Identifying metrics and designing measurable outcomes in the electronic health record to evaluate pharmacist intervention in an oral chemotherapy program

Abstract

Introduction

Due to the increased utilization of oral anticancer agents, pharmacist-led oral anticancer programs have emerged to meet the needs of oral anticancer management. Currently, at Froedtert & MCW, there is a lack of established tools to collect metrics which demonstrate the value of a pharmacist-led oral anticancer program.

Methods

The purpose of this project is to establish metrics that reflect the interventions pharmacists are performing, and second, to develop a documentation tool which can reliably extract discrete data on the identified metrics.

Results

Eight of the 10 desired metrics were included in the documentation tool. Two questionnaires were created to allow for easy data retrieval of the metrics. The “initial” questionnaire focuses on interventions made at the time of starting an oral anticancer agent, while the “follow-up” questionnaire focuses on interventions made during the subsequent monitoring. The introduction of the questionnaire tool was well received by end users and did not add to the pharmacist’s overall workload.

Conclusions

By establishing metrics that reflect pharmacist interventions in a pharmacist-led oral anticancer program and creating a documentation tool to collect discrete data related to those metrics from the electronic health record, we at Froedtert & MCW are better able describe the workload of the ambulatory oncology pharmacists with regard to their interventions and monitoring of oral anticancer agents. This data will be used to establish differences in pharmacist workload between clinics, justify pharmacist resources, and provide a snapshot of the patient population served as part of the oral anticancer program.