Background Therapeutic patient education is essential in the cancer control strategy, which in our country is the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. This study established an inventory preparative phase to the development of an educational approach, the first of its kind in our institution.

Purpose To evaluate the knowledge of patients treated with anticancer agents and their information needs in our institution.

Material and methods This was a prospective observational study, conducted in the pharmacy unit of our hospital from 1 February to 23 March 2016, involving a population of 132 cancer patients receiving anticancer agents, using a questionnaire of 45 questions organised around 9 items. Data were analysed with SPSS statistics software V.13.0.

Results The interview, lasting an average of 25 min per patient, was conducted among 132 patients with a participation rate of 96.9%. Mean age was 55±11.32 years. The sex ratio was 0.61 (men/women). 62 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer (48.4%). The study population was characterised by a low level of education, and particularly precarious socioeconomic conditions as 53% of patients were unemployed. 92 patients (71.8%) did not know their treatment, 100% of this sample were unaware of potential interactions with other drugs, 42.9% (55 patients) did not know their associated treatments, 20.3% using herbal medicines, including Euphorbia officinalis, and 83.6% self-medicating. 128 patients (100%) wanted to receive an information sheet about their treatment and 96.9% would particularly like additional explanations of the side effects of their treatments.

Conclusion Following this study, a therapeutic education unit was set up to compensate for the increasing need for information expressed by patients. Currently, the goal is to re-evaluate those needs after the establishment of this unit.

References and/or acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Pr Ahmed Bennana and Pharmacy Department, Mohammed V Military Teaching Hospital, Rabat, Morocco for support.

No conflict of interest