Article Text
Abstract
Background The development and expansion of oral anti-cancer agents provide multiple benefits, including improvement in patients’ quality of life but also create numerous challenges such as side-effect management or medication adherence. In January 2018, we implemented pharmaceutical consultations, as part of a multidisciplinary consultation programme for patients receiving oral chemotherapy agents.
Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate patients’, community pharmacists’ and oncologists’ satisfaction with the pharmaceutical consultations.
Material and methods A paper-based questionnaire (10 questions) was distributed to patients receiving oral anti-cancer drugs at the end of the pharmaceutical consultation.
The overall community pharmacists’ and oncologists’ satisfaction was measured using an online survey tool. The surveys consisted of 14 questions divided into five sections.
The survey design was based on a 4-point scale, with answers ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and also included yes/no and short answer questions.
All the answers to the questionnaires were collected in an anonymous way.
Results Between 1 January 2018 and 20 July 2018 a total of 20 patients, nine oncologists and 15 community pharmacists completed the survey. The response rates were respectively 49%, 53% and 35%.
Overall, pharmacists, doctors and patients were highly satisfied with the services of the oral anti-cancer therapy programme (100%).
Most patients (90%) felt that the majority of their questions and concerns were answered during the consultation. They found the written information useful (85%) and expressed that they had gained new and clarifying information about their medication (70%).
Community pharmacists were satisfied to have been informed of the oral cancer drug initiation (93%), most of the time it allowed them to order the treatment before the patient’s arrival (80%).
Oncologists felt that pharmaceutical consultations were always (56%) or sometimes (44%) useful for the patients. Most of them (89%) considered there would be sometimes an interest in conducting consultations together with the pharmacist.
Conclusion This study showed that all participants highly appreciated the pharmaceutical consultations. These results are consistent with previous studies showing the key role of the clinical pharmacist in multidisciplinary programmes established for patients taking oral anti-cancer treatment.
References and/or acknowledgements 1. Ma C. Role of pharmacists in optimizing the use of anticancer drugs in the clinical setting. Integr Pharm Res Pract 2014.
No conflict of interest.