Abstract
Aim
To define recommendations that permit safe management of antineoplastic medication, minimise medication errors and improve the safety of cancer patients undergoing treatment.
Methods
By 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.
Results
In 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.
Conclusions
It 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.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Introduction
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-of-life 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. This situation poses new challenges for achieving safe management of cancer drugs by the health professionals involved.
For decades, cancer therapy (particularly chemotherapy) has been the prime example of high-risk medication. The risk of fatality or serious complications entailed in chemotherapy [1], including cases with major social repercussions such as intrathecal delivery errors [2], has led the scientific community to introduce hitherto unheard-of multidisciplinary practices for validating and double-checking treatment, in order to improve cancer patient safety [3, 4]. 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]. All these measures have contributed greatly to improving safety [16], but do not entirely guarantee it [17]. Those recommendations were subsequently incorporated into national and international standards and guidelines [5, 18,19,20,21,22,23] by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) [24,25,26], the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) [27] and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), among others [28, 29]. Complying with certain standards is a mandatory requirement in current cancer care quality systems [30].
However, in the context of growing patient safety demands and rapid introduction of new treatments, establishing safe basic procedures may not be enough. In particular, the advent of oral drugs for non-hospital use has not been accompanied by the same safety requirements now in place for intravenous chemotherapy in the oncology hospital setting [31]. That has generated new risks and challenges in cancer patient care, such as monitoring adherence and educating patients about their treatment [32, 33], resulting in new recommendations specifically for oral therapy [34, 35], now included in the latest versions of international publications [24, 25, 27].
In Spain, no consensus document is yet available in which a full set of multidisciplinary measures is defined for the safe treatment of cancer patients with antineoplastic drugs. Some advisable practices are contained in other reports, such as the recent Strategic Plan for Pharmaceutical Care in Oncology/Haematology Patients by the Spanish Group for the Development of Oncology Pharmacy (GEDEFO) [36] or the document on oncology day hospitals produced by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) [37, 38].
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.
Methods
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.
Literature review
To identify safe practices regarding antineoplastic drug management, a structured literature search was performed in the PubMed database for publications on cancer therapy recommendations and safety and quality standards. The search was confined to articles published in English or Spanish between 1 May 2007 and 31 April 2017. The search syntax employed included the combination of MeSH descriptors and keywords or text words shown in Table 1. This search identified 85 publications, from which 23 in total were finally selected by reading the abstracts [1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11,12,13, 16,17,18,19, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30,31,32,33, 35, 39].
The literature search was supplemented by a manual search for secondary references cited in the articles initially selected [3, 5, 8, 15, 34]. A manual search for documents about standards or recommendations for safe practices with cytostatics was also performed on the websites of the following health organisations and agencies:
-
Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Canada [29];
-
Health Care Improvement, Scotland [23];
-
National Health Service: North Wales Cancer Network, United Kingdom [40];
-
Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices;
-
GEDEFO [36];
Initial selection of safe practices by an expert committee
For the production of this document, SEOM and SEFH set up a committee of experts in cancer therapy and drug safety, composed of four specialists from each society.
The first stage involved the experts analysing the publications selected during the literature search, in order to identify and compile safe practices covering all stages of cancer therapy provision. The expected benefits were taken into account, as was the feasibility of incorporation into Spanish healthcare practice. This stage identified 74 safe practices, which were discussed and screened at a meeting attended in person by the expert committee members. Several rounds of revision then took place between the committee members, working remotely. At the end of this process, 68 practices were selected in total.
Revision of selected practices by independent professionals, and production of the consensus statement
The expert committee drafted a set of recommendations for the safe management of cancer medication, containing the 68 selected practices. This draft was e-mailed to various health professionals belonging to SEFH and SEOM, who had been chosen in advance for their knowledge of this field. They were asked for comments and suggestions about the practices included, in terms of content and wording. They were also given the opportunity to suggest the inclusion of new practices.
All the comments and suggested amendments to the contents and form of the document, sent by the health professionals consulted, were analysed and discussed by the expert committee until an agreed draft list of safe practices was achieved.
This draft list of safe practices was then submitted for review and endorsement to the SEEO, which suggested additional comments and amendments to clarify some practices. These amendments were discussed by the expert committee and were included in the final document.
Results
Table 2 contains the full list of safe practices for the management of cancer therapy agreed by this expert committee. This list includes 68 practices divided into five sections, following a scheme like the one used in the ASCO/ONS chemotherapy administration safety standards [24]. “Introduction” contains 17 general measures intended for healthcare establishments, about the training of health professionals involved in cancer patient treatment, the human and technological resources needed, the standard operating procedures that should exist, and procedures for continuity of care and risk management. “Methods” supplements the above with nine practices related to cancer therapy planning, informed consent, and informing the patient and his/her family or carers about medication.
Section 3 of Table 2 contains 33 practices addressing the stages of prescribing, preparing, dispensing and administering oral and parenteral cancer therapy, including specific measures for intrathecally delivered medication. This section is supplemented by “Discussion”, which contains five practices on treatment monitoring, including the assessment of patient adherence and cancer treatment toxicity. Lastly, the four practices in Sect. 5 briefly highlight the importance of ensuring the safety of health professionals who prepare and administer antineoplastic medication. It was decided that in-depth consideration of this issue was beyond the scope of this document, because it did not form part of the initial aim of these recommendations.
Discussion
Medication safety management is a critical aspect of cancer patient care. Because antineoplastic drugs have a narrow therapeutic range, medication errors that can arise for various reasons during the course of treatment carry a high risk of causing patients serious adverse effects or compromising the clinical benefit of therapy. Safe practices to minimise them and prevent unnecessary harm to patients must, therefore, be implemented. Aware of this need, SEFH and SEOM have worked closely together to produce a multidisciplinary document that brings together a set of fundamental practices to ensure the safety of cancer patient care. Starting from a literature review, an expert committee produced a set of recommendations tailored to Spain. These were revised by a group of independent professionals from both societies and endorsed by the SEEO.
The recommendations are intended for healthcare establishments and professionals who provide parenteral and oral cancer therapy, either with commercially available medications or with clinical research products. The recommendations address all stages involved in the process of providing cancer drug treatment, from prescribing to patient monitoring. Additionally, they cover other measures considered essential for improving cancer patient safety, some of which entail profound change in an organisation’s culture. Examples include continuing professional development and assessment of competence, standardisation of all working procedures and healthcare protocols, and setting up risk management systems. All of these are crucial for improving safety. These recommendations also incorporate the minimum technological and human resources that need to be available at healthcare centres in order to reduce variability of care provided, ensure fairness, and assure the safety of cancer therapy.
Today, cancer is regarded as a chronic disease, and oral antineoplastic therapies are increasingly used. Together, these two facts have required patient care strategies to change direction, towards a cooperative multidisciplinary model, in which it is particularly important to inform and talk to the patients and/or carers who will have to be actively involved in treatment. One whole section of recommendations is, therefore, devoted to this. The document contains other fundamental practices in these patients, such as monitoring adherence and reconciling treatments during transitions of care.
The practices listed in this consensus statement are not intended as safety standards for healthcare establishments, because the scientific societies that produced them do not provide certification. Nevertheless, these specific measures aimed at preventing medication errors should obviously be adapted and implemented by healthcare establishments, in order to improve the safety of the care they provide. This document is also intended to assist health professionals, who can use the recommendations as a benchmark for their healthcare practice.
Lastly, it should be noted that SEFH, SEOM and SEEO intend to promote the development of initiatives to encourage the introduction of these recommendations, and to update them periodically, when new practices are developed that affect the safety of cancer therapy. The aim is for patients receiving antineoplastic therapy in Spain to do so with maximum assurances of quality and safety.
References
Schwappach DL, Wernli M. Medication errors in chemotherapy: incidence, types and involvement of patients in prevention. A review of the literature. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2010;19:285–92.
Marliot G, Le Rhun E, Sakji I, Bonneterre J, Cazin JL. Securing the circuit of intrathecally administered cancer drugs: example of a collective approach. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2011;17:252–9.
Markert A, Thierry V, Kleber M, Behrens M, Engelhardt M. Chemotherapy safety and severe adverse events in cancer patients: strategies to efficiently avoid chemotherapy errors in in- and outpatient treatment. Int J Cancer. 2009;124:722–8.
Jaehde U, Liekweg A, Simons S, Westfeld M. Minimising treatment-associated risks in systemic cancer therapy. Pharm World Sci. 2008;30:161–8.
Easty AC, Coakley N, Cheng R, Cividino M, Savage P, Tozer R, et al. Safe handling of cytotoxics: guideline recommendations. Curr Oncol. 2015;22:e27–37.
Gramage Caro T, Palomar Fernández C, Pueyo López C, Sánchez Cuervo M, Gómez de Salazar ME, Bermejo Vicedo T. Validating a classification scheme for medication errors to be used in chemotherapy. Farm Hosp. 2011;35:197–203.
Saad A, Der-Nigoghossian CA, Njeim R, Sakr R, Salameh P, Massoud M. Prescription errors with chemotherapy: quality improvement through standardized order templates. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2016;17:2329–36.
Trudeau M, Green E, Cosby R, Charbonneau F, Easty T, Ko Y, et al. Key components of intravenous chemotherapy labeling: a systematic review and practice guideline. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2011;17:409–24.
Ng T, Badry N, de Lemos ML. Rationalizing the use of auxiliary label for oral oncology drugs. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2017;23:338–43.
Trudeau M, Green E, Cosby R, Charbonneau F, Easty T, Ko Y et al. Patient safety Issues: key components of chemotherapy labelling. In: Toronto (ON): cancer care ontario. Program in evidence-based Care practice guideline. 2009. https://www.cancercareontario.ca/sites/ccocancercare/files/guidelines/summary/pebc12-11s.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Dobish R, Shultz J, Neilson S, Raven A, Chambers CR. Worksheets with embedded checklists support IV chemotherapy safer practice. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2016;22:142–50.
Gandhi S, Tyono I, Pasetka M, Trudeau M. Evaluating an oncology systemic therapy computerized physician order entry system using international guidelines. J Oncol Pract. 2014;10:e14–25.
Kukreti V, Cosby R, Cheung A, Lankshear S. ST computerized prescriber order entry guideline development group. Computerized prescriber order entry in the outpatient oncology setting: from evidence to meaningful use. Curr Oncol. 2014;21:e604–12.
Ortiz-Martin B, Pena-Cabia S. Degree of technological implementation in intravenous chemotherapy management in hospitals of the autonomous community of Madrid. Farm Hosp. 2017;41:488–96.
Shulman LN, Miller RS, Ambinder EP, Yu PP, Cox JV. Principles of safe practice using an oncology EHR system for chemotherapy ordering, preparation, and administration, part 2 of 2. J Oncol Pract. 2008;4:254–7.
Kullberg A, Larsen J, Sharp L. ‘Why is there another person’s name on my infusion bag?’ Patient safety in chemotherapy care—a review of the literature. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2013;17:228–35.
Bubalo J, Warden BA, Wiegel JJ, Nishida T, Handel E, Svoboda LM, et al. Does applying technology throughout the medication use process improve patient safety with antineoplastics? J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2014;20:445–60.
Casiraghi A, Franzè S, Rocco P, Minghetti P. Risk management of in-hospital administration of anticancer drugs: impact of raccomandazione 14 from the Italian ministry of health. Tumori. 2016;102:2–6.
Carrington C, Stone L, Koczwara B, Searle C, Siderov J, Stevenson B, et al. The clinical oncological society of Australia (COSA) guidelines for the safe prescribing, dispensing and administration of cancer chemotherapy. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2010;6:220–37.
Leung M, Bland R, Baldassarre F, Green E, Kaizer L, Hertz S et al. Safe administration of systemic cancer therapy: introduction and general methods. In: Toronto (ON): cancer care Ontario. Program in evidence-based care practice guideline. 2012. https://www.cancercareontario.ca/sites/ccocancercare/files/guidelines/full/pebc12-12f.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Leung M, Bland R, Baldassarre F, Green E, Kaizer L, Hertz S et al. Safe administration of systemic cancer therapy. Part 1: safety during chemotherapy ordering, transcribing, dispensing, and patient identification. In: Toronto (ON): cancer care Ontario. Program in evidence-based care practice guideline. 2012. https://www.cancercareontario.ca/sites/ccocancercare/files/guidelines/summary/pebc12-12-1s.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Leung M, Bland R, Baldassarre F, Green E, Kaizer L, Hertz S et al. Safe administration of systemic cancer therapy. Part 2: administration of chemotherapy and management of preventable adverse events. In: Toronto (ON): cancer care Ontario. Program in evidence-based care practice guideline. 2014. https://www.cancercareontario.ca/sites/ccocancercare/files/guidelines/summary/pebc12-12-2s.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Scottish Government. Guidance for the safe delivery of systemic anti-cancer therapy. 2012. http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2012_30.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Neuss MN, Gilmore TR, Belderson KM, Billett AL, Conti-Kalchik T, Harvet BE, et al. 2016 updated American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society chemotherapy administration safety standards, including standards for pediatric oncology. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2017;44:31–43.
Neuss MN, Polovich M, McNiff K, Esper P, Gilmore TR, LeFebvre KB, et al. 2013 updated American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society chemotherapy administration safety standards including standards for the safe administration and management of oral chemotherapy. J Oncol Pract. 2013;9:5s–13s.
Jacobson JO, Polovich M, McNiff KK, LeFebvre KB, Cummings C, Galioto M, et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society chemotherapy administration safety standards. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2009;36:651–8.
Goldspiel B, Hoffman JM, Griffith NL, Goodin S, DeChristoforo R, Montello CM, et al. ASHP guidelines on preventing medication errors with chemotherapy and biotherapy. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2015;72:e6–35.
Greenall J, Shastay A, Vaida AJUD, Johnson PE, O’Leary J, et al. Establishing an international baseline for medication safety in oncology: findings from the 2012 ISMP international medication safety self assessment(R) for oncology. J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2015;21:26–35.
ISMP Canada. ISMP International Medication Safety Self Assessment for Oncology. 2012. https://mssa.ismp-canada.org/data/oncology/mssa_oncology.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Gilmore TR, Schulmeister L, Jacobson JO. Quality oncology practice initiative certification program: measuring implementation of chemotherapy administration safety standards in the outpatient oncology setting. J Oncol Pract. 2013;9:14s–8s.
Griffin MC, Gilbert RE, Broadfield LH, Easty AE, Trbovich PL, Griffin MC, et al. ReCAP: comparison of independent error checks for oral versus intravenous chemotherapy. J Oncol Pract. 2016;12(168–9):e80–7.
Ribed A, Escudero-Vilaplana V, Romero-Jiménez RM, Iglesias-Peinado I, Herranz-Alonso A, Sanjurjo-Séez M. Guiding pharmacist clinical interviews: a safety tool to support the education of patients treated with oral antineoplastic agents. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2016;15:427–35.
Lester J. Safe handling and administration considerations of oral anticancer agents in the clinical and home setting. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2012;16:E192–7.
Goodin S, Griffith N, Chen B, Chuk K, Daouphars M, Doreau C, et al. Safe handling of oral chemotherapeutic agents in clinical practice: recommendations from an international pharmacy panel. J Oncol Pract. 2011;7:7–12.
Rudnitzki T, McMahon D. Oral agents for cancer: safety challenges and recommendations. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2015;19:41–6.
Grupo de Farmacia Oncológica de la SEFH. Plan estratégico de atención farmacéutica al paciente oncohematológico. 2016. http://gruposdetrabajo.sefh.es/gedefo/images/stories/documentos/2016/plan%20estratgico%202020.pdf. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Arcusa Lanza A, León Carbonero AI, Vera García R, Juan Vidal OJ, Del Barco Berrón S, Guillot Morales M et al. Hospitales de día en Oncología. Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica. 2015. https://www.seom.org/seomcms/images/stories/recursos/Libro_Hospitales_Dia_en_Oncologia.pdf.
Jara C, Ayala F, Virizuela JA. Oncology day hospital task force. The oncology day hospital in Spain: an updated analysis of Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) looking forward. Clin Transl Oncol. 2017;19:269–72.
Jacobson JO, Polovich M, Gilmore TR, Schulmeister L, Esper P, Lefebvre KB, et al. Revisions to the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society chemotherapy administration safety standards: expanding the scope to include inpatient settings. J Oncol Pract. 2012;8:2–6.
North Wales Cancer Network. Standards for the safe use of oral anticancer medicines. 2008. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/docopen.cfm?orgid=456&id=99534. Accessed 11 April 2018.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the following experts who reviewed and contributed with suggestions to the content of this manuscript: Carmen Beato, Mónica Carbajales, Ignacio García-Escobar, José A Marcos, Javier Pérez-Altozano, Montserrat Pérez-Encinas, José A Pérez-Fidalgo, Cesar A Rodríguez, María Dolores Santos-Rubio and Inmaculada Torre-Lloveras. The authors also wish to thank Helena Martín, Head of Bio-health Libraries at the University of Salamanca, for her contribution to the search strategy for the literature review. Editorial assistance for the development of this manuscript was provided by Beatriz Gil-Alberdi of HealthCo (Madrid, Spain).
Funding
This project was supported with unrestricted grants from SEFH and SEOM.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest that may inappropriately influence this work.
Ethical approval
This article is a review article of published literature and does not contain any original study with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed consent
For this type of study formal consent is not required.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Vera, R., Otero, M.J., Ayala de la Peña, F. et al. Recommendations by the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy, the Spanish Society of Oncology Nursing and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology for the safe management of antineoplastic medication in cancer patients. Clin Transl Oncol 21, 467–478 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-018-1945-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-018-1945-x