Barriers and facilitators associated with implementing interventions to support oral anticancer agent adherence in academic and community cancer center settings.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study is to determine barriers and facilitators to the implementation of medication adherence interventions to support cancer patients taking novel, targeted oral anticancer agents (OAAs). METHODS: We conducted qualitative interviews using a semi-structured guide from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). We used purposive sampling to identify clinicians (physicians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, nurses) and administrators (leadership from medicine, pharmacy, and nursing) who delivered care and/or oversee care delivery for patients with chronic leukemia prescribed an OAA. RESULTS: A total of 19 individuals participated in an interview (12 clinicians and 7 administrators), with 10 primarily employed by an academic cancer center; 5 employed by the community cancer center; and 4 employed by the integrated health-system specialty pharmacy. Barriers identified included low awareness of adherence interventions, difficulty in adherence measurement, complexity of designing and implementing a structured adherence intervention, and competing priorities. Facilitators identified included support of hospital administrators, value for pharmacists, and willingness to embrace change. Participants also made recommendations moving forward including standardizing workflow, designating champions, iterating implementation strategies, and improving communication between clinicians and with patients. CONCLUSION: Individual and system level factors were identified as determinants of implementation effectiveness of medication adherence interventions. A multidisciplinary advisory panel will be assembled to design comprehensive and actionable strategies to refine and implement a structured intervention to improve medication adherence in cancer patients.

Pharmacy workload benchmarking: Establishing a health-system outpatient infusion productivity metric.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Current productivity assessment models lack the ability to measure the quality of pharmacy services through workload validation. The goal of our efforts was to create a model to more accurately assess workload at multiple outpatient infusion centers. METHOD: Current procedural terminology codes were identified as representative of the key drivers of pharmacy workload. Fourteen current procedural terminology codes representing medication orders were selected and categorized into eight distinctive groups associated with varying amounts of pharmacy workload. A three-month average of current procedural terminology volumes were calculated and used to create a workload baseline. RESULTS: Our study found a usable productivity assessment and coefficient to compare relevant clinical workload across outpatient oncology sites. The current procedural terminology codes were readily retrievable from our system electronic medical record. By assigning activities, e.g. clinical review, verification, barcoding, batch preparation, we were able to compute a workload and then adjust staffing to achieve a median coefficient across sites. DISCUSSION: This study evaluated the use of administration current procedural terminology codes for an outpatient oncology productivity model. Based upon our analysis, it can be successfully used to determine workload for pharmacists and technicians across variable locations. We believe it is the first study to demonstrate a productivity model for this setting.

Pharmacy-Initiated Transitions of Care Services: An Opportunity to Impact Patient Satisfaction.

PURPOSE: A transitions of care program at an academic teaching hospital was designed to reengineer the fragmented discharge process. The team included a pharmacy technician, called a transition specialist, who coordinated the medication needs of discharging patients. This study intends to assess the impact of the transitions of care program on patient satisfaction scores. METHODS: Two datasets of Press Ganey and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (HCAHPS) were analyzed. Patients eligible for inclusion were age 18 years or older and successfully discharged from the study facility. All participants received usual care by a servicebased pharmacist, medication counseling by a nurse prior to discharge, and other standard of care services by the inpatient medical team. The intervention group received the previously stated usual care plus services by the transitions of care program. RESULTS: The results from HCAHPS scores proved inconclusive. The results from the Press Ganey dataset found that the surgery transplant service demonstrated statistically significant improvement for satisfaction scores, and they warrant further review. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate that HCAHPS metrics do not correlate with the successes or lack thereof of the transitions of care program. Press Ganey might be a potential surrogate marker for assessing the impact of this program. This study is the first to qualitatively evaluate pharmacy transitions of care service using patient satisfaction scores.

Prospective student pharmacist interest in a rural pharmacy curriculum.

OBJECTIVE: To determine prospective student pharmacists' interest in a rural pharmacy health curriculum. METHODS: All applicants who were selected to interview for fall 2011 enrollment at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy were invited to participate in a Web-based survey. Questions addressed participants' willingness to participate in a rural health pharmacy curriculum, interest in practicing in a rural area, and beliefs regarding patient access to healthcare in rural areas. RESULTS: Of the 250 prospective student pharmacists invited to participate, 91% completed the survey instrument. Respondents agreed that populations living in rural areas may have different health needs, and students were generally interested in a rural pharmacy health curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: An online survey of prospective student pharmacists was an effective way to assess their interest in a rural pharmacy program being considered by the study institution. Location of the rural program at a satellite campus and availability of housing were identified as factors that could limit enrollment.