinary isoappearances group formed by a clinical pharmacist, a nurse, and two physicians has been set up on site at the ER.
Observational study.
In the future, hopefully medication errors at the emergency setting would be reduced.
Because the Isoappearance group will promote patient safety.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
SILVIA CORNEJO-UIXEDA, M JOSE MARTINEZ-PASCUAL
The anticholinergic burden is the cumulative effect of concomitantly taking multiple drugs with anticholinergic properties. It estimates the risk of suffering anticholinergic adverse effects. Anticholinergic scales are lists that rank the anticholinergic potential of drugs into categories.
Our aim is to know the use of drugs with anticholinergic effect (ACD) in a regional hospital.
Observational study in patients older than 70 years admitted to a regional hospital from January to September 2021. We reviewed the medication of the patients looking for ACD. Then, we calculated anticholinergic burden with the “Drug Burden Index” available in: http://www.anticholinergicscales.es/calculate. The variables collected were: age, gender, number of drugs with anticholinergic effect, if ACD were prescribed before hospitalization, readmission, anticholinergic burden, risk of suffering anticholinergic effect and anticholinergic symptoms.
average 81 years (70-100), 102 (56% woman), 46 (25%) did not have any ACD. 58 patients had 1 ACD, 56 patients 2 ACD, 12 patients 3 ACD, 8 patients 4 ACD, 2 patients 5 ACD. Of patients with ACD, anticholinergic burden average was 0.98 in surgical patients (medium risk) and 1 in medical patients (elevated risk). 68 patients had medium risk and 68 patients elevated risk. We found constipation in 17 patients, somnolence in 6 patients, and disorientation in 2 patients. ACD used were the following (surgical vs. medical patients): Antidepressants: 3 vs.10, benzodiazepines: 28 vs. 33, opioids: 17 vs. 27, antiemetics: 13 3 vs. 38, Antipsychotics: 4 3 vs. 49, antihistamines: 2 vs. 2, antiepileptic: 0 vs 9, other: 0 vs. 3.
56 patients (31%) were prescribed the same ACD that they took before hospitalization. Only 17 patients were readmitted in hospital in less than a month.
We just made 2 interventions. We proposed to lower the dose in one case. In another, we proposed give metoclopramide just if necessary.
Most of hospitalized patients have ACD prescribed. Half of them had a high risk. However, just a few had anticholinergic reactions. This could be explained because we only had the information of electronic history and maybe some of them were not collected.
