Use of Telepharmacy To Support Patients Using Oral Antineoplastic Agents: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to use teleconsultation to perform pharmaceutical consultations with patients using oral antineoplastic agents, to identify their profile, and carry out activities to support the correct treatment.Methods The telepharmacy flowchart was designed considering the steps of a pharmaceutical consultation. A pilot study was carried out with 66 patients from a military hospital, who had been using oral antineoplastic agents for at least 3 months. Adherence was measured using a self-report semi-structured survey, medication possession ratio (MPR), and the proportion of days covered (PDC). The interventions were carried out through structured phone calls. Results Sixty-seven percent were male, and 33% were aged 65 to 75 years. According to the survey, 16 patients adhered to the oral antineoplastic agent. Based on MPR and PDC, 53 and 52 patients showed good persistence, respectively. When all methods were applied together, 9 patients were adherent. On average, each patient regularly uses 4.73 medicines. Most patients (83 %) reported adverse effects during treatment. Five hundred eighty-one pharmaceutical interventions were carried out, most of them corrective (29%) and related to the correct drug administration technique (29 %).Conclusions The proposed tool helped establish good communication with patients, obtain desired data, and carry out relevant interventions. However, it is necessary to carry out further consultations to verify whether the patients were able to apply the suggested recommendations in practice.

Telepharmacy: A Potential Alternative Approach for Diabetic Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Another study on the use of telepharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic in outpatients is conducted by Poderoso et al 38 showed that the patients get clinical follow-up and therapeutic adherence monitoring with free home delivery of medication reducing outpatient visits by 56%, the average patient visit before the pandemic was 215 ± 25 and the average visit during a pandemic after telepharmacy implemented was 95 ± 29. Also, study conducted by Calil-elias et al 39 using telepharmacy to improve patient compliance in the use of oral antineoplastic agents stated that 53 patients had a Medication Possession Ratio (MPR) between 90-110% and 52 patients had a Proportion of Days Covered (PDC) value greater than or equal to 90%. These studies proved that the use of telepharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for diabetic patients, has a good impact and able to improve clinical outcomes and patient therapy adherence, and can reduce patient visits to hospitals or health care facilities, which is an important factor in the pandemic.…”