Prospective Observational Questionnaire Based Study Measuring Oncology Physicians Knowledge and Satisfaction With the Outcomes of Expensive Cytotoxic Agents

This is a prospective observational questionnaire based study measuring the degree of satisfaction of medical oncologists with the results of some expensive cytotoxic agents. The study also measures the physician knowledge with the toxicity profile of the tested drugs, pharmaceutical perspectives, methods of administration, adherence to guidelines and the degree of bias of the physicians when prescribing this drugs.

The tested drugs are trastuzumab, lapatinib, sunitinib, m tor inhibitors, sorafenib, cetuximab, panitumumab, bevacizumab, erlotinib, rituximab, imatinib mesylate, gefitinib, abiraterone acetate, cabazitaxel, pertuzumab, fulvestrant, pemetrexate and crizotinib.

The evaluation will be through a predesigned questionnaire ( 30 questions ). The questions are divided into four categories measuring four items, the degree of physician satisfaction with the drugs results and toxicity profile, orientation with pharmaceutical perspectives of the drugs, adherence to guidelines and degree of bias with pharmaceutical companies complements. A predesigned questionnaire based scoring system will categorise the processed data to low, intermediate and high score for each of the four measured topics. The data will be processed and the degree of satisfaction, orientation with pharmaceutical perspectives, adherence to guidelines and degree of bias will be grade to low, moderate or high. Subsequent recommendations for cost effective analysis, physician education and strict auditing measures for drug prescription will be elaborated for the drugs.

NB: The study will be on two waves. The first wave will evaluate 9 drugs and the second wave will evaluate 8 drugs.