Although it’s hard to find the time to do so during a busy shift, there are times when you need to consult the best practice standards to support your work for a particular process. Whether you’re considering the best procedure for a central line dressing change or accessing an implanted port, or you’re considering the verification process and the best way to administer an IV chemotherapy agent, you need to know that your policies—and the competencies which you've engrained into your memory—are evidence-based and supported by your institution and professional organizations. Quality outcomes and measurements have never been more central to health care than they are now, and ONS-developed standards go a long way to supporting your practice.

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) can derail your cancer patients' treatment plan.  Learn more about HAIs and access resources to help reduce this risk.  Tools from CDC and Prevent Cancer Infections.org are available HERE, courtesy of BD.

Between doses of chemotherapy and radiation, while enduring needle sticks and blood draws, during oral administration of nausea-inducing drugs, patients with cancer often find themselves inundated with a number of painful symptoms associated with their litany of treatments and the disease itself. Unfortunately for many, this pain may never go away.

Recent studies show that approximately 41,000 patients in the United States alone develop central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) annually and that CLABSIs are one of the most deadly types of healthcare-associated infections.

Adequate evidence suggests that annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography in current and former smokers aged 55–79 years who have significant cumulative tobacco smoke exposure can prevent a substantial number of lung cancer deaths, according to draft guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The con­tro­versy over prostate can­cer screen­ing guide­lines heated up last Novem­ber