This is a chemo drug. I am assuming your infusion staff are chemo
infusion-competent in your facility,and that they have taken some type of
chemo course, preferably the ONS Chemotherapy and Biotherapy course. You
should have several references available in your infusion area on all chemo
drugs, and a very recent reference to include all the newer drugs.
Topotecan has been around for a number of years now.
As with any drug I was unfamiliar with, I would look it up in an
authoritative reference, and not ask on a listserv such as this. Please
don't take this the wrong way; many nurses here are very knowledgeable about
chemo, but your infusion staff should be qualified to give chemo, and they
should know what type of references they should refer to, including your
hospital pharmacists. There may be a pharmacist on staff who is more
knowledgeable about chemo drugs tha
They should be knowledgeable about how to double check the drug, the dosage
calculation, know where to look up immediate infusion considerations
(premeds, lab parameters required, rate, route, precautions, immediate
infusion related side effects, incompatibilies, etc), overall side effects,
and toxicities.
If your staff have never taken the ONS chemo course, I cannot recommend it
highly enough. I took it in ~2000, and again in 2006. It is
evidence-based and extremely comprehensive. The nurses who teach this
course went through a train-the-trainer course so that this content is
taught in a relatively consistent manner throughout the country. If there
is no course offered regularly in your area, you can contact the ONS and see
about having one set up. I've given chemo for 26 years, have been an ONS
member for 23 years, and still learned a lot in that June 2006 course. It
also reinforced and validated most of the knowledge I already had.
Nadine Nakazawa, RN, OCN, CRNI
Nadine Nakazawa, RN, OCN, CRNI
From: "Autym Didsbury" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: TOPOTECAN
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 15:32:02 -0600
Hi everyone-
We just got our first referral for Topotecan infusion. None of our
staff has given this drug before- any pearls of knowledge for infusion?
( would be done outpatient in our infusion suite)
Thx
Autym Didsbury, RN, BSN, CRNI
Home Health Manager
Partners in Home Care
2687 Palmer St. Suite B
Missoula, MT 59808
(406) 327-3717 Fax 327-3727
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