Impact of pharmacist-led educational intervention on pneumococcal vaccination rates in cancer patients: a randomized controlled study

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate clinical pharmacist’s contribution to the pneumococcal vaccination rate by providing education to cancer patients in hospital settings. METHODS: This study was conducted in 2 tertiary-care hospitals’ medical oncology outpatient clinics. Patients over 18 years of age and diagnosed with cancer for less than 2 years, in remission stage, and have not previously received the pneumococcal vaccine were included. Patients were randomized to intervention and control groups. The intervention group was provided vaccination education and recommended to receive the PCV13 vaccine. The control group received routine care. Patients’ knowledge about pneumonia/pneumococcal vaccine, Vaccine Attitude Examination Scale (VAX) score, and vaccination rates were evaluated at baseline and 3 months after the education. RESULTS: A total of 235 patients (intervention: 117, control: 118) were included. The mean age ± SD was 57.86 ± 11.88 years in the control and 60.68 ± 11.18 years in the intervention groups. The numbers of correct answers about pneumonia/pneumococcal vaccine (p = 0.482) and VAX scores (p = 0.244) of the groups were similar at baseline. After the intervention, the median (IQR) number of correct answers in intervention group [10(3)] was higher than control group [8(4)] (p < 0.001). After the education, the total VAX score (mean ± SD) was less in intervention group (33.09 ± 7.018) than the control group (36.07 ± 6.548) (p = 0.007). Three months after the education, 20.2% of the patients in the intervention and 6.1% in the control groups were vaccinated with pneumococcal vaccine (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The pneumococcal vaccination rate in cancer patients has increased significantly by the education provided by a clinical pharmacist in hospital settings. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00520-023-07652-3.