Impact of Medication Reconciliation in Oncology Early Phase Studies: A Drug-Drug Interaction Retrospective Study

Bibliometric and visual analysis of medication therapy management from 2003 to 2023

Medication therapy management (MTM) includes various clinical pharmacy services that greatly influence society and economy. Despite extensive research in recent years, there is currently a lack of bibliometric analysis on this subject. Articles and reviews on MTM published from 2003 to 2023 were identified and selected from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace, VoSviewer, Bibliometrix, and Microsoft Excel were used to conduct bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping. The bibliometric analysis encompassed 3255 publications on MTM. The United States and the United Kingdom emerged as the most influential countries in this particular domain, whereas Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School were the most active institutions. Elizabeth Manias published the largest number of papers, whereas Jeffrey L. Schnipper published the largest number of co-citations. The American Pharmacists Association has been identified as the most prolific journal in this field. Optimizing medication and ensuring drug safety in elderly patients are current research frontiers. Topics such as "polypharmacy," "dementia," "oncology," and "anticholinergic burden" were identified as potential research priorities in the future. This study is the first to utilize bibliometric analysis to uncover the global status, research hotspots, and future development trends of MTM for scholars, thereby providing valuable guidance for future research endeavors.

[Implementation of pharmaceutical consultations in digestive oncology in a teaching hospital: one-year outcomes]

INTRODUCTION

The announcement of a cancer diagnosis is traumatic for the patient. In France, an announcement system has been in place, providing medical time for announcement and treatment proposal, nursing time for support, without including the pharmacist. In order to improve management of patients treated with intravenous anticancer drugs, we set up introductory pharmaceutical consultations in digestive oncology. The aims were to assess the situation one year after the introduction of these consultations, and to assess their contribution.

METHODS

When a patient was diagnosed with digestive cancer and receiving intravenous treatment, a pharmaceutical initiation consultation was scheduled. Indicators of activity (number of consultations, average duration, average preparation time and various delays) and results (number and type of pharmaceutical interventions, patient satisfaction) were collected in order to assess activity.

RESULTS

Forty-seven pharmaceutical initiation consultations were carried out. The average duration of the consultations was 39.3minutes. Consultations were carried out on average 12.1 days after the medical consultation and 9.6 days before the first chemotherapy treatment. Twenty-nine patients responded to the satisfaction questionnaire. All were satisfied, and the majority of patients said they had improved their knowledge of cancer treatment.

DISCUSSION

This activity enables us to review with patients essential aspects of their care, such as implanting an implantable chamber catheter, anti-cancer treatment and managing potential side effects and improve their self-care skills.

Are We Losing the Final Fight against Cancer?

Despite our increasing understanding of the biology and evolution of the cancer process, it is indisputable that the natural process of cancer creation has become increasingly difficult to cure, as more mutations are found with age. It is significantly more difficult to challenge the curative method when there is heterogeneity within the tumor, as it hampers clinical and genetic categorization. With advances in diagnostic technologies and screening leading to progressive tumor shrinkage, it becomes more difficult over time to evaluate the effects of treatment on overall survival. New treatments are often authorized based on early evidence, such as tumor response; disease-free, progression-free, meta-static-free, and event-free survival; and, less frequently, based on clinical endpoints, such as overall survival or quality of life, when standard guidelines are not available to approve pharmaceuticals. These clearances usually happen quite rapidly. Although approval takes longer, relative survival demonstrates the genuine worth of a novel medication. Pressure is being applied by pharmaceutical companies and patient groups to approve "new" treatments based on one of the above-listed measures, with results that are frequently insignificantly beneficial and frequently have no impact on quality of life.