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Always Search for Ways to Connect With Patients

Oncology nurse-patient relationship

Always Search for Ways to Connect With Patients

September 18, 2020

Word Choice Matters When Caring for Patients With Cancer

Patient empowerment

Word Choice Matters When Caring for Patients With Cancer

September 11, 2020

Learning in the Face of Adversity: Nurse Residency and COVID-19

Learning in the Face of Adversity: Nurse Residency and COVID-19

September 04, 2020

Bedside Nurses Bring Value to Ethical Consults

Ethics in nursing

Bedside Nurses Bring Value to Ethical Consults

August 14, 2020

What’s Working and What Isn’t in Telemedicine

Oncology nurse education

What’s Working and What Isn’t in Telemedicine

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Clinical practice

Oncology Drug Reference Sheet: Rucaparib

Rucaparib (Rubraca^®) has U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for both maintenance and treatment indications in gynecologic cancers. It originally received accelerated approval in 2016 for the treatment of deleterious, BRCA variant–associated advanced ovarian cancer that has failed two or more chemotherapies. In 2018, it was approved for maintenance therapy of various gynecologic malignancies. Most recently, rucaparib received approval for BRCA-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treatment after androgen-directed and chemotherapy.

August 25, 2020

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Plan Ahead to Ensure Consistency in Patient Care and Communication During Drug Shortages

A manufacturing delay leading to a shipping delay caused the October 2019 vincristine shortage, according to a letter Pfizer sent to its customers on October 18; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first reported the shortage on October 16. It affects both the 1 mg/ml and 2 mg/2 ml single-dose ONCO-TAIN™ glass fliptop vials.

October 22, 2019

Oncology Drug Reference Sheet: Darolutamide

Based on the results of the phase III ARAMIS trial that demonstrated significant improvement in metastasis-free survival, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved darolutamide under priority review on July 30, 2019. Darolutamide is approved for nonmetastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer in men receiving concurrent gonadotropin-releasing hormone therapy or who have had bilateral orchiectomy.

October 22, 2019

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA Rolls Out More New Indications for Existing Agents

Pembrolizumab, lenalidomide, and avelumab all received new treatment indications in spring 2019. Here’s what you need to know about dosing, adverse events, and other nursing considerations for these and other drugs that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved from April–June 2019.

September 25, 2019

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA’s Latest Approved Drugs and Indications Include Two Oral Agents

Because two oral therapies received new indications in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) most recent round of approvals, oncology nurses will want to focus on ways to manage patients in the home. Assessing oral adherence, encouraging patients to report adverse events, and ensuring their understanding of complex dosing regimens are critical components of nursing care. ONS offers an oral adherence toolkit and oral chemotherapy patient education sheets to help with patient management.

Clinical practice

Oncology Drug Reference Sheet: Cabozantinib

Cabozantinib (Cabometyx^®) received an additional U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved indication in January 2019 for use in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have already been treated with sorafenib. It received prior approval for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma in 2017. The research leading to the approval in the HCC setting showed improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and overall response in the cabozantinib treatment arm.

Care coordination

Oncology Urgent Care Clinics Are an Emerging Setting for Cancer Care Delivery

Patients with cancer are living longer, embarking on complex treatment regimens, and experiencing more complications associated with care. As a result, a large volume of patients with cancer require urgent or emergency visits throughout their disease trajectory. Although the need remains constant, what has evolved over time are the chief complaints that bring patients in, the care associated with complications, and new options to lower the burden and cost of care.

Genetics & genomics

Biosimilars, Oral Agents, and Drugs Targeting Genetic Mutations Are Creating a Paradigm Shift in Cancer Treatment

New treatment options continue to emerge for diseases that until recently had limited, if any, treatment choices. Nurses are seeing more changes in the way treatment regimens come together, biosimilars are presenting viable options for patients, and genetic mutations, as opposed to disease sites, are at the forefront of drug development.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Biosimilars and Oral Agents Lead New Approvals in the Cancer Setting

A majority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals for cancer agents in the latter part of 2018 represented second and third approvals for new indications in other disease sites. Many were given expedited approval, but with that comes the potential that the incidence of adverse events may be underrepresented because fewer patients received the agents in a clinical trial setting.

December 18, 2018

Chemotherapy Is Still a Staple in Treatment Plans. Here’s a Fresh Look at a Familiar Treatment Option

Despite all of the new drugs approved in recent years—particularly immunotherapies, oral agents, and biosimilars—that have forced nurses to consider many novel approaches to patient care, the importance of chemotherapy in cancer treatment has remained a constant. In a field where it feels like no two days are the same and new drugs emerge on a rolling basis, chemotherapy continues to be a staple in cancer treatment plans and safety and administration principles remain constant.

November 26, 2018

Advanced practice nursing (APN)

This Week, Recognize and Thank Your Oncology Nurse Practitioner Colleagues

Nurse practitioners (NPs) play an undeniably valuable role in producing quality outcomes in cancer patients. For National NP Week from November 11–17, 2018, pause with ONS to recognize, thank, and support the oncology NPs who relentlessly pursue excellence, striving for the best for their patients from diagnosis through survivorship.

November 12, 2018

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Biosimilars and Gene Therapy Are Making Great Strides in Cancer Care

As researchers learn more about how combination therapy combats drug resistance and lessens the changes of tumor evasion of the immune system, immune checkpoint inhibitors are receiving approval for a broader range of indications. However, recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals have centered around hematologic malignancies and the emergence of two new biosimilars.

September 25, 2018

Targeted therapy

An Oncology Nurse’s Guide to Targeted Therapy

Whereas chemotherapy induces apoptosis by interfering with cell division of both cancerous and healthy cells, targeted therapy exploits targets, proteins, enzymes, or genes specific to malignant cells through a variety of mechanisms of action, which helps prevent drug resistance. The agents work by either inhibiting angiogenesis, blocking chemical signals that tell cells to divide or carry out normal function, or delivering toxic substances to a cell.

August 14, 2018

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Latest FDA Cancer Treatment Approvals Trend Toward New Indications

What is unique about the most recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals in the oncology/hematology area is that almost all are for new indications of existing agents as opposed to new agents. This is not surprising because many of the agents target specific bioassays or tumor markers instead of a specific disease site. Oncology nurses need to be aware of the changes because treatments that they have become accustomed to giving for one indication may soon be given for others as well.

Here’s an Overview of the Types, Mechanisms, and Side Effects of Currently Approved Immunotherapies

Immunotherapy drugs fall into varying classes, each carrying its own mechanism of action and anticipated side effects. Although some side effects of immunotherapy may appear similar to those of chemotherapy (e.g., diarrhea, fatigue), they actually result from a totally different mechanism—meaning they require a different approach to management. Treating immunotherapy side effects as you would chemotherapy effects would likely result in patient harm.

Oncology clinical trials

What You Need to Know About Obtaining Informed Consent

Informed consent is a comprehensive process as opposed to a check mark on a list of tasks to complete prior to starting cancer therapy. The American Society of Clinical Oncology/ONS Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards explain that informed consent provides a patient with “sufficient information about the disease diagnosis and treatment options so that the individual can make a reasonable decision about treatment on the basis of an understanding of the potential risks and anticipated benefits of the treatment.”

Biosimilars Offer New Options for Treatment and New Concepts for Patient Education

The list of pharmacologic agents used in cancer care is expanding: chemotherapy, biotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, hormonal therapy, and now biosimilars. Part of being a nurse leader is recognizing trends in cancer care, changes on the horizon, and their impact on your patients and cancer treatment options. Biosimilars represent one such trend that affects providers’ approach to care and the education that oncology nurses must provide to patients and caregivers.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Newly Approved Cancer Treatments Indicate Growing Role of Genomics and Oral Therapies

It is becoming more commonplace for nurses to find orders for agents with which they are unfamiliar or quite possibly have never administered. Following is a summary of the latest new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals or indications to keep you up to date in your practice. Of note, this summary contains the approval of yet another biosimilar in trastuzumab-dkst and rolapitant for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, which includes a safety alert. Early experiences with rolapitant, a NK-1 inhibitor, indicated a risk of hypersensitivity reactions.

Radiation therapy

Get an Overview of Radiation Therapy for Cancer

Radiation therapy is a precise cancer treatment that targets tumor cells specifically and spares healthy surrounding tissues. Contrary to pharmacologic treatment methodologies, side effects are predominantly site-specific.

February 27, 2018

Nurse empowerment

Leadership in Nursing Takes Many Forms

Do you promote optimal patient outcomes, advocate for patients’ voices, and implement change? Then you’re a nurse leader. It is easy to think of nurse leaders as those in administrative positions or conducting bedside research, but the reality is that nursing leadership can take on many roles through a variety of different nursing positions, from generalist to certified to advanced practice. Leadership is about influencing change and improvement, inspiring those around you.

January 23, 2018

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA Approves First Biosimilar for Cancer Treatment, Among Other New Immunotherapy Dosing and Indications

Cancer treatment options continue to multiply as 2017 concludes, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting additional new drug approvals and broadening indications for others. Checkpoint inhibitors continue to explode on the scene with accelerated approvals for various indications. Treatment options for hematologic cancers are multiplying. Additionally, the first biosimilar for cancer treatment, bevacizumab-awwb, was approved as a biosimilar to bevacizumab.

December 27, 2017

What Are ONS’s Recommendations for Gowns When Handling Hazardous Drugs?

Although USP Chapter <800> implementation has been delayed, ONS experts are receiving questions about clarifications and specifics for wearing gowns when handling hazardous drugs (HDs). Questions include topics such as hanging gowns and reusing, length of time gowns can be worn, the need for gowns with oral chemotherapy agents, and materials requirements of gowns.

November 28, 2017

Clinical practice

Get Resources to Educate and Monitor Patients for Sepsis

Sepsis is a formidable complication of cancer and cancer treatment. Claiming more than 250,000 lives annually, it is a medical emergency. Do you have sepsis algorithms and protocols in place? Do all specialty areas have a way to identify patients with cancer as a highly vulnerable population? Is sepsis-specific education provided to nurses and patients? Starting the conversation and advocating for policy development and change may just save a life.

November 27, 2017

What Oncology Nurses Need to Know About Subcutaneous Rituxan Hycela

In June 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Rituxan Hycela, a combination of rituximab and hyaluronidase, for subcutaneous administration in the treatment of follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma as well as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This agent affords the same clinical benefit as IV rituximab, but in much less time. With this approval comes many questions about which patients are appropriate and administration considerations for subcutaneous rituximab and hyaluronidase.

Recent Drug Approvals Offer New Options for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Genitourinary Cancers, and More

Cancer treatment options continue to multiply as 2017 continues, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting multiple new drug approvals and broadening indications for others. Oncology clinicians and nurses are challenged with staying abreast of treatment option expansions and navigating the dynamic field of cancer treatment to effectively navigate their patients through the treatment trajectory, educating on vital points relative to treatment, minimizing morbidity and mortality, and optimizing quality of life. Following is an overview of the latest approvals for the second quarter of 2017.

September 27, 2017

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To discuss the information in this article with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To report a content error, inaccuracy, or typo, email pubONSVoice@ons.org.

Kathleen Wiley RN, MSN, AOCNS®

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