Improving infusion therapy management in metastatic breast cancer: Real-world pilot study of a new pharmacy resource.

Abstract

e13115 Background: Infusion-based therapies are integral to the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. However, their management requires complex coordination among healthcare providers to ensure safe and effective drug dosing, monitoring, and adverse event (AE) management. This initiative aimed to improve the management of infusion-based therapies through the development and implementation of an evidence-based pharmacist-directed point-of-care resource in both community and academic oncology settings. Methods: Between 05/2024 and 08/2024, multidisciplinary providers (n = 47) from 6 paired academic and community oncology systems across the US participated in regional workshops to design center-specific strategies to drive effective, sustainable integration of the pharmacist resource. Workshop participants identified challenges in utilizing infusion therapies and developed strategies to integrate the pharmacist resource into practice. Follow-up surveys assessed the longitudinal impact of system-level practice changes. Results: Key challenges reported in utilizing infusion therapies included monitoring and managing adverse events (52%), keeping up with data/guidelines (36%), and lack of multidisciplinary team collaboration (28%). Providers also reported difficulties identifying and managing infusion-based reactions (28%) and understanding drug dosing and administration (20%). To address these challenges, teams developed strategies to integrate the pharmacist resource into practice, increase multidisciplinary communication and collaboration, and create protocols for managing infusion-related reactions. Following the workshops and resource integration, providers reporting very high confidence (5 on 5-point likert scale) in managing infusion reactions and AEs increased from 17% to 87%. All participants (100%) reported improved protocols for administering and monitoring infusion therapies and improved collaboration among pharmacists, oncologists, and infusion teams. Additional impacts included increased patient education on infusion therapies (75%), and improved AE monitoring (38%). Post-implementation, 75% of providers reported reductions in infusion-related AEs, and 63% noted fewer drug-drug interactions. Conclusions: A pharmacist-directed point-of-care resource improved confidence, multidisciplinary collaboration, and system-level management of infusion-based therapies for metastatic breast cancer. These findings highlight the value of pharmacist-led initiatives in optimizing care delivery and improving outcomes in both academic and community oncology settings. The downloadable resource developed as part of this study can be utilized by clinical teams to facilitate improved management of infusion therapies.