Guidance on annual chemo updates
Guidance on Annual Chemo Updates
There is currently no official guidance on what should be included on annual updates for administration of SACT, and different institutions may choose varying approaches.
Chemotherapy nurses should undergo a re-assessment of competency on an annual basis – often this can be done as part of their annual PDR (performance and development review) process.
In terms of providing a study day, we would suggest that the following be included in some form:
- Overview of pharmacology and actions of SACT drugs
- Health and Safety – to include exposure risks particularly in administration (but to have awareness of other aspects such as transport / preparation), advice for patients at home, disposal of patient waste and spillage management
- National / local policy / guideline updates
- Extravasation
- SACT induced emergencies and how to deal with them
- Side effects
- SACT patient Pre-treatment assessment / toxicity assessment
There may also be an option of having a more interactive study day where simulation may be used to demonstrate competency in certain situations such as hypersensitivity / anaphylaxis, extravasation, dealing with a spillage of SACT, toxicity assessment etc.