The need for community pharmacists in oncology outpatient care: a systematic review

Abstract

Background One-third of all deaths in Europe each year are attributable to cancer. Issues relating to cancer care, therefore, will continue to expand. To manage the increased challenges-including doctor shortages, an ageing population, and rural distribution of supplies-community pharmacists will likely be required to assume responsibility within oncology care. Aim of the review To assess the need for further investigation into quantity and utility of community pharmacists' interventions in assisting oncology outpatients. Methods Initial search terms for identifying relevant literature within the PubMed database were informed by four key questions. Study selection for the systematic review was performed based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, which were defined a priori using the PICO tool. Literature searches identified 2470 papers, for which titles and abstracts were reviewed. Of these, 220 papers were retained for detailed analysis. The full texts of these manuscripts were then screened by applying the inclusion criteria. The remaining 68 papers were included in the systematic review. Results Several models of pharmacists' interventions in inpatient, medium, and outpatient care have proven to be successful, have been consistently efficacious, and have positively influenced patient outcomes. Importantly, the quantity of scientific research, and thus of reported beneficial outcomes, in outpatient care is much lower than that conducted for inpatient and medium care. Conclusion Based on our findings, we suggest that further investigation of community pharmacists' interventions into oncology outpatient assistance is necessary, and that further research should be conducted to address this need.

The effects of pharmacist interventions on adult outpatients with cancer: A systematic review

“…Our results indicated that there are few studies on this topic, with most of them being published from 2015. This is consistent with a current systematic review of pharmacist intervention models in oncology, which indicates that most research in this area is focused on inpatients . In addition, most studies were conducted in the United States, Europe and Asia.…”

“…A previous systematic review explored the role of pharmacists in communicating to people living with cancer about their use of complementary medicines, whereas another review assessed models of pharmacist interventions in assisting oncology patients. However, to the best our knowledge, summarized evidence on the effect of pharmacist interventions in outpatients with cancer is lacking in the current literature.…”

“…7 Given this context, pharmacists have become more proactive as they have been integrated into care teams, participating directly in the selection and management of patients' drug therapy, as well as proving drug counselling for patients and other health professionals. 7,8 A previous systematic review 9 explored the role of pharmacists in communicating to people living with cancer about their use of complementary medicines, whereas another review 10 search strategy for all the databases is shown in Appendix 1. In addition, we screened the reference lists of appraised articles to identify any studies that might have been missed.…”

Communicating with palliative care patients nearing the end of life, their families and carers

“…Pharmacists' expert pharmaceutical knowledge and broad skill set -coupled with their widespread accessibility and trusted relationships with patients and carers -mean that they are well suited to better integration within the palliative care team [22], [25] . The pharmacist's role is extending beyond the more traditional elements of dispensing activity and management of minor ailments towards the provision of greater psychosocial support for patients [22], [26] . This creates opportunities for further interaction, not only with patients, but also with loved ones, relatives and carers.…”

“…This is an increasingly relevant topic in light of pharmacists' involvement in palliative care services both nationally and globally [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26] .…”