Title: Drug related problems in Oncology ward in Vinmec Times city hospital

Biography:

Nguyen Le Trang has completed her Master of clinical pharmacy at the age of 29 years from Hanoi University of Pharmacy. She is the leader of Clinical pharmacy unit in Vinmec Times City hospital, Vietnam and in charge of Oncology Ward for 2 years. She has participated in several oral presentations in Vietnam and Asian clinical pharmacy congress.

Abstract

Inappropriateness of prescription: So far, there has been no scientific data on the prevalence of DRP regarding Clinical pharmacists’ intervention on hospitalized cancer patients in Vietnam reported. This study was conducted to investigate the DRPs with the intervention of clinical pharmacist in Oncology ward and was to Assess the identified DRP from physicians’ perspective.

Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative methods were implemented. The study was prospectively conducted from October to December 2016. Medication profiles of 149 inpatients were reviewed to identify DRPs in physicians’ prescription. Once a DRP was identified, intervention from clinical pharmacist was proposed and prescribers’ acceptance was analyzed. A questionnaire was designed to implement in – depth interview with seven oncologists about their perception and evaluation on identified DRPs.

Results: 182 DRPs were identified in 149 in-patients, giving an average of 1.2 DRPs per patient. The most common DRPs were categorized as “Dosing” (21.9%), “Selection” (24.7%) and “Administration” (20.3%). The common DRPs were related to preventative medications (57.7%). The majority of DRPs’ significance level was moderate (48.8 %) and minor (46.6%). 52% of the suggested intervention by clinical pharmacists was accepted by prescribers. Most of interventions in “Administration” and “Drug information provision” categories were implemented. 66.7% DRPs reached the 100% oncologists’ agreement. The factors affecting physician agreement were personal experience, medication cost and availability, the convenience for health care practitioners and patients.

Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that clinical pharmacists in oncology ward can probably improve the quality of pharmacotherapy. Greater understanding of DRPs from physicians’ perspective will enable the appropriate management of DRPs.