Abstract

Introduction: Fulvestrant is an estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist commonly used to treat advanced or metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive. It is administered as a 1 to 2 minutes intramuscular injection designed as a solution in pre-filled syringe. Merely, placing a stock of injection medication within the ambulatory oncology clinic leans the process and makes it safer and more convenient to patient and healthcare providers. This is a quality improvement initiative; a rapid quality management PDCA cycle methodology was used. The main goal is to reduce the Fulvestrant injection wait time for Breast cancer patients by at least 60% in 3 months.

Methods and materials:Fulvestrant injections were made as a “Pyxis” item, and few doses were kept in oncology fridge to be refilled as needed and the stock is monitored. A total of 50 breast cancer cases were included in the baseline data pre-action plan implementation, a parallel number was used for post-change data analysis. Results: Data analysis revealed that Breast cancer patient wait time reduced from 59 to 14 minutes. Ultimately, this achievement significantly reflected an increased patient satisfaction from 15% to 93% (p=0.000).

Conclusion: Certainly, inventing quality of an efficient and safe healthcare in a timely manner has clearly led to sufficient utilization of the oncology treatment rooms that accordingly has affected the patient’s satisfaction level positively.

Keywords: Fulvestrant; PDCA cycle;Efficient and safe healthcare;Patient satisfaction