Putting evidence into practice: evidence-based interventions for oral agents for cancer

The limited evidence available suggests that adherence to oral agents for cancer is a significant clinical problem and may have a substantial impact on treatment success or failure. Adherence is a difficult issue among patients who are very sick with a life-threatening disease who often must adhere to complex treatment protocols independently at home.

This article aims to identify effective interventions for the promotion, treatment, and management of adherence to oral agents for cancer and to synthesize the literature for use in clinical practice.

As part of the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Putting Evidence Into Practice (PEP) initiative, a comprehensive examination of the current literature was conducted to identify effective interventions for patients prescribed oral agents for cancer. The ONS PEP weight-of-evidence classification schema levels of evidence were used to categorize interventions to assist nurses in identifying strategies that are effective at improving adherence.

The majority of evidence found was conducted in conditions other than cancer; therefore, research is needed to identify whether these interventions are effective at promoting adherence in patients with cancer.