Background Pharmacists are responsible for system quality and patient safety and make a valuable contribution to the medication process in chemotherapy.

Purpose An assessment and inventory of non-conformity (NC) took place in the chemotherapy preparation area of the hospital’s anti-cancer unit (PCAU). The importance of the pharmacist in the medication process in chemotherapy was assessed.

Materials and Methods Two activities were studied for 18 weeks: the analysis of the physician’s prescriptions (using Chimio^® software) and the preparation of the treatment by the pharmacy assistant. An assessment grid was made for each of these activities. NC was flagged in the data whenever it was detected by the pharmacist (or the intern) in order for the anomalies to be corrected.

Results Regarding NC in prescriptions: 149 NC events were quantified in 3936 lines (3.79%):

1. 54.4% had an impact on the patient’s health; mistakes in the progression of the course of treatment (14.81%), in indication and/or diagnosis (13.58%), in the dose of anti-cancer chemotherapy (12.35%) or in the date of administration (11.11%).

2. 45.6% had a financial impact (alternation and rounded dosages, 88.24%)

Regarding NC in preparation, 88 NC events were quantified in 3374 preparations (2.61%) – omissions of light-protective containers (23.86%), and of double checking (required in the chemotherapy medication process) (14.77%), or omission faults (13.64%).

All anomalies were noted and corrected.

Conclusions Although there is a validated quality assurance system, the intervention of a pharmacist (or intern) is important at key stages of the sequence to allow the detection of NC that is not highlighted by prescribers or preparers.

No conflict of interest.