Descriptive study of clinical pharmacist interventions in adult hospice and palliative care at a comprehensive oncology center in Jordan

Abstract

Introduction: Few studies have evaluated the role of a clinical pharmacist in hospice and palliative care in oncology. We aimed to describe the intervention of a clinical pharmacist in hospice and palliative care at a comprehensive oncology center in Jordan.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study at a comprehensive oncology center in Jordan between 2006 and 2019. Quantifi^® pharmacy documentation system was used to retrieve the clinical pharmacists' interventions in three hospice and palliative care settings, inpatient hospice and palliative care, outpatient hospice and palliative care clinics and home health care. Where clinical pharmacists document their interventions, significance and acceptance of the interventions by the physician is done using Quantifi^®.

Results: Over 13 years, 27,720 documented interventions were retrieved in the three settings of hospice and palliative care: inpatient hospice and palliative care, outpatient hospice and palliative care clinics and home health care setting. The most common reported interventions were drug therapy recommendation/discontinuation (41%), followed by medication reconciliation (21.7%) and patient counseling (16.8%). The medication classes most commonly associated with the hospice and palliative care clinical pharmacist interventions were analgesics (20.9%), antibiotics (19.7%), followed by medications for the nervous system (12.4%). The acceptance rate of the interventions by physicians was around (90%) and 100% of the interventions were considered significant.

Conclusion: Our study showed the high impact of the hospice and palliative care clinical pharmacist in oncology providing the high number of clinical pharmacists' interventions.

Keywords: Hospice and palliative care; clinical pharmacist; interventions; oncology.