Improvement of the Quality of Outpatient Dispensing Process of Oral Antineoplastic Drugs
Good Dispensing Practices, Antineoplastic Agents, Quality Improvement, Patient Safety.
The use of drugs by oral administration has increased in antineoplastic therapy. This use tends to be convenient for patients and it provides a better quality of life. However, it has raised concerns about the risk of adverse events and correct use of such agents. The narrow therapeutic range of most antineoplastic agents and the autonomy given to the patient due to self-administration reinforce the importance and necessity of the consolidation of qualified and safe processes for the prescription, use and administration of these drugs. In this sense, the dispensation phase has specifically a preventive and corrective character because it goes beyond providing qualified medicines and the in correct amount. It requires the verification of the suitability of the prescription to the patient, as well as the provision of pharmaceutical care, providing drug-related guidance and seizing user needs. Thus, this study aims to evaluate and improve the quality of the outpatient dispensing process of oral antineoplastic drugs through a cycle of improvement in a large hospital in the North of Minas Gerais. This is a quantitative study, with quasi-experimental design, before-after, without control group. To assess the dispensing quality level, seven quality criteria were prepared and validated by a group of professionals of the anticancer therapy service. Subsequently, these criteria were verified retrospectively in 60 cases of oral antineoplastic dispensations, which were randomly selected from outpatient records. The initial assessment revealed opportunities for service improvement, as well as the criteria that deserved prioritization of intervention was represented in a Pareto Chart. Therefore, interventions were planned and planned in a Gantt Chart, which is in the implementation phase to improve quality of the process.