Oncology Pharmacy in Your Community - CAPhO

2007 | NOPS POSTERS
THE EVOLUTION OF PHARMACY SUPPORT FOR ONCOLOGY CLINICAL TRIALS
NOPS — Oncology Pharmacy in Your Community, October 26-28, 2007
Kim Bruce-Payne, Larry Broadfi eld, Claudia Harding
Capital District Health Authority, Halifax
Oncology clinical trials are a key component of the comprehensive cancer program at the QE II Health Sciences Centre. Over a period
of several years, the participation of the Pharmacy service in support of oncology clinical trials has grown substantively. Continued
growth in the number of active clinical trials has driven the Pharmacy service to develop new models for service delivery.
In 2005, shifting responsibilities among the oncology pharmacists necessitated the creation of a full time pharmacy technician position
to support oncology clinical trials, and in 2006 another part time position to support Special Access drugs was added. This was in addition
to 2 previous pharmacy technician positions for non-oncology trials. Since this time, duties previously carried by the oncology
pharmacist have shifted to the technician, including up front preparation of pharmacy procedures, ongoing trial maintenance (e.g.
quality control of acquisition and accountability records), and frequent study monitoring visits. Other duties have been retained by
the oncology pharmacist (e.g. development of drug information sheets for new agents), and a new function to develop trial-specifi c
Pre-Printed Orders has been added. Examples of each will be illustrated.
Billing for Pharmacy services has been carefully monitored, and the entire cost of the pharmacy technician has been offset against
receivables from the trials. This program is cost-neutral for the department. Data will illustrate this success.
As we look to the future, new opportunities may be considered. For instance, the opportunity to conduct pharmacy practice research
around clinical trial support is under consideration. Some ideas will be shared for discussion.
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