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
Afke van de Plas, Judith Baars-Timmermans, Hanneke Goossens, Ellen Frankfort
This initiative aimed to improve:
1. Personalized Healthcare and Patient Satisfaction: In the pursuit of strict regulatory compliance, pharmacy employees sometimes overlooked the pharmacy’s fundamental mission. With limited direct patient interactions, staff were often unaware of patients’ unique needs and preferences.
2. Employee Satisfaction: The program aimed to empower employees by reducing excessive regulations and allowing them to make decisions that aligned with the overarching mission, with the expectation that this would enhance their job satisfaction.
3. Enhancing Awareness of the Pharmacy’s Mission: By connecting all activities to the pharmacy’s core mission, the program attempts to improve personalized healthcare and patient and employee satisfaction.
Maastricht University Medical Centre’s hospital pharmacy introduced the “All Activities in Alignment with Underlying Aim” program.
The program’s implementation involved several key steps:
1. Defining the Underlying Aim and Key Principles: The program team identified the overarching aim as “Happy Patients and Employees” and established four key principles: “See the Person Behind the Patient,” “Focus on What Is Possible,” “Take the Lead Yourself,” and “From Rules to Self-Regulation.”
2. Employee Engagement: The new policy was presented and discussed in detail during a meeting with all employees.
3. Communication: Periodic newsletters and monthly team meetings were used to share illustrative examples and foster discussions about initiatives.
4. Evaluation: Customer and employee satisfaction were measured through surveys before and after program implementation.
The outcomes of the program were highly encouraging:
• The adoption of “Happy Patients and Employees” as the guiding aim resulted in numerous instances of personalized healthcare and enhanced collegiality.
• The four key principles empowered employees to align their actions with the program’s aim. The empowerment to decide in the patient’s interest increased from 58% to 73%.
• Surveys indicated improved customer and employee satisfaction.
• Enhanced awareness of the pharmacy’s mission (from 47% to 66%) led to stronger connections between activities and the overarching aim (from 73% to 85%).
The “All Activities in Alignment” program serves as a successful model for other hospital pharmacies seeking to elevate personalized healthcare, patient and employee satisfaction. Its simplicity and effectiveness make it a valuable initiative worth considering for broader implementation.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Pablo Ciudad Gutiérrez, Marta Mejías Trueba, Héctor Luis Acosta García, Maria Victoria Gil Navarro, Sandra Flores Moreno
To establish a protocol for the reception, storage and dispensing of SARS-COV-2 vaccines.
A standardised work protocol was prepared detailing the role of hospital pharmacists in the reception, storage and dispensing of vaccines, which was approved by the Head of the Pharmacy Service. A certificate of receipt was also prepared with a view to keeping a record of the number of vials received, expiry date, batch, thawing date and temperature, as well as details of each person involved in the circuit.
Phase 1: Preparation, approval and diffusion of the protocol in the Pharmacy Service, anticipating the imminent arrival of SARS-COV-2 vaccines.
Phase 2: Implementation of the protocol, which consists of the following protocol:
1. The vaccine distributor will contact the Pharmacy Service within 30 minutes before the delivery.
2. Upon arrival of the delivery person, the pharmacist will receive the vaccines and both parties will sign a certificate of receipt including: their full name and ID card number, the date and time of receipt, the batch number and expiry date of vials, the date of thawing, as well as the vial temperature upon delivery. This certificate will be kept by the administration staff along with the delivery note.
3. The pharmacist responsible for the reception will store the vials received in the fridge and monitor their temperature.
4. The vaccines will be handed over to the Preventive Medicine Service, the service responsible for administering them, after filling out a certificate of receipt including: date, full name and ID card number of the persons delivering and receiving the vials, number of vials delivered and expiry date. This certificate, duly completed and signed, will be filed by the Pharmacy Service administration staff.
An efficient and scheduled protocol was implemented, registering all the certificates of reception, delivery notes, as well as the temperature of the fridges containing the vials.This allowed to identify and correct errors, achieving proper use and traceability of all the vials received, resulting in increased safety for patients.
This protocol is applicable to Hospital Pharmacy Services responsible for the reception, storage and dispensing of SARS-COV-2 vaccines.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Francesco Falbo, Oscar Martinazzoli, Agnese Bruni, Rosanna Lettieri, Simona Polito, Luisa Zampogna, Valentina Marini, Michela Mazzucchelli, Marcello Sottocorno
The involvement of the pharmacist featured:
– Drug supply and storage
– Medical devices (MD) and personal protective equipment supply
– The creation of a catalog of required drugs
– Medication supply chain management and dispensing
– Management of medical gases
– Evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of drug therapy.
As the COVID-19 epidemic spread, temporary critical care hospitals have been opened in order to attend the incoming burden of infected patients. In April 2020, one of the largest ever temporary healthcare structure was created in only 10 days. The ark hospital was opened for nearly 10 months and hospital pharmacists supported the effort for the pharmacy management.
The development of a catalog of required drugs has been accomplished using the consumption analysis on drugs and MD in March 2020 of the permanent hospital Covid unit. Thus, we created a dynamic catalog – constantly updated – consisting of 530 drugs and 345 medical devices. The medical staff members of the temporary hospital filled a special form for extra-catalog material. Running a cost-effectiveness analysis, the pharmacist managed to evaluate the purchase, rather than recommend a valid alternative from the material on the catalog.
The pharmacy warehouse was planned by dividing the MDs categories. Likewise, the drugs were stored according to their pharmaceutical form and their alphabetical order.
The materials requirements planning was achieved in 15 days, including medical supply ordering and the pharmacy warehouse organization. Pharmacists ensured the optimization of resources, the availability, safety and optimal use of medicines and MDs, as well as the monitoring of the adverse drug reactions (ADR). Hence, all patients received the appropriate pharmacotherapy. The pharmacist played a key role in the good functioning of the ark hospital in collaboration with all the medical team.
In conclusion, a new protocol and standard of care for managing health emergency will be the following and challenging step.
