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Comment on ASCO-ESMO Consensus Statement on Quality Cancer Care

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD

John Wiernikowski

McMaster Children's Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

To the Editor:

We feel that the ASCO-ESMO (American Society of Clinical Oncology–European Society for Medical Oncology) consensus statement on quality cancer care omits mentioning an important member, the pharmacist, from the section on Multidisciplinary Cancer Care.¹

Drug therapy is an integral part of primary cancer management and is essential to managing the adverse consequences of chemotherapy. Pharmaceutical use in the oncology patient continues to expand in complexity, variety, toxicity, distribution requirements, and cost. As a pharmacotherapy expert, the involvement of pharmacists in the cancer patient's team has a firm foundation in many countries. Pharmacists are licensed health care professionals who make a significant contribution to improving health outcomes and quality of life in the cancer patient. Pharmacists provide patient-specific advice to the health care team about complex chemotherapy regimens, supportive care medications, and other medications used in the cancer patient; as well as educate the patients themselves. Pharmacists establish policies for safe medication use, chemotherapy preparation, and safe-handling of toxic chemotherapy agents. Given the expanding role and availability of oral anticancer agents, the pharmacist's specific training in medication counseling is of vital importance to the patient and health care team, making them a critical link in providing seamless care as the patient transitions between community and hospital-based treatment.

As a result of the specialized knowledge and unique contributions that oncology pharmacists make to patient care, oncology pharmacy was recognized by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties in the United States as a pharmacy practice specialty in 1996. In the application to approve this specialty, the oncology pharmacist is noted to promote optimal care of the patient with malignant disease and its complications. It was stated that they are closely involved with other members of the patient's health care team in providing recognition, management, and prevention of unique morbidities associated with cancer and cancer treatment; recognize the balance between improved survival and quality of life as primary outcome indicators; and provide the safeguards against drug misadventures in a treatment area where novel and experimental drug therapies are frequently employed. Currently, more than 550 board-certified oncology pharmacists (BCOP) practice all over the world. In addition to the United States, there are BCOPs in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Jordan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition, thousands of oncology pharmacists are members of national, continental, and international oncology pharmacy associations whose mission statements mirror those made in the BCOP application.

To meet the goals of the statement, that is, to provide equality in cancer patient care across the globe, we feel strongly that cancer patients should have access to a pharmacist for their pharmaceutical care needs. We hope that this omission will be addressed when the consensus statement is due to be reviewed.

Authors' Disclosures of Potential Conflicts of Interest

The authors indicated no potential conflicts of interest.

REFERENCE

1. ASCO-ESMO consensus statement on quality cancer care. J Clin Oncol 24:3498-3499, 2006[Free Full Text]

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldspiel, B. Articles by Wiernikowski, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goldspiel, B. Articles by Wiernikowski, J. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?