For the past 3 years, the pharmacy of the Hospital of Croix-Rousse has carried pharmaceutical consultations with patients treated with anticancer chemotherapy, in the gynaecology unit. These consultations had 3 main objectives: management of adverse events, detection and prevention of the drug interactions, and notification of the adverse events.

These consultations are made by a pharmacy student and/or a pharmacist. They are prepared from the medical file and the information collected during multidisciplinary meetings in oncology. These interviews take place directly, in every course, with the patient. Eight months after the start of this activity, a study was conducted: over this period, 287 interviews were carried out (around 8 interviews a week) with 89 patients. The average-term of an interview is estimated of 8 [1-35] minutes. These interviews allowed to collect therapeutics associated in the anticancer treatment (anxiolytic, anti-depressing agents, anti-emetic, antihypertensive drugs, hypo-glycemic agents, food supplements, homeopathy, herbal medicine, etc.). Fifteen drug interactions were found. Twelve were indicated to the physician and one directly to the patient. Concerning the adverse events, 94 % of the patients reported about: nausea and vomiting (in 72 % of the cases there were a problem of compliance with the antiemetic treatment), onycholysis, hand-foot syndrome.

This work carried with the patients aims to enable better safety for the treatment and to improve the quality of care of cancer patients. This first approach in the patient education is an emerging discipline in oncology. However, the implementation of an educational programme for patients has to go through the knowledge of human and social sciences. The increasing prescription of oral anticancer chemotherapy, the recent observation of medication errors must motivate us in the implementation of a similar educational programme.