Usefulness of Prescription Checking by Pharmacists in Cancer Chemotherapy

Abstract

In cancer chemotherapy,it is essential for pharmacists to fully understand dosing regimens and precautions in the use of anticancer agents to ensure rational prescribing.
At the Kanto Medical Center NTT EC,pharmacists are involved in regimen management to ensure effective and safe chemotherapy from the pharmaceutical perspective.In this study,we investigated the usefulness of prescription checking by pharmacists in ensuring rational prescribing.
The number of prescriptions for anticancer agents checked by pharmacists during the six months from October 2006 to March 2007 was 1,275 and the total time taken for checking prescriptions,including the confirmation of questionable points and prescription corrections,was 83 hours and 35 minutes.The average time taken per prescription was 3.5 minutes.On each day,prescription checks were conducted by 1 or 2 pharmacists.Of 105 prescriptions,11(10.5%) were corrected by pharmacists,with the corrections concerning inappropriate doses,essential medicines that were missing from prescriptions and duplication of medicines.Such errors occurred despite regular regimen management.
Our findings show that prescription checking by pharmacists is useful in ensuring that prescribing is rational and achieves effective,safe chemotherapy.The results of this study also showed that pharmacists need to carry out prescription checking based on an understanding of physicians’intentions,an adequate knowledge of the drugs concerned and familiarity with the electronic medical records system.