Oncology nurses awareness of drug interactions

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine oncology nurses awareness of drug interactions. METHODS This descriptive study was conducted with nurses working in the oncology clinics who are a member of Oncology Nursing Association of Turkey. A total of 115 nurses (response rate %20) were responded to the online survey that consists of 28 questions. RESULTS The mean age of the nurses was 33 ± 6.8. The majority of nurses work in university hospital (60%) as a clinical nurse (62.6%) and have a Bachelor Degree in Nursing (63.5%). The mean working years in oncology was 4 years. Half of them stated receiving information on drug interactions mostly through in-service education and courses/congresses in last 5 years. The majority of them (84.3%) indicated that they are considering the possibility of drug interactions when they are scheduling the medication administration time. More than half of the responders (59.1%) encountered drug interactions; however, few explored drug interactions with food, drinks, and nutritional supplements. Their practices to assess possibility of drug interactions were reviewing the drug prospectus (78.3%); consulting with their colleagues (58.3%) and searching on the available website (42.6%) and looking at the drug interaction (39.1%). More than half (65.2%) stated lack of any system to identify drug interactions in their workplace. Nearly half of them indicated to including the drug interaction into patient education mostly for food-drug (73.9%) and drug-drug (63.5%) interactions. CONCLUSIONS Almost all indicated the needs for further education on drug interactions and suggested to have guideline/packet guide.