Self-Administered Premedication: Improving Taxane Chemotherapy Treatment


Area of Science:

• Oncology Nursing
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Informatics

Background:

• Taxane chemotherapy necessitates premedication to prevent hypersensitivity reactions.
• Effective patient education and adherence to premedication regimens are crucial for managing these risks.
• Current practices may lack standardization in documenting and reinforcing premedication protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a multidisciplinary protocol for managing taxane therapy premedication.
• To integrate standardized nursing documentation, patient teaching, and adherence monitoring into the electronic health record (EHR).
• To assess the impact of the protocol on patient adherence to at-home premedication.

Main Methods:

• Development of standardized prescriptions and patient instruction materials.
• Implementation of a standardized approach for documenting premedication adherence and teaching within the EHR.
• Utilizing pre- and post-implementation EHR audits to evaluate practice changes and adherence rates.

Main Results:

• Initial audit indicated improvements across all practice change metrics.
• Reinforcement strategies, including group and individual meetings, were employed after the first audit.
• The study successfully achieved the target of 90% patient adherence to premedication by the second audit.

Conclusions:

• A multidisciplinary protocol integrated into the EHR can effectively improve premedication adherence in patients receiving taxane therapy.
• Standardized documentation and patient education are vital components for enhancing patient safety and preventing hypersensitivity reactions.
• The EHR serves as a valuable tool for monitoring and ensuring adherence to critical treatment protocols.