Survey of community pharmacists regarding their role and desire for managing chemotherapy related toxicities in cancer patients.

Abstract

104 Background: There is little published about the readiness and needs of community pharmacists to manage chemotherapy related toxicities in cancer patients. A survey was conducted to understand community pharmacists’ current toxicity management practices and their education and communication needs in this area. Methods: A 21 question electronic survey was sent to community pharmacists in Ontario, Canada from April 1 – June 30, 2016. The survey asked about demographics, toxicity management behaviours/preferences, communication and training needs/preferences. Results: Out of 559 responses received, 167 were excluded due to ineligibility giving a final response of 392 surveys. The majority of respondents were full time pharmacists practicing for more than 10 years in community pharmacy. While many pharmacists reported providing assessment (80%), advice (92%) and/or monitoring (70%) at least sometimes, few reported providing assessment (10%), monitoring (10%) or advice (18%) routinely. Types of toxicities encountered and their frequency are summarized in Table 1. There was a high level of interest (96%) among the respondents in being involved in assessing and managing chemotherapy toxicity, however, only 13% reported that they felt sufficiently trained to do so. Conclusions: Community pharmacists encounter chemotherapy-related toxicities in their daily work. While there is a strong interest in managing toxicity symptoms, many community pharmacists feel that they are not adequately trained to do so. Continuing education programs for this provider group may improve toxicity management in community pharmacy settings. [Table: see text]