By the end of the practicum the RN will be able to:
1. Locate and utilize evidence based practice guidelines and organizational policies and procedures when caring for a patient receiving systemic therapy.
2. Apply the principles of adult learning in the provision of systemic therapy patient care and teaching and understand importance of providing population specific needs such as cultural considerations
3. Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the patient prior to initiating treatment with systemic therapy.
4. Complete an assessment of the patient's laboratory findings which relate to the individual treatment protocol.
5. Provide appropriate education and support to allow the patient and their family to understand treatment plan, potential side effects, appropriate self-care strategies, and when to contact the health care professionals.
6. Demonstrate infusion therapy skills (peripheral and central) necessary to safely administer systemic therapy.
7. Describe how to provide systemic therapy and demonstrate safe administration through various routes such as intravenous bolus, continuous infusions, oral therapy, intra-peritoneal, or subcutaneous or intramuscular injections.
8. Teach patients to safely manage continuous intravenous infusions utilizing elastomeric pumps and a central venous catheter.
9. Using appropriate organizational evidence informed guidelines to assess and manage potential complications, adverse events, side effects, and toxicities, and provide appropriate interventions.
10. Demonstrates knowledge of systemic therapy drugs, protocols, guidelines, including rationale for the use of pre-medications
11. Identify and safely manage hypersensitivity reactions according to organizational policies.
12. Identify and safely manage extravasation according to organizational policies.
13. Demonstrate knowledge of safe handling practices by providing the patient/family with information related to managing biohazardous wastes and by safely storing, handling, transporting and disposing of systemic therapy drugs.
14. Provide psychosocial oncology care and understand when to provide inter-professional referrals.
15. Document relevant patient data in the appropriate record.