Pharmaceutical care in oncological treatment: an integrating literature review

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is currently one of the most important public health problems. The drugs used in the treatment have high toxicity and adverse effects, necessitating a multidisciplinary health team in the care of this patient. The oncological pharmacist seeks to analyze and resolve in a documented and systematized way the problems related to medicines that arise during the course of therapy, besides being included in the follow-up of the patient, aiming at a safer treatment. Non-pharmacological treatment seeks to effectively minimize possible adverse effects, with a focus on the patient rather than on the disease. Objective: In this study, we sought to know and discuss the contributions of pharmaceutical care to cancer patients through a bibliographic survey. Methodology: An integrative review of the literature was carried out, where dissertations and scientific articles were searched in the databases LILACS, MEDLINE, Sciello, EBSCO and Google Scholar through the descriptors: "pharmaceutical care", "oncology", "pharmaceutical care" , "Cancer", "pharmacotherapy". The inclusion criteria were Portuguese texts, complete and adequate to the proposed theme. Results: Sixty - six articles were found, of which forty - eight were excluded according to the criteria used. Eighteen articles were analyzed and these relate to the contributions of pharmaceutical care to the cancer patient in the pharmacological scope and problems related to its use in non-pharmacological care and the legal aspects of this professional assignment. Conclusion: The role of the pharmaceutical professional in oncology as a contributor to promotion, prevention, improvement of the quality of life and recovery of the health of oncology patients, affected by the adverse effects of chemotherapy, is essential.Keywords: Oncology Pharmacist; Attention; Antineoplastic agents; Cancer