Table 4.
Pharmacist interventions for cancer patients who did not use opioids
| n | (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of opioid non-using cancer patients | |||
| Median | 20 | ||
| [Range] | [1–300] | ||
| Percentage of opioid non-using cancer patients prescribed with six or more regular medications | |||
| Zero | 37 | (10.3) | |
| 1 to 39% | 140 | (39.0) | |
| 40 to 69% | 125 | (34.8) | |
| 70 to 99% | 29 | (8.1) | |
| 100% | 8 | (2.2) | |
| No response | 20 | (5.6) | |
| Percentage of inappropriate prescriptions in opioid non-using cancer patients prescribed six or more regular medications | |||
| Zero | 92 | (25.6) | |
| 1 to 39% | 213 | (59.3) | |
| 40 to 69% | 26 | (7.2) | |
| 70 to 99% | 2 | (0.6) | |
| No response | 26 | (7.2) | |
| Reasons for inappropriate prescriptions (multiple answers from options) | |||
| Long-term administration of irresponsible or aimless medications | 202 | (56.3) | |
| Medications-mediated duplication of the pharmacological effect | 106 | (29.5) | |
| Adverse drug reactions caused by medications | 75 | (20.9) | |
| Medication-induced drug-drug interactions | 50 | (13.9) | |
| Other | 13 | (3.6) | |
| Percentage of patients on polypharmacy with drug reduction due to pharmacist recommendations | |||
| Zero | 93 | (25.9) | |
| 1 to 39% | 163 | (45.4) | |
| 40 to 69% | 15 | (4.2) | |
| 70 to 99% | 21 | (5.8) | |
| 100% | 12 | (3.3) | |
| No response | 55 | (15.3) | |
| Reasons for pharmacist recommendations to reduce medications (multiple answers from options) | |||
| Long-term administration of irresponsible or aimless medications | 173 | (48.2) | |
| Adverse drug reactions caused by medications | 106 | (29.5) | |
| Medications-mediated duplication of the pharmacological effect | 101 | (28.1) | |
| Change from oral to other dosage form due to oral feeding difficulty | 74 | (20.6) | |
| Medication-induced drug-drug interactions | 52 | (14.5) | |
| Other | 11 | (3.1) | |
| Average number of medications reduced by pharmacist recommendations | |||
| 0 | 57 | (15.9) | |
| 1 | 151 | (42.1) | |
| 2 | 53 | (14.8) | |
| 3 | 12 | (3.3) | |
| 4 | 2 | (0.6) | |
| more than 4 | 5 | (1.4) | |