(A-230) Medication Errors in Breast Cancer Treatment and Pharmacist-Led Interventions at the largest referral hospital in Kenya.

Background: Breast cancer is a significant global health problem, with increasing occurrence and mortality majorly in women. Cancer chemotherapy is besieged by unique hazards that range from narrow therapeutic index, toxicity at therapeutic doses, overly complex regimens, and individual vulnerability of patients. There is, however, a paucity of data regarding the clear patterns and prevalence of medication errors occurring during breast cancer treatment as well as pharmacist involvement in detecting and managing these errors.

Objectives: The study evaluated medication errors during breast cancer chemotherapy at Kenyatta National Hospital and the interventions of pharmacists within the oncology department in mitigating these errors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted and 49 breast cancer patients’ prescriptions at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) Oncology Pharmacy were reviewed. The practice of Pharmacists in identification, documentation and intervention of medication errors was also assessed. Approval for the study was granted by the Kenyatta National Hospital/ University of Nairobi Ethics Review Committee. The raw data was entered into Microsoft Excel Version 2021 and analyzed using SPSS Version 23.

Results: The prescription error rate was 2.04 per prescription with half being omission errors. Failure to request therapy monitoring tests was the most frequent (28.0%), followed by use of abbreviations (25.0%), dosing errors (13.0%), and failure to act upon monitoring test results (11.0%). Pharmacists intercepted and mitigated 96.9% of the errors. Majority of the errors were not reported (89.9%)

Conclusions: This study revealed a high prescription error rate, with errors of omission and the use of abbreviations being the most predominant, both of which pose significant risks to patient safety. Despite this, pharmacist interventions played a crucial role in mitigating these errors, with 96.1% of identified errors being corrected before reaching the patient.
However, error reporting remained suboptimal, with most intercepted errors not being documented in recommended reporting platforms. These findings highlight the need for systematic error reporting, standardized prescribing practices, and the critical role that pharmacists play in preventing patient harm