Background In relation to the regional project UFAONCOEMA, at the enterprise level, a set of goals were fixed. They concerned: efficacy, efficiency, quality and performance safety.  Among the quality goals, monitoring of waiting time for antiblastic chemotherapies was chosen as an indicator.

Purpose The purpose was to assess, for two UFA (antiblastic drugs unit) which joined the UFAONCOEMA project, whether waiting times met the requirements of a maximum of 60 min, set at the enterprise level, according to the standard requirements adopted by other reference enterprises.

Material and methods Times were monitored over a period of 3 months. Monitoring started from therapy’s online confirmation by the prescriber, to pharmacist validation, to preparation and delivery by nurses, and ended when the unit received that therapy. Therapies for 2018 patients in the oncology and haematology day hospital (DH) were evaluated. It has been considered that after verifying the appropriateness of the prescription, validation starts at about 8.15am, and preparation in a clean room starts at about 8.45am, due to set up of the laminar flow hood and sterile field.

Results From when it is possible to make the preparation to the moment of delivery to the unit, under optimal conditions (3 nurses present, no extraordinary maintenance for the hood and/or UFA machinery), for therapies confirmed the same morning when the administration is expected, waiting times are 60 min for oncology and 57 min for haematology. Considering that therapies for the afternoon shift in the oncology DH and therapies confirmed on time for the following day are made and sent before 1.30pm, waiting time for those patients (10% of therapies) is zero, so the average waiting time reduces to 56 min.

Conclusion This assessment shows that the average waiting times are included in a range of fixed requirements. 32% of morning therapies reach the applicant units within 50 mins. Transportation time (10 min) to the oncology DH, even it does not negatively affect the achievement of the goal, can be reduced with future transfer of the UFA centre in that unit. An increase in confirmed steady therapies for the day after can further reduce waiting time.

No conflict of interest.