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.
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
CLARA NOTARIO DONGIL, PATRICIA ARAQUE ARROYO, MARÍA MAR ALAÑÓN PARDO, ALEJANDRO MARCOS DE LA TORRE, MARÍA CARMEN GARCÍA CONDE, BEATRIZ PROY VEGA
The circuit was designed during the pandemic period responding to the COVID-19 situation. The aim was providing the best service to hospitalized patients. The activity began on March 10, 2020.
Due to the current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, our Pharmacy Service (PS) has been reorganized and adapted its activity by areas according to the needs of a given situation.
1.- Priority areas were set up.
2.- Main activities to develop in each section were defined.
3.- There was a redeployment of the PS staff.
Pharmaceutical assistance: PS developed pharmacotherapeutic protocols, collaborated giving advice to medical staff selecting appropriated treatments and detecting the most important interactions between drugs. It also advised regarding to compatibility and stability of medication, providing in addition written information through tables and triptychs elaborated.
Pharmacotechnics: 1,320L of hydroalcoholic solution were elaborated and 1,161L that were donated to the hospital were repackaged; 5.3L of hydroxychloroquine 25 mg/mL oral suspension were prepared for patients in the Intensive Care Units (ICU).
Parenteral preparations: Perfusion elaboration was centralized in the PS; 495 infusions of midazolam 1.6 mg/mL and 1,570 of fentanyl 0.012 mg/mL were formulated to ICU. Individualized doses of intravenous tocilizumab belonged to 31 patients were elaborated.
Management and acquisition of medicines: Two new hospitalization areas and three new ICUs were set up, equipped with medication kits. We increased the frequency of medication replacement and the stock of medication in the hospitalization units was adapted. We made a continuous review of medication stocks due to high stocks turnover because an elevated demand. To guarantee the supply of medicines related to SARS-CoV-2, medication was requested through the application of “management of medicines in special situations” of the Ministry of Health. 45 applications were processed.
The project is applicable to whatever PS, a defining figure in SARS-CoV-2 health crisis´s management, giving priority to essential services.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Daniele Leonardi Vinci, Adriano Meccio , Alessio Provenzani, Piera Polidori
The COVID 19 pandemic unprecedently challenged National Health Services to assure adequate patient care, despite a constantly escalating drugs demand. This complex situation requires appropriate planning to avoid misleading estimations, which would have consequences on patients and overall resources available.
We created a tool to perform a timely estimation of the drug needs to treat the COVID-patients based on epidemiological forecasting.
The tool’s epidemiological forecasting was based on a compartmental model in which the population is divided into three compartments (Susceptible-Infectious-Removed, SIR), and transmission parameters are specified to define the rate at which persons move between stages. The appropriate data entry was guaranteed by the creation of a form in which users can enter information regarding: The population considered, the R0 calculation, the number of already known infected cases, the application of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions and the number of hospital beds. The drugs need for the forecasted patients was calculated according to a list of critical care drugs compiled consulting previous published scientific works, national and international guidelines. The list includes 51 drugs belonging to different therapeutic group, such as: antiarrhythmics, antibiotics, antipyretics, antivirals, heparins, IV-fluids, local anesthetics, neuromuscular blockade agents, sedative agents and vasopressors. For each drug it was estimated the percentage average ICU uptake for therapeutic group and active principle.
A tool consisting of an excel template, that, based on the information inserted, automatically calculate the number of patients classified by the intensity of care (hospitalized not-ICU, Hospitalized ICU, ventilated, intubated or with shock) and creates a table that includes, for each drug to be used, the following information: therapeutic group, active principle, dosage considered, pharmaceutical form, total dosage for patients considered and total quantity of unit doses for patients considered. The tool is also made adaptable to different clinical situations, through the possibility of editing the assumptions adopted regarding the epidemiological and therapeutical parameters or the inclusion of new items in the drugs list.
Our tool represents an opportunity for the immediate and efficient estimation of the drugs necessary to assist the COVID19 patients during emergency scenarios. It will be periodically updated as new evidences will be available.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
EDURNE FERNANDEZ DE GAMARRA MARTINEZ, NÚRIA PI SALA, RAQUEL AGUILAR SALMERON, ANTONI BROTO SUMALLA, MILAGROS GARCÍA-PELÁEZ, LIDIA MARTINEZ SÁNCHEZ, SANTIAGO NOGUÉ XARAU
Antidotes are drugs used in emergency situations. Some of them often present availability issues due to shortages, high cost, complex acquisition (foreign drugs’ importation) or short validity periods. This tool was implemented in July 2015 to improve the availability of antidotes.
A virtual network was designed in order to have a tool that allows pharmacy departments to locate antidotes: to know in which centres they are stocked, how much there is of each drug and when it would expire. It also facilitates communication between centres and loan movements in case they are required.
A web-based application was developed (www.redantidotos.org). It includes a public site with general information, an updated antidotes guide and a section where non-urgent toxicological consultations could be submitted. In addition, there is a private site (accessed through username and password) where each pharmacy department might introduce the stock they have of 18 selected antidotes (anti-digoxin antibodies, anti-vipera serum, botulism antitoxin, dantrolene, deferoxamine, defibrotide, dimercaprol, calcium disodium edetate, ethanol, fomepizole, glucagon, glucarpidase, hydroxocobalamin, idarucizumab, pralidoxime, physostigmine, silibinin and uridine triacetate). Each Hospital has two key users: a ‘farmatox’ (pharmacy department) and an ‘urgetox’ (emergency department). Their participation has been crucial for the success of the project.
Currently there are 63 Spanish hospitals included in the Antidotes Network. It has been used 49 times to locate an antidote that was needed and to request a loan between centres. Thirteen antidotes were involved in these movements. The most requested drugs have been anti-vipera serum (10/49), glucagon (6/49), anti-digoxin antibodies (5/49), botulism antitoxin (5/49) and fomepizol (5/49). Additionally, recommendations were published about stock availability and use of antidotes according to hospital complexity (Emergencias 2016;28:45-54).
The network was first implemented in Catalonia and now the project is being extended to other Spanish regions (currently it has been implemented in three out of 17 regions). We aim to continue improving communication between professionals involved in intoxication management, sharing knowledge and improving the care we offer to our patients.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Kim Florian Green, Torsten Hoppe-Tichy
Drug shortages are an increasing problem for hospitals in Germany. The management is time consuming and might endanger safety of drug therapy. Therefore, it is essential to take precautions to deal with upcoming shortages in advance.
Development of an algorithm to create an essential drug list in consideration of logistic and clinical aspects.
The first step was classification of the hospital formulary. We used 4 types for classification (oral medication, parenteral medication, medicinal products, and dietetics). Following a priorisation for parenteral and oral drugs cause of the fact we discovered in an internal benchmark that durgshortages with parenteral drugs lead to a larger workload. After that we assessed drug consumption for each drug by year, quarter and month and conducted an extending selective inventory control (ABC-XYZ-Analysis).
Next step was to create a step-by-step decision-tree considering local clinical pathways and logistics define essential drugs. The algorithm displays typical procurement processes and infrastructure in German hospitals pharmacies and the common search for alternative drug therapies.
The combination of the algorithm and the ABC-XYZ-Analysis lead to an individual list of essential drugs and allows to define logistic measures for each of them.
The list allows us to define an adequate stock for upcoming drugshortages. Internal benchmarking for process robustness. External validation of our algorithm is necessary.
