Abstract
AimTo define recommendations that permit safe management of antineoplastic medication, minimise medication errors and improve the safety of cancer patients undergoing treatment.MethodsBy reviewing the literature and consulting the websites of various health organisations and agencies, an expert committee from the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology defined a set of safe practices covering all stages of providing cancer therapy to patients. The Spanish Society of Oncology Nursing revised and endorsed the final list.ResultsIn total, 68 recommendations arranged in five sections were defined. They include issues concerning the training of health professionals, the technological resources needed, treatment planning, informing the patient and his/her family, the processes of prescribing, preparing, dispensing and administering cancer therapy (orally, parenterally or intrathecally), assessing patient adherence and treatment toxicity.ConclusionsIt is essential for healthcare establishments to implement specific measures designed to prevent medication errors, in order to ensure the safety of cancer patients treated with antineoplastic medication.
Highlights
The rising incidence and prevalence of cancer, and the rapid development of new treatment strategies, have resulted in greater diversity and complexity of cancer therapies in recent years
These consensus recommendations are based on a review of the available evidence about safe practices in cancer therapy, and the professional opinions of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy (SEFH) and Spanish Society of Oncology Nursing (SEEO) experts
This list includes 68 practices divided into five sections, following a scheme like the one used in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/ Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) chemotherapy administration safety standards [24]
Summary
The rising incidence and prevalence of cancer, and the rapid development of new treatment strategies, have resulted in greater diversity and complexity of cancer therapies in recent years. Because of improved survival and quality-oflife outcomes in many cancers, together with greater use of the oral route and better tolerability of many new drugs, increasing numbers of patients are receiving cancer therapy in oncology departments. With the aim of preventing various types of errors and risks of adverse effects in patients, a wide range of recommendations have been published in recent years [5, 6] They include standardisation of treatment orders [7], safe labelling [8,9,10], checklists [11] or, more recently, computer order entry systems integrated with electronic health records and machine-readable coding during administration [12,13,14,15]. The aim of this work has been to define a set of multidisciplinary safety recommendations for managing antineoplastic medications, to help prevent medication errors and improve the safety of cancer patients in Spain
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