Journal of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems
Open Access
ISSN: 2376-0419
ISSN: 2376-0419
Rashida Muhammad Umar
Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Pharma Care Health Sys
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally with increasing prevalence. Treatment in cancer patients is complicated as it obliges the use of drugs with narrow therapeutic window and high toxicity to treat the cancer, in addition to supportive care medications to treat disease-related and therapy complications and also comorbidities. As such cancer patients are prone to drug-related problems. Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM) is defined by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy as the standard of care that ensures each patient�??s medication (including non-prescription drugs, traditional and alternative therapies and supplements) are individually assessed to determine that each medication is appropriate for the patient, effective for the medical condition, safe given to comorbidities and other medications taken and able to be taken by the patient as intended. CMM involves assessment of patient, evaluation of medication therapy, development and initiation of plan to tackle or prevent identified drug-related problems and follow up and medication monitoring. A recent study focused on the evaluation of the effect of this process in hospitalized oncology patients revealed the importance of the process as 481 drugrelated problems were recorded in 137 patients. Clinical pharmacist interventions were readily accepted and implemented by physicians showing the acceptability of clinical pharmacist as part of the health-care team and the applicability of the process in improving patient outcome. Oncology-hematology unit has one of the highest rates of medication errors and study results have been consistent with the positive impact of clinical pharmacists on preventing medication errors, optimizing drug usage and maintaining patient safety. The awareness of patient centered pharmacy practice in developing countries is increasing and introduction of clinical pharmacist-led pharmaceutical care programs in the multidisciplinary team will improve therapeutic outcomes and reduce health-related expenditure.
Rashida Muhammad Umar is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul. She has completed her graduation and postgraduation in Pharmacy from Hacettepe University, Ankara and her PhD in Clinical Pharmacy from Marmara University Istanbul. She is a Lecturer focused on the improvement of pharmacy education and the application of clinical pharmacy in the health care system.
E-mail: rmumar@medipol.edu.tr