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.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Elisabetta Volpi, Giuseppa Lo Surdo, Sara Tonazzini, Stefania Alduini, Maurizio Mangione, Umberto Paradossi, Monica Baroni, Sergio Berti, Stefania Biagini
Several data suggest that pharmacists and physician collaboration, direct pharmacist interaction with patients or caregivers through medication reconciliation and discharge counselling decreases the number of adverse drug events (ADEs) and plays an overall positive role in transitional care. Our aim is to demonstrate the constant necessity of pharmacist led medication reconciliation in order to maintain a high standard of care and safe medication use.
Medication reconciliation at hospital discharge is essential for the prevention of medication discrepancies and patient harm. Hospital pharmacists are recognised as one of main healthcare providers that can support the physicians in this activity.
Since 2016, the medication reconciliation process has been performed by physicians and clinical pharmacists before home discharge from the Heart Hospital, Fondazione Toscana G.Monsaterio in Italy.
We analysed the medication reconciliation activity performed in our hospital over time and we observed that the number of unintentional discrepancies was always around 20%.
A shared pre-discharge prescription review programme has been activated with all doctors, so when the final lists of drug prescriptions are ready, the pharmacist examines them and suggests improvements or corrections to the doctor before the discharge letter is delivered to patients. Among the unintentional discrepancy observed, the most frequent were omissions of chronic therapy, lack of information about suspension for low molecular weight heparin or antibiotics.
A strong collaboration between physicians and clinical pharmacists has been achieved as we shared the results of this improvement. The same activity has been required and extended to the paediatric ward where the demand of simple, clear and complete information is even more crucial given the particular inter-individual variability and fragility of this population.
We would like to improve the prescription review programme also at admission in order to minimise drug omissions and at transition between different wards or different hospitals with the aim of improving communication between health care settings.
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.
Production and Compounding
Isabelle Sommer, David Palmero, Céline Julie Fischer-Fumeaux, Lydie Beauport, Vincent Adamo, Hervé Schwebel, Pascal Bonnabry, Lucie Bouchoud, Farshid Sadeghipour
PN can be composed of about 50 different ingredients, whereof the majority are amino acids (AA). Therefore, PN represents a complex and high-risk fabrication. ME are often related to PN and may include prescription, transcription, preparation, and administration errors. As the treatment with PN is indispensable for a good cerebral and neurologic development as well as a postnatal weight gain, ME can result in growth retardation, developmental disturbances, and infections.
This project was performed with the aim to reduce ME having an impact on vulnerable newborns and to improve the security and quality of their nutritional treatment.
A standardized pediatric parenteral nutrition (PN) solution for the first days of life of newborn infants has been developed. An industrial partner manufactures the ready-to-use double-chamber bag which is available 24/7 and of high-quality allowing a secured administration as well as a reduction of medication errors (ME).
A working group composed of pharmacists, clinicians, neonatologists, and industrials developed a PN solution for the first days of life of newborn infants conforming to the needs of two different neonatal services. An applied standardized PN and the ESPGHAN guidelines haven been used as references. The feasibility of an industrial production of double-chamber bags has been evaluated and implemented.
The developed PN solution has been formulated for a peripheral venous administration with an osmolarity under 900 mOsm/L to allow a wider range of application. The production of double-chamber bags has been chosen to increase the stability and shelf-life. The first compartment contains an AA admixture and the second compartment contains glucose and electrolytes (sodium, calcium, organic phosphate). This solution is initially produced by the service of pharmacy and afterwards by the industrial partner. The standardized PN bag has been implemented successfully on the neonatal ward in March 2019. Since then, almost 1800 standardized bags have been used (appr. 90 bags/month), resulting in a reduction of individual on-ward PN preparations of nearly 80%.
Further standardized PN for newborn infants need to be developed to allow a safe nutritional treatment. On-ward PN preparations must be prohibited to prevent undetectable preparation errors.
Patient Safety and Quality Assurance
Eva Heffernan, Deirdre Smith , Avril Tierney, Louise McDonnell
Transitions of care such as hospital discharge present an opportunity for medication error. Lapses in communication at this interface are common. For the next healthcare provider (HCP) to issue the correct medication safely and in a timely manner, the discharge prescription needs to bridge this communication gap. Prescribing errors are the most frequent subtype of medication errors and can be repeated systematically for prolonged periods. Detection of medication error using tools such as audit, learning from these errors and planning corrective action is essential to building safer healthcare systems.
This study adapted the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) national standard for patient discharge summaries to create a benchmark for discharge prescriptions in SVPH. A QI initiative targeting prescribers was developed. This was designed as a bundle intervention and was called the Discharge Prescription Education Bundle (DPEB).
The aim of this project was to evaluate the current level of discrepancies on discharge prescriptions for surgical and medical patients and to ascertain if a quality improvement (QI) initiative can impact on the severity of medication error at the point of discharge.
Uncontrolled consecutive baseline and re-audit of discharge prescriptions on a 26-bed mixed medical and surgical ward. The baseline audit assessed 70 patients’ discharge prescriptions. Deviations from the standard were termed discrepancies. Discrepancies were divided based on capacity to cause error (NCC-MERP Category A) and error occurred (NCC-MERP Category B-I). Discrepancies where an error occurred (NCC-MERP Category B-I) were reported using the in-house medication incident reporting (MIR) system and dually assessed by an independent panel and the project lead for potential to cause harm. The QI initiative was implemented and its impact assessed with a re-audit of 70 patients’ discharge prescriptions.
The overall number of discrepancies reduced from 156 in the baseline to 59 in the re-audit (p<0.05). Overall compliance with the audit standards improved from 17.1% to 54.3% (p <0.05). In the baseline audit 22.8% (n=16) of patients had a discrepancy where an error occurred; this reduced to 2.65% (n=2) in the re-audit (p<0.05). The severity of errors reduced in the re-audit.
The QI initiative used was proactive not reactive. Use of the discharge education bundle was not restricted to pharmacy opening hours.
This initiative was very low cost to implement. Following on from the successful results of this project one component of DPEB called the discharge prescription visual prompt is now preprinted on all SVPH discharge prescriptions as a reminder to prescribers.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Stefanie Sauer, Michael Ober, Jürgen Backhaus, Torsten Hoppe-Tichy
Patients of the Children’s Hospital at the Heidelberg University Hospital are regularly supplied with extratemporaneous medicines from the hospital pharmacy. This often leads to issues in continuity of care in the outpatient setting as patients are required to access ongoing treatment through local pharmacies, which in turn must develop the formulations and procure the necessary raw materials. Therefore, it is not uncommon for interruptions in patients’ therapy to occur.
The aim was to improve continuity of care by discussing the medication with the responsible pharmacy before the patient was discharged. Allowing missing raw materials to be procured and clarify any uncertainty about the prescription.
We designed a document that is available on the Intranet. While the child is still on the ward the discharge medication should be noted. The parents had the opportunity to indicate a retail pharmacy of their choice, preferably near the place of residence. This document could be sent to the hospital pharmacy. A hospital pharmacist contacted the specified pharmacy to discuss the extemporaneous medications before the child was discharged. If necessary, the pharmacist can forward the hospital pharmacy manufacturing instructions. Furthermore, the compositions plus further information were then made available on the homepage of the pharmacy in an area to which only experts have access. A telephone number on the hospital pharmacy homepage is available for queries, including those about the formulations.
In the discussions with the retail pharmacies, the colleagues were very pleased and grateful about the service provided by the hospital pharmacy. They saved time in preparing patients’ prescriptions. Concerns or doubts were cleared up at an earlier stage of the discharge process, leading to the patient receiving their medicine on time.
Provision of the document and manufacturing instructions on the homepage serve as a valuable aid for ensuring that the outpatient therapy functions smoothly. It is important that the information is kept current. In the future, further information will be linked to the homepage in the hope of reducing the number of incoming telephone enquiries.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
Louisa Kasprowicz, Elizabeth Wright, Tejal Vaghela, Mohan Thaoa
The time taken from decision to discharge to discharge summary written on average was 2.5 hours prior to the new service as the clinicians completed the ward rounds before starting on completing the discharge summaries. Prior to implementation of this service the prescribing error rate was 24% and the accuracy of information (medicines started, discontinued and altered during admission) transferred to general practitioners (GPs) was 44%.
The novel approach to completing full discharge summaries by independent pharmacist prescribers (PP) was implemented in a busy admissions unit at a large district general hospital in the east of England. PP writing discharge summaries are recommended in the ECIP, Carter and hospital transformation plans.1 2 We introduced the completion of a full discharge summary by PP instead of a medication-only list currently carried out by other NHS Trusts. The aim was to reduce prescribing errors, improve patient flow through AAU and to reduce pressure on the emergency department.
A pharmacist prescribing a discharge service from 9am to 3pm was proposed for patients who have been admitted for < 48 hours. The medical team bleeped the PP when a patient was being discharged to alert the PP. The primary aim of the service was to increase the number of discharge summaries completed before 3pm, reduce the prescribing error rate and to improve the accuracy of information transferred to GPs. The time of 3pm was chosen to allow the clinicians to complete urgent jobs after the ward round.
The data showed that after the implementation of the pharmacist prescribing service, 34% of discharge summaries were completed by PP compared to 0% prior to implementation. This released junior doctors time from completed discharge summaries to concentrate on urgent clinical duties. This also meant discharge summaries were received by the pharmacy in a timelier manner and patients were ready for discharge earlier in the day. The prescribing error rate was reduced to 0.9% and the accuracy of information to GPs was increased to 98% on discharges summaries completed by PP compared to junior doctors’ discharge.
This new service has made a positive impact on the discharge flow from AAU. Patients are receiving their discharge medications earlier so improving patient flow and patient experience through the department. The service has received positive feedback from patients, the lead consultant, doctors and nursing staff. It is hoped in the future this service could be extended until 5pm and rolled out to other areas in the hospital.
