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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) 707-
5989 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
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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 sub-
committee 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 - [e-mail] or Marlene
Sellon - [email protected]h.ca.
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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.
The Regroupement des pharmaciens ayant un
intérèt en oncologie du Québec (RPO) is a
committee under the APESQ. The principal
mandate of the RPO is to participate in projects
and disseminate information regarding the
practice of oncology pharmacy. The RPO has 70-
75 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.
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