Impact of Clinical Pharmacist-Led Educational Intervention on Nursing Practice of Intravenous Chemotherapy Administration: A Quasi-Experimental Design

Background: Intravenous chemotherapy administration is a procedure with considerable risk, inherently associated with the potential for substantial medication errors. Nurses play a pivotal role in this procedure, and having sufficient knowledge and practice is vital for ensuring patient safety. Objective: To evaluate the impact of clinical pharmacists' educational interventions regarding intravenous chemotherapy administration practice. Methods: A quasi-experimental, pre-post-test study was conducted at Kirkuk Oncology and Hematology Center and Oncology Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. A convenience sample of 50 nurses responsible for intravenous chemotherapy administration participated. The intervention consisted of educational sessions by a clinical pharmacist, covering essential aspects of safe intravenous chemotherapy administration. The baseline knowledge evaluation was done using a self-administered questionnaire, followed by the educational intervention, and then the practice evaluation phase. Results: Before chemotherapy, nurses failed to follow the recommended practices in 79% of observed instances (2,605 out of 3,300). This indicates a significant lack of adherence to the 22 pre-chemotherapy checklist items. Conversely, nurses were highly compliant with procedures during chemotherapy administration, with only 10.67% failing to follow proper protocol. After chemotherapy, the rate of non-compliance was extremely high. Nurses did not follow the proper procedures in most observed opportunities, with a non-compliance rate of 99.89%. This trend was observed across the 12 post-chemotherapy practice items. There was no significant association between nurse characteristics and practices after the administration of chemotherapy. Conclusions: Clinical pharmacists' educational interventions can enhance nurses' knowledge and practice in administering intravenous chemotherapy.