Implementation of Medication Safety Practice in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treatment

OBJECTIVE: Medical Safety Practice (MSP) is a safe procedure in medication process. It is important to investigate the use of MSP among childhood cancer patients because pediatric oncology is a high-risk area for potentially harmful adverse events. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the implementation of MSP in chemotherapy on the incidence of medication errors in childhood ALL patient at Dr. Sardjito Hospital, including in 1) transcribing, 2) administering, 3) monitoring, 4) the incidence of adverse drugs events. (ADEs). METHODS: The study design is a quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-intervention without control. The sample consists of ALL patients who are taken care of at an academic hospital in Indonesia from 2012 to 2013. The sample was consecutively collected during the period of study. The data were collected through medical records, research form, observation, and discussion with the nurse. The intervention given is training and implementation of medical safety practice in chemotherapy. RESULT: Based on the analysis of the effect of the implementation of MSP (75 and 106 medical records of pre- and post-intervention), it is obtained: 1) the adherence of chemotherapy transcribing post-intervention increases significantly compared to pre-intervention (p<0.05), 2) the adherence of chemotherapy administering increases significantly in almost every aspect (p<0.05), except in preparing drugs by two different health worker, patient’s confirmation of ADEs management, and verification of drug’s expired date, 3) The adherence of chemotherapy monitoring improved significantly post-intervention (p<0.05), 4) Adverse Drug Events (ADE) decreased significantly post-intervention (p<0.05), from 52.1% to 30.5%. CONCLUSION: The implementation of MSP decreased the incidence of medication errors in ALL patients at Dr. Sardjito Hospital in ordering, dispensing, transcribing, administering, and monitoring chemotherapy. It also reduced the incidence of ADEs related to chemotherapy. Specific training for nurses are needed in order to improve the knowledge and skills, especially for medication error and skill in patients’ care.