[Management of pharmacists on the cancer chemotherapy]

The duties of hospital pharmacists include drug dispensing, drug management, preparation of injections, drug information provision, in-hospital preparation, drug management guidance (centering on patient compliance instructions), tests and research, and education. The Department of Pharmacy conducts most of these activities, which are not noticed by other medical staff. As members of medical care teams, pharmacists must share information and perform their jobs from a pharmaceutical viewpoint in order to fulfill their duties as drug specialists, which include management of patient conditions, patient-oriented patient compliance instructions, risk management, management of dosages and administration methods for anticancer drugs during cancer chemotherapy, discovery of the initial symptoms of adverse drug reactions and prevention of adverse drug reactions to obtain the optimum effect, education on self-care after discharge from the hospital, and evaluation of drug economics for cancer chemotherapy. It is important that they acquire sophisticated expertise and stay in as close contact as possible with patients and their families.