In the evolving landscape of oncology pharmacy, meaningful metrics are essential in demonstrating the value of clinical pharmacists. However, the challenge is ensuring that these measures capture the true impact of our work without adding unnecessary documentation burden. As we continue to refine how we assess and quantify the contributions of clinical pharmacists, we must define metrics that truly reflect the depth and complexity of our role in patient care.
Oncology pharmacists play an integral role in outpatient cancer care, ensuring that patients receive safe, effective, and individualized treatment. From selecting appropriate therapies and managing toxicities to providing education and coordinating with the broader care team, our contributions extend far beyond dispensing medications. Pharmacists serve as a bridge between patients and providers, offering expertise that enhances treatment outcomes, optimizes medication adherence, and improves overall quality of life.
Despite this essential role, pharmacy metrics often emphasize easily quantifiable activities, such as the number of prescriptions reviewed or interventions documented. Although these data points provide some insight, they fail to capture the nuanced and proactive clinical decision-making that defines our profession. The true value of a pharmacist in an outpatient oncology clinic and even an inpatient setting is not just in the number of interventions made but in the clinical expertise applied to prevent adverse events (AEs), improve therapeutic efficacy, and support patients throughout their cancer journey.
One of the primary concerns with current pharmacy metrics is the increasing documentation burden placed on clinicians. Although tracking interventions and activities is necessary for demonstrating value, excessive documentation requirements can detract from direct patient care. Many pharmacists find themselves spending more time documenting their work than engaging in meaningful clinical interactions. This shift contributes to burnout and undermines the purpose of having highly trained pharmacists embedded in oncology teams.
About the Editor
Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FHOPA, is a clinical pharmacy manager in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City, Kansas. Mahmoudjafari is a board-certified oncology pharmacist involved in several oncology-pharmacy organizations, such as the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), and is currently serving as secretary on the HOPA board of directors. She has also been the chair or cochair of conferences such as Advanced Topics for Oncology Pharmacy Professionals and Oncology Pharmacists Connect. In 2022, she was the recipient of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Pharmacy Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award and received the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 40 Under 40 in Cancer Award.
Mahmoudjafari has presented nationally on her experience with managing high-cost therapies and on clinical topics such as cell and gene therapies, acute and chronic graft-vs-host disease, and the management of fungal infections in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Mahmoudjafari completed her pharmacy training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) and her PGY-1 pharmacy practice residency at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. She completed her PGY-2 oncology residency at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah and most recently received her MBA from Henry W. Bloch School of Management, which is affiliated with UMKC.
When documentation becomes the focus rather than the care itself, we risk prioritizing the wrong aspects of our work. Metrics should serve as a tool for improvement and advocacy, not as an administrative obstacle. The challenge is to strike a balance between collecting meaningful data and allowing pharmacists to devote their time and expertise to what truly matters: patient care.
We must shift our focus from task-based measures to impact-driven metrics to ensure that pharmacy metrics reflect our contributions. Rather than counting the interventions made, we should evaluate their outcomes. Did an intervention prevent a serious AE? Did a pharmacist-led medication adjustment improve treatment adherence? Did patient education provided by a pharmacist reduce emergency department visits or hospitalizations? These are the kinds of questions that meaningful metrics should aim to answer.
The Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association has been actively working to assess the impact and professional outcomes of oncology pharmacists through initiatives such as the recent survey from the Practice Outcomes and Professional Benchmarking Committee. As we anticipate the results, these data will provide valuable insight into how oncology pharmacists are measured and how we can refine our approach to demonstrate value while minimizing administrative burdens more effectively.
Additionally, the ongoing work surrounding the oncology pharmacy workforce has been instrumental in shedding light on our profession’s evolving landscape. Since the initial results were released, further updates have helped clarify workforce trends, staffing models, and professional expectations. These findings reinforce the need for meaningful, sustainable metrics that reflect the complexity and depth of what oncology contributes to patient care and health care systems.
For meaningful change to occur, pharmacy leadership and professional organizations must advocate for better metrics that reflect the reality of clinical pharmacy practice. This involves engaging with stakeholders, including administrators, policymakers, and accrediting bodies, to develop and implement metrics that truly capture the value of oncology pharmacists.
Additionally, pharmacy professionals must have a seat at the table when decisions about performance metrics are made. Too often, these metrics are developed without input from those directly impacted by them. By actively participating in these discussions, pharmacists can ensure that the measures used to evaluate their work are meaningful and practical. At its core, pharmacy is a science and an art.
Although the science of pharmacy involves evidence-based medication management, the art lies in the ability to apply this knowledge in a personalized, compassionate, and integrative way. Pharmacists excel at seeing the bigger picture: understanding a patient’s disease trajectory, anticipating and preventing complications, and ensuring that treatment is not just prescribed but optimized. These skills are difficult to quantify, yet they are among our most valuable contributions to oncology care. The challenge ahead is to create a framework for measuring pharmacist contributions that respects and preserves this artistry while providing necessary data to demonstrate value.
Metrics should empower pharmacists rather than burden them, providing insight into their contributions while allowing them to focus on what matters most. By advocating for meaningful, patient-centered measures and minimizing unnecessary documentation, we can ensure our profession remains valued and sustainable.
