Usefulness of Registering Cancer Chemotherapy Regimens for Outpatients and Prescription Support System

Abstract

The Outpatient Oncology Unit of Kyoto University Hospital, which has a full-time staff, was established in October 2003. Before it was established, different kinds of regimens for outpatient chemotherapy were independently used by various departments for the same types of cancer. In order to further improve the safety of chemotherapy for outpatients, we unified the regimens under the control of the oncology Unit and registered the set prescriptions for them in the ordering system. These regimens were checked by pharmacists as to whether they were suitable as infusions and complied with health insurance indications. Sixty-three regimens were registered when the Unit was established. There was a further increase in the number of prescriptions during the half-year period after the Unit was established, and they were registered between June and December 2004, bringing the total number of registered regimens to 79. The registration of chemotherapy regimens has enabled all the medical staff of the Unit to have access to the same information, and pharmacists are able to check them easily. The use of such set prescriptions has helped prevent simple mistakes and allowed chemotherapy to be conducted more safely. In addition, the rate of questions about prescriptions decreased from 10% at the time of establishing the Unit to 3% in January 2005 due to the introduction of a prescription support system.
In conclusion, the registration of the regimens has helped the Outpatient Oncology Unit to conduct standard chemotherapy more safely and improve cooperation with each department on outpatient chemotherapy.