Dados do Trabalho

Título

MAIN PHARMACEUTICAL INTERVENTIONS RELATED TO CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH SOLID TUMORS

Introdução

Pharmaceutical interventions intent to reduce or prevent medication errors, contributing to the improvement of patient care.

Objetivo

This work aimed to analyze the most important interventions related to chemotherapy, made by a group of clinical pharmacists of a public hospital, specialized in Oncology.

Método

Patients with more than 18 years old and with at least one solid tumor diagnosed were included. All the interventions made by the clinical pharmacists are daily included in an Excel sheet, whether the outcome is positive or not. The 2020’s year spreadsheet was compiled and the interventions containing at least one of the following chemotherapeutics classes - alkylating agents, antimetabolites, plant-derived, cytotoxic antibiotics, hormones, antibodies, and specific inhibitors were analyzed by other two pharmacists specialists in Oncology. All interventions related to chemotherapy were distributed in ten categories as underdose, dilution, time, or order of infusion; one major category denominated "others" summarized interventions that weren't categorized in the other nine sections.

Resultado

The number of pharmaceutical interventions in the oncology sector totalized 2144, with more than one-third related to chemotherapy analysis, corresponding to 936 (43,6%). The average number of interventions related to chemotherapy was 78 each month, already excluding the ones that don't depend on the clinical team, like the addition of information in the prescription such as weight, or body surface. Major interventions were related to the addition of obligatory information (43,8%), followed by incorrect days of infusion (13,6%) and wrong dilution or absence of information about diluents (4,2%); in the category “others”, the major intervention was related to drug reconciliation of oral chemotherapy, being fluorouracil (5-FU) the most mentioned. Physicians’ and nurses’ acceptance of pharmaceutical intervention was approximately 81%.

Conclusão

Chemotherapy is an occupational risk-related treatment that also represents risks for the patient and ensuring security for both of them is essential for good results. Clinical pharmacists are always mentioned as a professional that reduces costs, so we expect this work to highlight that this professional also promotes security and quality of life in this challenge known as chemotherapy.

Palavras-chave

Chemotherapy, Clinical pharmacists, Security