A pilot study to assess the pharmacy impact of implementing a chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting collaborative disease therapy management in the outpatient oncology clinics.

BACKGROUND: Collaborative drug therapy management is a formal partnership between a pharmacist and physician to allow the pharmacist to manage a patient's drug therapy. Literature supports collaborative disease therapy management can improve patient outcomes, improve medication adherence, enhance medication safety, and positively influence healthcare expenditures. Chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting is considered one of the most distressing and feared adverse events among patients receiving chemotherapy. Chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting can impact a patient's quality of life and may affect compliance with the treatment plan.

PURPOSE: The objective of this pilot study was to determine the pharmacy impact of implementing a chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting collaborative disease therapy management protocol in the outpatient oncology clinics at a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center associated with an academic medical center. The primary endpoint was to determine the number and type of chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting clinical interventions made by the oncology pharmacists. Secondary endpoints included comparing patient's Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer scores and revenue of pharmacists' services.

METHODS: The credentialed oncology pharmacists were consulted by an oncologist to manage chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting. Patients were included in the chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting collaborative disease therapy management if they were seen in an outpatient oncology clinic from October 2016 to January 2017 and had a referral from a qualified provider to help manage chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting. Patients admitted to the hospital at the time of consult were excluded from the study. The pharmacists interviewed patients and provided recommendations. The pharmacists followed up with the patient via a telephone call or during the next scheduled clinic visit to assess their symptoms.

RESULTS: The chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting collaborative disease therapy management pilot study was implemented in October 2016. From October 2016 to January 2017, there were 45 consults for the management of chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting. The pharmacists made 188 clinical interventions, which included addition of new medications (37%), patient education (34%), deletion of medications (10%), changing a dose/duration/frequency (8%), and other interventions (11%). Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer symptom scores were available for 5 patients, in which all showed improvements from baseline with the pharmacists' clinical interventions.

CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of our chemotherapy induced nausea or vomiting collaborative disease therapy management pilot study has shown favorable results after a 4-month evaluation period. The pharmacists have made a substantial number of clinical interventions and provided patient education to patients undergoing chemotherapy.