Context:

For years oral treatments of cancer only included hormonotherapy. Several oral agents are now available; including chemotherapies with oral prodrugs of anticancer drugs formerly IV administered, such as capecitabine, or tyrosine kinase inhibitors, targeting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) receptors, Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2 (HER-2) or the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 1 (EGFR-1).

For those drugs, oncologists and pharmacists are faced with new issues among which the most important one is how to ensure patient compliance. Clinical Pharmacists may help improve compliance, especially with the development of Therapeutic Education programmes dedicated to those patients.

Therapeutic Education of cancer patients is the cornerstone of patient care in order to ensure and improve patient compliance, patient adherence to treatment, and active involvement of the patient in their own care.

Teaching goals:

Through presentations and case studies, this interactive workshop will review how to:

• educate patients and deliver information regarding the side-effects of those drugs (prevention, management),
• improve patient compliance and adherence to treatments, and reduce the risk for non-compliance,
• perform medications reviews to identify potential drug-drug interactions, work with oncologists to face those new challenges.

Learning objectives:

After the workshop, the attendants should be able to:

• identify which patients would benefit the most from Therapeutic Education according to: their disease, their profile, the drugs they are prescribed
• know how to set up a Therapeutic Education programme and the basis requirements in terms of: human resources, basic knowledge, defining their personal needs in terms of therapeutic education according to their own practice setting