外来がん患者に対する薬剤師外来の役割とその評価

抄録

We established a pharmaceutical outpatient clinic at the International University of Health and Welfare Mita Hospital. In the clinic, pharmacists provide mainly pharmaceutical care for cancer outpatients based on prescriptions from a doctor, and then feed back the contents of medication counseling and information about patients to doctors.
In this study, we evaluated the role of the pharmaceutical outpatient clinic. From April to July 2011, we investigated retrospectively the contents of feedback from pharmacists to doctors. The contents consisted of three types of information such as medication counseling, history of side effects and allergy, and uneasiness from patients. Most of this information was on side effects. Approximately 42% of uneasiness from patients was about the side effects of chemotherapy. Furthermore, we conducted a questionnaire survey in 62 cancer outpatients that gave informed consent during the period as mentioned above. The results showed that the degree of understanding of drugs on treatment and prevention of the onset of side effects after consultation was markedly improved compared with those before consulting. Many patients (50/62) felt “uneasiness about treatment" and “some uneasiness" before consultation. However, 88.0% (44/50) of them noted that their “anxiety was eased" after consultation. The degree of reduction in uneasiness in patients with stage Ⅰ and Ⅱ breast cancer was larger than that with stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ. In conclusion, it is suggested that the clinic may play a role which makes it possible to enable cancer outpatients to participate in medical treatment with ease, in addition to enabling support for doctors.