The Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology Association Canadienne de Pharmacie en Oncologie Newsletter Fall 2005 Presidents Message Dear CAPhO Members, As my term as CAPhO President draws to a close, it is an exciting time for oncology pharmacy and for CAPhO! As an organization, we have set standards of oncology pharmacy practice that will be used as a basis for our educational programs and strategies in the future. We are host to the largest oncology pharmacy educational meeting in the country, and we have started a rotation of cities, which will help to bring CAPhO closer to its membership across Canada. In addition to our linkages with the National Cancer Institute of Canada Pharmacists Network, the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control, and the Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies, we are impacting the plans for cancer care and research into the future! An organization with as much as we have on our plates needs support to continue to grow and move forward. Therefore, we need your support! Please consider volunteering to sit on one of our committees, or to take an active role on our Executive. We have some very committed people now, but we need more! If you are interested, please give me a call at (604) 7075989 or send me an e-mail to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Our website remains one of our most valuable assets. The discussion area is well utilized, and we would encourage you to continue to post messages, information or ask questions. If you have any thoughts around improvements to our website, we would like to hear from you! Finally, I would like to thank my Executive for the hard work that they have done over this past year. I know how busy it is in health care these days, and with the shortage of staff that many of us have been experiencing, it puts additional stress on those in the system. So to find time for CAPhO can be challenging, and I would like to thank them for their hard work! Sincerely, Lynne Nakashima ********************************************************* NCIC Report Submitted by Susan Walisser The Steering Group of the NCIC Pharmacists Network is continuing on with the development of practical tools that can be used by the oncology pharmacist in the conduct of Clinical Trials. Templates for Pharmacy Procedures and Drug Information Summaries have been developed and are available on the Pharmacists members section of the NCIC CTG website. (www.ctg.queensu.ca). Eventually, completed templates for specific trials will be available. In the meantime, these templates can assist in providing consistent information to pharmacy staff caring for oncology clinical trial patients. The official NCIC Drug Accountability Record is also available. After consultation with pharmacists, the previous version was reformatted and is now the approved document for use in all NCIC as well as NCI US clinical trials. Currently in progress is a template for Patient Information Handouts, and we are also working with Health Canada to develop an approved Temperature Log. The major initiative of the Pharmacists Network for the coming year will be a review of the Investigational Medicinal Products Standards of Practice. We will be identifying deficiencies in the Pharmacists Network Manual, and any inconsistencies as compared with the CAPhO Standards of Practice. As well, we will be looking at issues arising from NCIC audit results in order to determine the professional development required to ensure that pharmacies are meeting the standards of practice required to participate in oncology clinical trials. The Research subcommittee will be assessing the success of this initiative in improving the compliance with Good Clinical Practice. We will also be conducting a workload survey in order to identify the responsibilities of clinical trials pharmacists across the country. Please take the time to complete this survey when you receive it. There is currently a vacancy for a Western Canadian Representative on the Steering Group of the Pharmacists Network, as Lee Gordon has stepped down after 5 years. Lee was instrumental in establishing enhanced linkages with the Clinical Research Associates and Clinical Trials Nurses which led to a number of opportunities for professional development for pharmacists at recent NCIC Spring Meetings. Anyone who is interested in joining this hardworking and dedicated group should send their expressions of interest to the Co-Chairs myself - [email protected] or Marlene Sellon - [email protected]. ********************************************************* A few words on what is happening in Québec Submitted by: Gabriel Gazze There is a lot happening in Québec right now in regards to the world of oncology pharmacy. mandate of the RPO is to participate in projects and disseminate information regarding the practice of oncology pharmacy. The RPO has 7075 active members who meet 4 times a year to discuss upcoming projects and to exchange clinical information. At this time we are updating our Recueil d’informations cliniques (our Clinical information guide). Sections of this therapeutic guide being revised include the patient counselling sheets available in French and English, and the stability chart. As well, a section on standards of practice will be updated in collaboration with l’ASSTSAS (L'Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail du secteur affaires sociales). The pharmacists working on this project will be taking the CAPhO standards of practice into account. We also maintain and review the relevant clinical information on the GEOQ (Groupe d’étude en oncologie du Québec) website. We have a team of 14 pharmacists working together to standardize guidelines for the administration of chemotherapy protocols, and developing patient counselling information sheets per chemotherapy protocol (e.g. a handout on CHOP-R as a whole rather than each drug explained individually). I invite everyone to visit www.geoq.com to register for access to the website. The patient information sheets are available in English and are very useful. We are also involved in therapeutic evaluations in oncology for the Direction de la lutte contre le cancer. These are multidisciplinary recommendations written by the Comité de l’évolution des pratiques en oncologie where we have an impact via the input we give. Thus far, there are evaluations on the use of Herceptin in the adjuvant setting for breast cancer and a document on Velcade. These documents are available on the GEOQ website. Changes are coming for the RPO in 2006. I will be stepping down as president since I will be completing my second term. It is time for change and elections within the RPO will determine the new president for the next 2-year mandate. We will keep you posted. The Regroupement des pharmaciens ayant un intérèt en oncologie du Québec (RPO) is a committee under the APESQ. The principal 2