The Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology Association Canadienne de Pharmacie en Oncologie Newsletter Summer 2006 Presidents Message Summer is finally upon us and as we start thinking about taking our vacation and relaxing from our hectic schedules, I would like to update you on what is happening with your association. looking at strengthening ties with other associations and developing tools to increase visibility for the association. Please continue to give us feedback on what you would like. We just conducted a member’s survey and I would like to sincerely thank you all for taking some of your precious time to participate in it. I am quite happy with the results: 61 CAPhO members answered the survey, which is close to 40% of the membership. The survey focused on issues like CAPhO as an association, on education needs for oncology pharmacy, revisiting the CAPhO Standards of Practice, the new CAPhO website and the future of the practice of oncology pharmacy. The survey results are available on the CAPhO website at www.capho.org/survey.htm On that note, I would like to wish all of you a pleasant summer and I am looking forward to seeing all of you at NOPS 2006 in Montreal. Two keys issues stand out in the survey: firstly, the need for education and, secondly, the need for CAPhO to improve communication at all levels. Education seems to be an ongoing need for oncology pharmacists for many reasons. CAPhO will try to answer that need for knowledge via NOPS, and e-learning programs, which we would like to see happen during the next two years. We are also looking into the possibility of doing a Basic Principles of Oncology Therapeutics module/presentation at CSHP’s Professional Practice Conference and CPhA’s annual conference. Concerning communication, the new website is our major communication tool and I encourage all CAPhO members to use it to its maximum capacity. It is YOUR tool, use it! We are also Gabriel Gazzé CAPhO President ***************************************************** NOPS 2006 (October 13-15) Although summer is here, NOPS is just around the corner! The conference program is now posted on the CAPhO website and registration is open (early bird registration deadline is September 15). The theme for 2006 is “The Dollars and Sense of Quality Cancer Care”. If you are interested in learning, discussing, sharing, and networking in this specialized and important field, this is the symposium to attend. It will cover topics in the areas of symptom management, new drug updates, pharmacy based research, board certification and academic training, and so much more. The venue will be the luxurious Hyatt Regency Montréal in the heart of downtown Montreal, which is within walking distance of Old Montréal, Chinatown and the trendiest restaurants with direct underground access to the Metro and the Contemporary Museum of Art. More details about booking are posted on the web site. supportive care medication, as well as forewarning the patient and initiating a more intensive early monitoring scheme and action plan for early intervention. The realities of health care systems around the world preclude this for all patients, throughout all cycles of chemotherapy. What may be possible, however, is a highly focused strategy based on the accurate prediction of patients at higher than average risk, applied "just-in-time" to pre-empt episodes of toxicity. This is some of the information the website intends to provide to the oncology clinician. The poster display was an overwhelming success at NOPS 2005 and CAPhO invites you to begin preparing your posters immediately for submission (the deadline is August 31, 2006 at 16:00 PST.) ***************************************************** Supportive-care Issues in Cancer: An Update for the Oncology Pharmacist CAPhO/Merck modules are now available to all CAPhO members! In collaboration with Merck Frosst, CAPhO has developed modules on supportive-care issues in cancer over the last two years. These modules were designed specifically for the oncology pharmacist. The topics include: • Nausea and vomiting. • Cancer pain. • Mucositis and Palmar-plantar Erythrodysesthesia (PPE). • Neutropenia. • Bowel obstruction. What does it provide? The website has validated models, which provide patient specific information on the percent risk for a particular toxic event. The prediction models were developed from data collected from adult cancer patients and should not be used for patients less than 18 years of age. Note that a user must initially “request access” to the website (no cost). These modules are now available free of charge to all CAPhO members via the order form which is available on the CAPhO website in the member’s area. What types of risk calculations are currently available? • Moderate to severe nausea and vomiting during the first 24 hours, and for 2-5 days following chemotherapy for a wide variety of disease sites. • For chemotherapy in adjuvant breast cancer, 3 risk calculators linked with blood hemoglobin are available which provide a percent risk for anemia either during or prior to a cycle of chemotherapy. • For chemotherapy in advanced non small cell lung cancer, one anemia risk calculator is available for assessing the risk of anemia (defined as a blood hemoglobin ≤ 100 g/L) prior to a cycle of palliative chemotherapy ***************************************************** Predicting the Risk of CoMorbid Events in Cancer Patients: The Launch of a New Website for Oncology Pharmacists www.PredictPatientEvents.com Submitted by George Dranitsaris, Member at Large Dr. Mark Vincent (Medical Oncologist, London Regional Cancer Program, Ontario) and I recently launched a new website for estimating the percent risk of co-morbid events in cancer patients. Treatment induced side effects or co-morbid events are commonly thought to be largely unpredictable. As a result, oncology health care providers usually take action only after the event occurs. This means trying to "rescue" the patient from an unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation, and adjusting the regimen (e.g. dose reduction) and/or institution of supportive care. Who should use the website? The current website should only be used by a qualified medical professional or an allied health care professional, who is working under the supervision of a treating physician. The website should not be used by patients or family members. Summary This website is intended as an information tool for the practicing oncology pharmacist. It must not replace clinical judgment, but should be used as an Accurately predicting and preventing significant toxicities would substantially improve clinical care. This might include the use of appropriate 2 additional piece of information for medical decisionmaking. The hope is to add new prediction models to the website. For example, in the near future, we will have a prediction tool for severe chemotherapy induced diarrhea in metastatic colorectal cancer patients receiving FOLFOX or FOLFIRI chemotherapy. Since we want improve the website, we would welcome feedback from users. Meeting in October 2005, is to develop ways to enhance the tangible and intangible benefits of membership in CAPhO and to increase the number and involvement of members in the governance and committee structures of the association. Currently the committee is focusing on: • Membership recruitment and retention, maintenance of an accurate membership mailing list and membership data base, categories of membership, and benefits of membership in CAPhO • Strategies to raise the level of awareness of CAPhO, both at the oncology pharmacy level and with other related professional organizations • Collaboration with the CAPhO Awards Committee in developing a formal nominations process that allows members to participate in the process of identifying potential candidates for awards. For more info or feedback: George Dranitsaris Tel: (416) 461-2720 E-mail: [email protected] ***************************************************** New at CAPhO: the CAPhO Scientific Endorsement Subcommittee Submitted by Gabriel Gazzé, CAPhO President The CAPhO executive met recently and felt that it was time to create a CAPhO Scientific Endorsement Subcommittee. Over the past years, CAPhO has often been approached to endorse or validate documents, projects, and literature related to oncology. In the past, we have declined this type of endorsement since there was no mechanism in place allowing us to do so. However, we now feel that creating a mechanism for endorsement would give value to projects CAPhO believes in and at the same time would give more visibility to our association. The committee will also be working to: identify appropriate responses to members’ needs; promote new and existing membership benefits, and establish mechanisms for increasing members’ awareness of CAPhO activities. At present, the Committee members include: Flay Charbonneau, Roxanne Dobish, George Dranitsaris, Lynne Nakashima and Betty Riddell. The Committee welcomes your comments and suggestions. If you would like to serve CAPhO as a committee member now or in the future, please contact Betty Riddell at [email protected]. This means developing terms of reference and validation criteria to be able to review projects seeking endorsement. The projects would come through the CAPhO Executive to the subcommittee when necessary. Communication would be by email or teleconferencing. Travel and face-to-face meetings are not anticipated at this time. ***************************************************** Post your career opportunities on the CAPhO website! As a result, we are looking for volunteers to participate in this subcommittee. If you are interested, please contact Gabriel Gazzé at [email protected]. The CAPhO website offers you the possibility of posting career opportunities in Oncology Pharmacy and reaching out to CAPhO members in all provinces. For a fee of $300.00, your advertisement is posted for 30 days on the CAPhO website via a link on the homepage. This also entitles you to email your career opportunity to all CAPhO members. Please send your career opportunities to our Webmaster, Karen Heathman: [email protected] ***************************************************** CAPhO Membership Committee Submitted by Betty Riddell The purpose of this Committee, sanctioned by the CAPhO Executive Committee at its Annual 3