Abdulmohsen Assiri, Isra Abu Median, Khalid Alshahrani, Mohammed Asiri, Osama Alsaeed, Ali Asiri, Mona Abashar, Majid Ali, Aseel Alsraeya
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: This study evaluated the impact of structured clinical pharmacist-led counseling on hospital admissions due to chemotherapy side effects, patient satisfaction, and cost avoidance in patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy.
Methods: A prospective pre-post quality improvement study was conducted at a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia. The preintervention cohort (October 2024-February 2025, n = 118) received standard care; the postintervention cohort (April-August 2025, n = 135) received structured 30-min pharmacist-led counseling covering regimen-specific education, anticipatory guidance on toxicity, self-management strategies, red-flag symptom recognition, and monitoring protocols. The primary outcome was the hospital admission rate due to chemotherapy-related side effects. Secondary outcomes included side effect-specific admissions, patient satisfaction, and economic impact.
Findings: The intervention achieved a 34.4% relative reduction in admission rates (13.56%-8.89%; P = 0.02; number needed to treat = 22). Complete elimination of admissions for gastrointestinal toxicities and 38.8% reduction in febrile neutropenia admissions were observed. Patient satisfaction reached 94.4%, with 97.2% service coverage. Net cost savings totaled $38,850 over 5 months (ROI: 747%), with febrile neutropenia prevention accounting for 76.6% of savings.
Conclusion: Structured pharmacist-led counseling significantly reduced chemotherapy-related hospital admissions, achieved exceptional patient satisfaction, and demonstrated strong economic value, supporting its integration as standard supportive care in oncology practice.
期刊介绍：
The main focus of the journal will be on evidence-based drug-related medical researches (with clinical pharmacists’ intervention or documentation), particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean region. However, a wide range of closely related issues will be also covered. These will include clinical studies in the field of pharmaceutical care, reporting adverse drug reactions and human medical toxicology, pharmaco-epidemiology and toxico-epidemiology (poisoning epidemiology), social aspects of pharmacy practice, pharmacy education and economic evaluations of treatment protocols (e.g. cost-effectiveness studies). Local reports of medication utilization studies at hospital or pharmacy levels will only be considered for peer-review process only if they have a new and useful message for the international pharmacy practice professionals and readers.
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