Potential impact of clinical pharmacist services on mitigating oral and nutritional complications and quality of life in hospitalized patients with hematological malignancies.

This randomized, single-center prospective study in newly diagnosed hospitalized hematologic malignancy patients in Istanbul evaluated whether adding a clinical pharmacist–led education and counseling program could reduce oral and nutritional toxicities from chemotherapy and improve quality of life.

Patients were randomized to:

• Control group: standard oncology care.
• Intervention group: standard care plus intensive, structured education and counseling by a clinical pharmacist focused on prevention and management of oral and nutritional complications.

Over one month of follow-up, the intervention group had:

• Significantly lower incidence and severity of oral mucositis (P < 0.0001).
• Differences in nutritional parameters, including significantly decreased total protein and serum albumin levels (P < 0.0001), with a numerically lower proportion at nutritional risk (53.1% vs 61.4% in control).
• Significant improvements in quality of life, including physical, vitality, cognitive, emotional, social functioning, and overall health status.

The authors conclude that clinical pharmacist–delivered education and counseling meaningfully improves oral and nutritional complication profiles and quality of life in hospitalized patients with hematologic cancers, and should be considered a priority component of supportive care in this setting.