Cautions for pharmaceutical care in cancer patients - Comparative evaluation between cancer and non-cancer

Cancer patients have greater physical and mental anxiety than non-cancer patients because of the severity of their disease and the strong side effects of anticancer drugs. In this study, therefore, we sent out questionnaires to both cancer and non-cancer patients to investigate the specific patient education for reducing anxiety of cancer patients, and compared the results in detail in Miyazaki Prefectural Miyazaki Hospital. The number of days of patient education was significantly more in cancer patients than in non-cancer patients. However, regardless of the number of days of patient education, understanding the level of side effects was significantly higher in cancer patients than in non-cancer patients. A significant correlation was shown between the relief level of patients and the listening level of pharmacists in both patient groups. Regarding the level of patient understanding, a significant correlation was shown between treatment methods and all of the other factors (effects of drugs, patients' degree of relief, pharmacists' degree of attentiveness). On the other hand, a significant correlation was shown only between treatment methods and effects of drugs on the level of understanding in non-cancer patients. These results suggest that characteristic patient education should be conducted for cancer patients, and that it would be best if it is done early on.