Improving Chemotherapy Ordering Process.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Chemotherapy ordering is prone to errors, contributing to medication-related harm.
• Inefficient and unsafe ordering processes place patients at significant risk.
• A 50% reduction in chemotherapy order form deviations was targeted within five months.

Purpose of the Study:

• To decrease chemotherapy order form deviations by 50% in five months.
• To enhance the safety and efficiency of the chemotherapy ordering process.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary team utilized the Plan, Do, Study, Act methodology.
• Interventions included physician education, same-day laboratory work, standardized parameters, audits, and nurse education.
• Root causes for variance and staff knowledge deficits were identified.

Main Results:

• Initially, 70.1% of chemotherapy order forms had deviations.
• After interventions, a 19% reduction in forms with deviations was observed within five months.
• Sustained reductions in deviations were noted at six months and one year.

Conclusions:

• Interdisciplinary collaboration was key to improving the chemotherapy ordering process.
• Education and standardization successfully reduced order form deviations.
• Decreasing deviations ensures safer, more efficient, and higher-quality care for oncology patients.