Oncology Personal Statement

Words: 928
Pages: 4

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”-Chinese Proverb

Through my continuing education (RN to BSN program), I had an opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills that brought added meaning to my work. My passion to take care of hematology/oncology patients led me to focus on research and evidence based practice that is crucial for these patients and their families. As I have shared all my knowledge with other coworkers, including all patients’ care providers and pharmacists, I have been ultimately impacting the quality of care that our patients getting. I would mention some of that new knowledge I shared, like non-pharmacological measures to treat nausea, factors influencing patients’ risk for fall, like
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D.L., 70-year-old male with diagnosis of B-cell ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), and was admitted for Chemotherapy treatment hyper CVAD, course II, cycle II. That day, patient was day 6. On day 1 patient received high dose MTX, and then exactly 12 hours after infusion was completed, started receiving rescue medication Leukovorin, to rapidly terminate the toxic effect of MTX. For the same purpose, patient was receiving hydration and urinary alkalization. At 48 hours (2days) from the end of infusion, MTX level should be less than 0.1mmol/L, what patient had at day 6. Immediately, I noted that patient was receiving Lansoprazole (PPI) 30mg PO daily and that this protocol did not include to avoid this medication. Further, it came to my attention that this Chemo therapy protocol had written that patient needs to receive Neulasta 6mg SQ on day 4 as outpatient, what meant that pt. should be discharged on day 4. As I knew from my experience, if patient continue to stay in hospital, he should receive Neupogen shot SQ daily (compensation for Neulasta, as Neulasta cannot be given to inpatient due to insurance issue), 24 to 48 hours after entire chemotherapy drugs would be infused, to avoid febrile neutropenia. Furthermore, I noted that patient is receiving IV fluids as ordered per protocol, what was extremely important. Then, on assessment, pt. was on room air with SpO2 96%, lungs clear, but I noted that he had some …show more content…
In a week after that, during the Practice Council meeting, this pharmacist came, as a regular guest speaker, to give us updates. He informed us that after his own research, hyper CVAD protocol, as well as other protocol with High dose MTX were revised, adding to avoid PPIs and Cipro. It was new knowledge for me that Cipro delays MTX