PREDICTION OF CHEMOTHERAPY PRESCRIBING ERRORS FOR ONCOLOGY PATIENTS

The chemotherapy prescribing errors (PEs) can lead to tragic consequences for the oncology patients. This cross-sectional observational study aims to predict the incidence of prescribing errors involving chemotherapeutic agents, and review their severity, through examining a random sample of 500 cancer patients at the out-patient chemotherapy unit of Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt; from March 2014 till August 2014. British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) data base was used as a reference to identify the PEs.  Prescription errors were classified according to their incidence and severity; in addition the relation between the risk factors and the observed PEs was studied. The study revealed that all the cases contained at least one error, the most common error incidence was the unspecified tumor staging in the protocol template (n=341, 68%), followed by dose error incidence (n=317, 66%). The risk factors predicting the prescribing medication errors were identified as: the protocol type, the tumor type, the toxicity type of the antineoplastic regimen, and others. Therefore identification of risk factors leading to prescribing errors should be targeted for the prevention of these errors, as well as, improvement of treatment (TTT) plan of the oncology patients.