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CLINICAL PHARMACIST INTERVENTION IN MANAGING PAIN AMONG PATIENTS WITH CANCER IN HIWA ONCOLOGY HOSPITAL
CLINICAL PHARMACIST INTERVENTION IN MANAGING PAIN AMONG PATIENTS WITH CANCER IN HIWA ONCOLOGY HOSPITAL
Tavan Abdulrahman Marf a and Mohammed Omer Mohammed b
a College of Pharmacy, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
b College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
Submitted: 5/8/2020; Accepted: 20/2/2021; Published: 21/6/2021
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.17656/jsmc.10297
ABSTRACT
Background
Cancer patients are mostly suffering from pain during cancer treatments or after chemotherapy because pain management in cancer patients is not standardized, the clinical pharmacist takes a more effective role in the improvement of the drug treatment.
Objectives
To study the role of clinical pharmacist intervention in pain management in cancer patients and compare them to the non-intervention group.
Patients and Methods
This is a cross-sectional study, conducted in Hiwa teaching hospital in Sulaimani from July 2019- January 2020, 200 patients participated in this study, they were divided into two groups randomly, the first group which includes (100 patients) with intervention by a clinical pharmacist and the second group (100 patients) was the control group with no intervention by a clinical pharmacist. All patients have malignancy and were suffering from cancer pain. They were assessed initially for their pain and followed-up for 4 weeks by direct interview or by telephone contact, the intervention group was further advised to manage any drug-related problems including (adverse effects of the drugs, dose modification, and changing drug in cooperation with the oncologist, also the patients were advised to have further adherence to the analgesic drugs. The process and outcome parameters of therapy were collected and analyzed, using SPSS-version 23.
Results
The pain scores in the intervention group were significantly improved compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The incidence of opioid and nonopioid adverse effects was significantly lower in the intervention group and they showed higher adherence to the analgesic drugs (P< 0.05)
Conclusion
Clinical pharmacist has a positive role in managing the pain of patients suffering from cancer pain, also achieving better control of the pain and by minimizing adverse effects of the analgesics and increasing adherence to their medication.
KEYWORDS
Cancer pain, Clinical pharmacist intervention, Sulaimani.
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© The Authors, published by University of Sulaimani, College of Medicine
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