Shortening Patient Waiting Time for mFOLFOX 6 Outpatient Chemotherapy

Abstract

While chemotherapy with mFOLFOX 6 is the standard treatment for colorectal cancer,the preparation of the drugs for it takes longer than for other chemotherapy regimens.With the aim of reducing patient waiting time in the hospital,we established a system in which the sterile preparation of the drugs for mFOLFOX 6 therapy is conducted in two parts,in accordance with the scheduling of the first and second stages of administration.Once prepared,the drugs are transported to the chemotherapy room.Doing this achieved a significant decrease in the time that patients must wait for drugs to be prepared in the hospital pharmacy,of about 37 minutes.Our system should be effective in hospitals that require drugs to be transported for structural reasons,and is also applicable to FOLFILI.Our basic aim in preparing the drugs in 2 stages was to reduce the time that patients have to wait to start chemotherapy while keeping the overall preparation time the same to maintain safety,which we feel will contribute to improving patient QOL.