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Purpose

Approximately 10% of all patients is in some way harmed by the health care system. Risk factors have been identified and patients with cancer are at high risk due to the seriousness of the disease, co-morbidity, often old age, high risk treatments such as chemo and radiotherapy. Therefore, a closer look on safety for patients undergoing chemotherapy is needed. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate interventions for improved patientsafety in chemotherapy care.

Method

We undertook a review of the available evidence regarding interventions to improve patientsafety in relation to chemotherapy care.

Results

We found 12 studies describing the following interventions; 1) Computerized Prescription Order Entry (CPOE), 2) Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Lean Sigma, 3) Error reporting and surveillance systems, 4) Administration Checklist and 5) Education for nurses. Even if all five interventions showed positive effects in patientsafety, the evidence level is rather weak due to design, sample size and the difficulties involved measuring patient safety issues.

Conclusions

Three studies with fairly high evidence level showed that computerized chemotherapy prescriptions were significantly safer than manual prescriptions and could therefore be recommended. For the other remaining interventions, more research is needed to assess the effect on improved patient safety in chemotherapy care. There is a need for more rigorous studies with sophisticated design for generating evidence in the field.