Improving Clinical Pharmacist Performance in Oncology Care Through Education on Pharmaceutical Care Plans Documentation: A Pre-Post Interventional Study

Introduction Clinical pharmacists are vital in oncology care involved in optimizing pharmaceutical care plans(PCPs). Their involvement in medication management, and accurate documentation assists for care of patients with cancer.

Objective This study aims to evaluates the impact of a targeted educational intervention for clinical pharmacists on both the quantity and quality of PCP documentation, providing insights into optimizing pharmaceutical care within an oncology setting.

Methods A descriptive pre-post study was done at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore. Data on admitted patients' PCPs from November 2023 to March 2024 was collected from the Hospital Information System. PCP documentation was evaluated following the educational intervention on clinical pharmacy staff where the improvement in the documentation among specialties section was analyzed using a one-tailed t-test.

Results The study assessed a total of 120 patients during the pre-intervention phase and 382 patients post-intervention. In the pre-intervention phase, the mean ± SD age of patients was 36.1 ± 20.1 years, with males constituting 57.5% and females 42.5%. Post-intervention, the mean ± SD age slightly increased to 37.3 ± 20.7 years, with a similar gender distribution of 58.9% males and 41.1% females. The intervention significantly increased the number of PCPs from 130 in the pre-intervention phase to 516 in the post-intervention phase particularly in Adult Oncology (p-value = 0.0115) and Palliative Care (p-value =0.0095). The ratio of PCPs to patient admissions improved markedly from 1:13 to 1:50, indicating a substantial enhancement in the documentation and management of PCPs.

Conclusion The study demonstrates that structured educational interventions significantly enhance the documentation of PCPs by clinical pharmacists. By integrating targeted training with continuous reinforcement strategies, healthcare institutions can optimize pharmaceutical care processes, improve interdisciplinary collaboration, and ultimately enhance patient safety in oncology settings.