Project summary in plain language

Drug therapy safety in supportive care

Impact of a supportive care Pharmacist Consultation Service (scPCS) on drug therapy safety in oncology patients

Problem/patient group

During drug-based tumor therapy, side effects occur that can impair patients' quality of life and that may complicate the achievement of treatment goals. Supportive care aims to treat the adverse effects of cancer treatment and cancer itself. However, guideline recommendations for supportive care are not always implemented. In addition, symptoms that should be treated sometimes remain unrecognized in everyday clinical practice. This may compromise drug therapy safety.

Aim

The project investigates whether pharmaceutical care for outpatients with cancer, focusing on supportive care, can increase drug therapy safety. The impact on guideline-adherent implementation of supportive care and the symptom burden of patients are examined as important parameters for drug therapy safety.

Implementation

Participants in the study are patients with solid tumors who are starting intravenous tumor therapy. The therapy may be supplemented by oral medication. An observation phase is followed by an intervention phase introducing pharmaceutical care. This consists of three components: (I) advising treating physicians on supportive care, (II) training ward staff in supportive care measures, and (III) training patients in dealing with side effects of the therapy and accompanying symptoms of the disease. In order to draw conclusions about the drug therapy safety during the two phases, a comparison is made between the observation and intervention phase to determine how well guideline recommendations for supportive care are being implemented and to what extent patients are affected by symptoms.

Results

The observation phase started in December 2025. The results of an interim evaluation following the observation phase are expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
 
Patient benefit

The implementation of pharmaceutical care aims to improve guideline adherence and to reduce the symptom burden for patients. Overall, the project intends to enhance drug therapy safety during outpatient intravenous tumor therapy.

Image source: Larissa Weller