pharmacy
The role of the specialist
pharmacist
The key roles of the pharmacist in supporting the
multidisciplinary healthcare team to prevent and
treat CINV, from the development of guidelines
through to patient support and assessment
is discussed
Carl Booth MPhil MRPharmS
MFRPSII
Saul Parkinson MRPharmS
Pharmacy Department, Airedale NHS
Foundation Trust, UK
Nausea and vomiting have
long been recognised as
among the most problematic
and feared adverse effects of
chemotherapy. 1 Newer biological
agents tend to be less emetogenic;
however, there are still a
significant number of cytotoxic
agents in common use that have
high emetogenicity. If no
prophylaxis is used, these agents
will cause chemotherapy-induced
nausea and vomiting (CINV) in up
to 90% of patients. With
appropriate supportive therapy,
however, up to 90% of patients can
be free from the symptoms of
CINV. 2
Clinical guidelines are used
as a means of informing and
encouraging practitioners to
provide evidence-based care, 3
the primary goal of which is to
improve patient health outcomes.
The importance in developing
clinical guidelines is to ensure
consistency in prescribing practice
in each speciality to improve
patient care and health outcomes. 4
This also reinforces the national
strategy for healthcare provision
in providing evidence-based care as
recommended by the Department
of Health in the form of the
National Institute for Health and
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