Abstract
Prevention of side effects is an important aspect of cancer chemotherapy. In order to provide appropriate drug information and to manage side effects in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy, the Kagoshima Kouseiren Hospital in July 2008 introduced an original medication log, which documents the chemotherapeutic protocol.
This study evaluates the clinical usefulness of this log by comparing the number of event occurrences over the period January to June 2008, before the introduction of the log, to the period of July to December 2008, after the introduction of the log.
With the introduction of the logs, verification of the remedy as well as side effect monitoring became possible. Over a period of 6 months the number of incident and accident reports concerning the cancer chemotherapy decreased from 4 to 2 and the cases of use of antiemetic (5-HT3 receptor antagonists) increased by about 2.1 times. Furthermore the number of patients for whom it became difficult to continue the treatment because of side effects from paclitaxel and carboplatin decreased from 5 (3 cases;inappetence and nausea) to 1 (neutropenia).
The results suggest that the log is useful for patients to understand the protocol of their cancer chemotherapy as well as to manage side effects.