News

MBH leads the way on chemotherapy medications

Fri, 17 May 2019 04:21:00

An oncology information and medication management system is improving safety and care for Mildura Base Hospital’s chemotherapy patients.

MBH is one of the first regional Victorian hospitals to adopt the system, known as CHARM, which is in use in some Ramsay Health Care hospitals and major metropolitan hospitals.
MBH Oncology Pharmacist, Anastasia Peripetsakis, said the system is designed to better support the multi-disciplinary teams providing the complex care required for patients with cancer and immune conditions.
“There are a number of healthcare professionals involved in the care of every person who comes through our doors, and the more we can simplify and safeguard the processes involved, the better,” Ms Peripetsakis said.
“CHARM is a safer, more efficient way of prescribing, managing and administering chemotherapy medication, and because it’s electronic, it reduces the risk of errors associated with paper-based systems,” she said.
Ms Peripetsakis said it had been a great team effort by everyone at the Ramsay Pharmacy and the entire MBH Oncology team over nine months to get the new system up and running.
“These are very powerful medications and the electronic system assists prescribers, pharmacists and nurses to ensure best practice and the most up to date treatment protocols and pathways are used with safe and optimised medicine and patient outcomes as the focus,” she said.
“The system also enables the specialist teams to make real-time changes to the treatment pathways which might be needed because of a patient’s response to the medication, clinical test results or patient observations.
“CHARM provides reassurance for patients and their families about the safety and quality of the care they’re receiving during a challenging time in their life.”
The new medication and patient management system is one of a number of improvements put in place in the past 12 months at MBH to improve care for cancer patients.
Ms Peripetsakis, who began work at MBH early 2017 is Mildura’s first dedicated oncology pharmacist and a dedicated cancer care coordinator’s role was also implemented last year, to improve patient care pathways.