Two Cancer Chemotherapy Support Tools Developed for the Use of Pharmacists in Many Different Hospitals and Their Evaluation-A Project of the 4th Chapter of the Oncology Research Group, Aichi Prefectural Society of Hospital Pharmacists

Ensuring the proper use of drugs is an important role of pharmacists in the medical team. In the present paper, we describe two support tools for this purpose made for cancer chemotherapy, one of them having the title “Basic Knowledge ofCancer Chemotherapy” and the other “Cancer Chemotherapy Work Sheet”. They are designed to help maintain safety incancer chemotherapy and can be used in many different hospitals. Our objectives in making these tools were to standardizepharmaceutical care and improve its quality, in the process of promoting the proper use of drugs. First, we prepared our Basic Knowledge of Cancer Chemotherapy sheet for 4 types of cancer (stomach cancer, ovary cancer, malignant lymph adenoma, lung cancer) and then g Cancer Chemotherapy Work Sheets for various chemotherapy regimens : Tegafur-gimeraciloteracil+Cisplatin (TS-1+CDDP) (2), Paclitaxel+Carboplatin (TAXOL+CBDCA) (2), Cyclophosphamide+Doxorubicin+Vincristine (CHOP), bi-weekly Cyclophosphamide+Doxorubicin+Vincristine (bi-weeklyCHOP), Gemcitabine+Cisplatin (GEM+CDDP), Weekly-Paclitaxel+Carboplatin (Weekly-TAXOL+CBDCA), Cisplatin+Etoposide (CDDP+VP16). We evaluated the Cancer Chemotherapy Work Sheets through a questionnaire sent to hospital pharmacists. Most pharmacists (91%) responded that the sheets were “useful” and over half (69%) thought that their purpose was “understandable”.In order to expand the use of our sheets among hospital pharmacists, we made them available through an internet website. We believe that these tools will contribute to the standardization of the pharmaceutical care in cancer chemotherapy and raising its quality.