As more oral anticancer agents are available community pharmacy practitioners (CPPs) may need to play a greater role in supporting people with cancer. This article describes a service evaluation that aimed to identify the supportive care needs of patients who take oral anticancer medication (OAM). The objectives were to identify whether patients visit their community pharmacy in relation to their cancer or OAM and to explore their perceptions and experiences of support from CPPs. Findings from a survey, focus group and interviews show patients have mixed experiences of and opinions about CPPs. The article suggests that community pharmacy is an underused resource for people with cancer, probably because of low awareness by patients and lack of training for CPPs in supporting patients taking OAMs. Patient education and further training of pharmacists in this area would be beneficial to both parties and could reduce some of the pressures on health services.
Cancer Nursing Practice. 18, 3, 42-49. doi: 10.7748/cnp.2018.e1525
Correspondence Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software
Conflict of interestThe main author received funding from the King’s Health Partners Pharmaceutical Science Clinical Academic Group
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