Establishing a pharmacist-led helpline service for paediatric oncology patients

Abstract

The pharmacist has a key role in detecting, preventing, and resolving drug-related problems (DRP’s), and the pharmacy profession shoulders a crucial role in the safe and effective provision of patient-centred pharmacotherapy. It is noted that differences exist between patients who are receiving treatment at hospital and those who are discharged on treatment at home. The aim of this research was to establish a pharmacist-led helpline framework for paediatric oncology patients. The objectives were to evaluate the expectations of physicians, nurses, and parents/legal guardians of the proposed service; to compile and validate the tools required to run the helpline service; to develop a quality management system required to run the service and to identify the training needs for pharmacists that are required to support the helpline. This study wasset at the Paediatric-Adolescent Oncology ward within Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre (SAMOC) at Mater Dei Hospital (MDH). The methodology was divided into three phases. Phase one involved a literature review exercise identifying the information required for the development of the tools to be used for the pharmacist-led helpline. Phase two focused on the development and validation of the tools such as pre-service gap analysis questionnaires and a post-service questionnaire. During Phase two, the training needs for pharmacists providing the service of the pharmacist-led helpline were also identified through a focus group. Phase three of the research focused on the development of a quality management system (QMS) including required standard operating procedure (SOP) to support the implementation of the pharmacist-led helpline for paediatric oncology patients. Study outcomes include the documentation required to run the pharmacist-led helpline namely the helpline documentation sheet, the referral form, the post service evaluation questionnaire and the SOP. From the pre service questionnaire results, it was recorded that a pharmacist-led helpline service is an essential support service for parents/caregivers of paediatric oncology patients from both the healthcare professionals’ perspective as well as the parents’/caregivers’ perspective. All participants who answered the questionnaires agreed unanimously. Lack of knowledge in the parents/caregivers cohort, about the pharmacist’s expertise about medicines was noted. This research provided a link between paediatric oncology patients within the community and the hospital team by enabling response to the patients’ needs in a more timely and efficient manner. The developed framework can be adapted for use in other clinical settings.