Nurses in the intensive care unit (ICU) generally see patients with cancer only when they are extremely sick—not throughout the extensive cancer journey they go through before they get to the ICU. Educating and familiarizing ourselves, as ICU nurses, with a patient’s oncology plan, goals, and history can improve overall care. Learning at which points in the process of cancer treatment certain issues are more likely to arise, such as tumor lysis syndrome during high-dose induction, when a patient is most likely to be neutropenic during a stem cell transplant, and other general facts about oncology, can help improve the care we give. It helps us understand our patients as a whole. The oncology population is a huge part of medical intensive care, and encouraging critical care nurses and oncology nurses to collaborate can help improve the continuity of care and eliminate errors in the ICU.

Five to Ten Percent of patients with cancer will need to visit the intensive care unit (ICU) for a life-threatening condition. In fact, estimates suggest that nearly 30% of patients with esophageal cancer or acute leukemia and those undergoing allogenic stem cell transplantation will need ICU care.

More than ever before, oncology nurses are required to provide multifaceted care when it comes to managing patients with cancer. As the population of patients with cancer continues to age and cancer becomes more of a chronic condition, oncology nurses are seeing more patients who exhibit comorbidities during their cancer journey.

The field of radiation therapy has come a long way since the introduction of x-rays in 1896. Radiation therapy is now used in nearly 50% of all cancer cases and contributes to 40% of curative treatment. With recent advancements, radiation therapy has grown by leaps and bounds.

Interdisciplinary communication is critical for patient safety across the healthcare continuum. One way our institution addressed communication barriers and looked to enhance understanding of each other’s roles was by creating an oncology service line pharmacy and nursing committee.

Prehabilitation is a process along the cancer care continuum that occurs after diagnosis but before treatment begins. In a sense, it’s preparing patients for their battle ahead by introducing psychological and physical interventions “that establish a baseline functional level, identify impairments, and provide targeted interventions that improve a patient’s health to reduce the incidence and the severity of current and future impairments," according to Silver and Baima.

Approximately 90% of patients with cancer experience anemia because of disease process, treatment side effects, or coexisting conditions.