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.
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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
Marina Rodríguez-Marín, Paula Novo-González
To optimize and improve patient treatment as well as reduce the risk of multiresistance in the case of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Using Monte Carlo simulation to calculate the probability of treatment success (pTA) in patients receiving meropenem, defined as the percentage of time the drug level is above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The cumulative fraction of response of the antibiotic meropenem was also measured.
At a hospital in the Community of Madrid, the TDMx pharmacokinetics program was employed by inputting clinical and pharmacokinetic data of patients who had received meropenem between September 15th and October 15th, 2022. The data were extracted from the SELENE electronic medical records system, and both probabilistic dosing and Bayesian dosing were performed using these data. The following information was entered: age, weight, height, antibiotic dose, dosing interval, creatinine level, MIC, and meropenem PK/PD parameter (% of time above MIC).
Twenty patients were recruited: 10 women and 10 men, with a median age of 84 years [Q1: 77, Q3: 89] years.
With a dose of 1000 mg every 4 hours, all patients, assuming a PTA of either 50% or 90%, achieved the desired probability of success.
When the PTA was set at 50%, all patients could benefit from the Monte Carlo simulation within the studied intervals. However, when the PTA was set at 90%, a dose of 2000 mg every 1 hour was required in an infusion time interval.
The majority of patients (17 out of 20) were prescribed a dose of 1000 mg every 8 hours.
Except for two patients, most of the MICs were unknown. Since this parameter influences the probability of success, the results obtained are theoretical.
1- Obtain the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for all patients using this antibiotic, with the aim of planning the program and providing recommendations.
2- Additionally, gradually implement this approach in other medications
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Iris Summer, Marina Zakhari-Betros, Alice Poier, Christine Fegerl-Stadlober
There had been reports from healthcare professionals of the presence of undigested tablets in ostomy pouches and reasonable doubts of adequate drug absorption. In addition, there were recurring inquiries from clinicians about drug related problems in ostomy-patients.
Implementation of a clinical pharmaceutical service for patients with an intestinal ostomy following their stoma-surgery. In this service, oral drug therapy of patients with either ileostomy or colostomy was assessed to determine whether possible impairment of drug liberation or absorption could lead to malabsorption of drug therapy.
A project was conducted, where 30 ileostomy and colostomy patients were observed. Simultaneously, a literature review concerning all orally administered drugs of this patient collective was done. During the project time, two interviews were done with the patients. The first one was lead during hospitalisation whereas the second one was conducted within 4 weeks after hospital discharge. To standardise the interviews, two different questionnaires were developed. Medical status of the patient as well as pharmacokinetic properties of the drugs administered orally were thus assessed. It was evaluated whether there are any drugs which may feature any impaired drug liberation or absorption. In case of anomalies presented, such as undigested tablets found in the pouch, a plasma level measurement of the drug was done, if reasonable. In addition, the subjective perception of the patients was also taken into account, to measure whether malabsorption of drugs is recognised or not and if patients are aware of possible impairment of absorption.
A strategy was established to help healthcare professionals assess oral drug therapy in ostomates. In addition, awareness in healthcare professionals as well as patients was raised, concerning possible impaired drug liberation because of the use of inappropriate dosage drug form. Moreover, prevention of prospective drug related complications was also achieved.
1. Modification of our electronic medical record concerning automated pharmaceutical counselling.
2. Integration of a clinical pharmaceutical service within the ostomy care service of our hospital to provide better therapeutic outcome, especially when ostomy-related problems are presented.
3. Providing patient information leaflets to improve health literacy and patient satisfaction.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
María Calvo Arbeloa, Ana Isabel Idoate Grijalba, Mónica Uxue Beunza Sola, Daniel Fresán Restituto, Regina Juanbeltz Zurbano, Diana Tejada Marín , Andrea Rodriguez Esquiroz, Maite Sarobe Carricas
Patients with special characteristics show a great variability in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) parameters, which may influence the efficacy and safety of antibiotic therapy.
A Clinical Unit of Pharmacokinetics was implemented in the Service of Pharmacy (PS) for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in patients.
1. Selection of drugs to be monitored: Antimicrobials (Vancomycin, amikacin, linezolid and voriconazole), Immunosuppressants (tacrolimus), Antineoplastics (methotrexate) and digoxin.
2. Installation of the Abbottbase Pharmacokinetic System (Pks®) software.
3. Creation in the Computerised Clinical History (CCH) a sheet for collecting anthropometric and pharmacological data and pharmacokinetic interpretation of the results obtained.
4. Creation in CCH of a consultation option for clinicians to request monitoring from the PS.
5. Formative session for clinicians and nurses.
To begin with the unit, we selected three drugs: vancomycin, amikacin and voriconazole. The hospital pharmacist or the clinician chose the susceptible patients.
Between December 2021 and September 2022, 171 determinations were made in 73 patients: 134 (78.36%) for vancomycin, 24 (14.06%) for amikacin and 13 (7.60%) for voriconazole. Forty-six (63.01%) patients were men and the mean age was 56.58 (17-97) years- old. Eighteen (24.66%) patients were obese. The mean creatinine level was 0.82 (0.4-2.69) mg/ml and glomerular filtration according to the Cockcroft and Gault formula was 81.16 (23.68-161.98) ml/min/m².
For vancomycin, 45 (88.24%) patients started the treatment with a standard dose of 1000 mg every 12 hours. In first determinations, 27 (52.94%) were under-therapeutic and 20 (42.55%) were overdosed. After modifying the dosage regimen, 35 (74.47%) were in range, 3 (6.38%) under-therapeutic and 13 (27.66%) supra-therapeutic.
In case of amikacin, 17 (85%) patients started with a standard dose (1000 mg every 24 hours) achieving target levels only in one case. All were under-therapeutic. After modifying the dosage regimen, we achieved the objective in all of them.
For voriconazole 3 patients were monitored. In 10 (43.5%) determinations, a change in dosage regimen was suggested due to subtherapeutic levels. All (100%) of the recommendations given by the PS were accepted.
The implementation of the unit in our hospital shows the usefulness and the need to extend pharmacokinetic monitoring to other medical services and drugs.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Andreas von Ameln-Mayerhofer, Martin Breuling, Ina Geist
In the context of antibiotic stewardship, rapid oralisation of a parenteral antibiotic is recommended in many antibiotic stewardship guidelines. Such a sequence therapy is easy to implement if both application pathways lead to comparable efficacy levels at the site of infection. However, this does not apply to all anti-infectives, in particular some beta-lactam antibiotics represent a challenge in therapy. Additionally, the information about this topic is very sparse in the literature.
In order to achieve an improvement in antimicrobial prescriptions, we have addressed possible problems regarding oralisation of antibiotics. For this purpose, we graphically compared the simulated efficacy levels of parenteral and oral forms of beta-lactams.
We programmed a computer based procedure that allows a simulation of plasma levels of antibiotics upon intravenous versus oral administration. Based on the obtained data and EUCAST-based MIC-distributions for a set of bacteria, we assessed the respective putative clinical actions.
Our simulations show that some oral beta-lactams do not reach the PK/PD condition of a sufficient therapy (fT>MHK) in the approved dosage. The simulations have been used for education seminars with physicians and partly led to an improvement in oralisation procedures. Additionally, an oralisation standard has been established.
Our next step is to develop a special prescription form for oral antibiotics which will enable us to control prescription behaviour even more effectively. We plan to monitor the prescription habits for anti-infectives more closely before and after establishing the prescription form.
