Effect of implementing a cancer chemotherapy order form on prescribing habits for parenteral antineoplastics.

Effect of implementing a cancer chemotherapy order form on prescribing habits for parenteral antineoplastics. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of a cancer chemotherapy order form improved prescriber inclusion of necessary prescription information to minimize errors for parenteral antineoplastics when compared to orders written on standard treatment-order forms. Standard treatment order forms and the newly developed chemotherapy order forms were examined for differences in completeness of the following 13 prescription components: diagnosis, height, weight, body surface area, start date and time, dosage (e.g., mg/m2), dose (mg), solution diluent (drips only) and volume (drips only), infusion rate (drips only), route (i.e., IV push or IV drip), frequency of administration, and total number of scheduled doses. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in completeness of necessary prescription information when cancer chemotherapy was ordered by physicians using a chemotherapy order form compared to a standard treatment order form. Importantly, the availability of various prescription components such as height, weight, and dosage may be used by the pharmacist to verify physicians' calculations of body surface area and dose and thereby reduce the chance of serious medication dosage errors. An additional benefit of the new form is a reduction in the time pharmacists spend clarifying orders.