The impact of ROTS (Raadpleging voor patiënten op Orale antitumorale Therapie Sint-Lucas Gent) on oral anticancer drug use: a 5-year status update

BACKGROUND AND AIM Clinical pharmacists (CPs) can give in-depth education to patients regarding their treatment with oral anticancer therapy (OACT) in order to ensure the medication is taken correctly and the adverse events (AEs) are managed effectively. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role and usefulness of an outpatient oncology clinic, ROTS (Raadpleging Orale antitumorale Therapie Sint-Lucas Gent) over a nearly 5 year real life practice period.

METHODS A retrospective analysis of the CPs interventions was performed. Additionally, both onco-physicians and patients on OACT, whether or not included in the ROTS, were invited to particapte in a survey regarding the general satisfaction of the ROTS project.

RESULTS From April 2010 until January 2015 2974 interventions for 181 patients were registered. The most frequent interventions were AE monitoring and management (43.21%), pill count (26.26%) and medication reconciliation and review (22.06%). The patient survey (n=40) showed that ROTS patients were better informed about all aspects of the therapy (70% vs. 35%) and the 10 onco-physicians surveyed were highly satisfied about the collaboration and would recommend ROTS with a score of 4.9±0.27/5.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION This study is a good example of delivering clinical care by CPs in an outpatient clinic and to help patients overcome barriers to achieve a more optimal therapy while maintaining their quality of life. However significancy could not be determined due to the lack of a comparable group. This study can set a base for further improvement of an outpatient oncology clinic in all hospitals. This outpatient clinic led to a lower threshold for patients to contact a CP resulting in an earlier diagnosis of the AEs and drug drug interactions and potentially to earlier interventions and alterations of the treatment plan.