Project summary in plain language

Drug Therapy Safety in Uro-Oncology

APTURO – Medication Reconciliation and Patient Information for Tumor Therapy in Uro-Oncology

 

Problem/patient group

Uro-oncology patients usually develop urothelial, prostate or renal cell carcinoma for the first time at an advanced age. As a result, they often already suffer from concomitant diseases at the time of diagnosis and take additional medication. The upcoming complex oncological treatment regimens require extensive patient information and education. Overall, uro-oncology patients therefore represent a special risk group for drug-related problems (DRP).

Aim

The APTURO study investigates how pharmaceutical care can contribute to increasing drug therapy safety and patient satisfaction of uro-oncology patients with information on tumor therapy. The improvement in drug therapy safety is measured by the number of unsolved DRP per patient. A validated, specialized questionnaire records whether patient satisfaction can be improved.

Implementation

The pre-post study is divided into an observation and an intervention phase. The number of unresolved DRP and the satisfaction of patients, first without and then with pharmaceutical care, consisting of medication histories with medication analyses and pharmaceutical patient training, are recorded and can then be analyzed and compared with each other. To increase satisfaction, patient-friendly information sheets for all common uro-oncological tumor therapies were developed between the two phases. These are distributed as part of the patient training sessions and are also discussed verbally.

Result

Recruitment for both study phases has already been completed, but data collection is still ongoing. An initial interim evaluation of patient satisfaction in the observation phase showed that this depends on different treatment situations such as the form of application. The data from the intervention phase must show whether an improvement can be achieved through pharmaceutical care.

Patient benefit

The networking of physicians with pharmacists to form an interdisciplinary care team enables an increase in drug therapy safety and a reduction in the symptom burden during tumor therapy. Targeted training should increase patient knowledge regarding their therapy and thus improve patient adherence to their (tumor) medication.

 

Image source: Judith Fischer