Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Chemotherapy Side Effects At Home: A Nursing Impact, Gwendolyn E. Saint-Clarke

Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Background: Approximately 32% of all lymphoma patients experience immunocompromised severe avoidable side effects of nadir at home after discharge postchemotherapy. The certified oncology nurses employed at a large metropolitan hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, lack standardized discharge guidelines that include regulatory organizations’ recommendations to assist patients/families with at-home self-management of the avoidable side effects. Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to utilize the institution’s existing postchemotherapy discharge protocol to assess certified oncology nurses’ knowledge of severe avoidable side effects of nadir; modify the existing healthcare institution’s postchemotherapy discharge protocol to reflect standardized practice for promoting clinical practice continuity …