I know, this may come as a surprise to all of you, but the truth is, I have seen many nurses (even those highly trained and specialized) both in hospitals and outpatient settings, use the same alcohol swab over and over. Imagine this scenario where a nurse is ready to withdraw medication from several vials.…
A nurse colleague started a new job as an infusion nurse for a physician office based practice offering infusion services (non chemo) to their patients. After a few days, the nurse left the new job for the following reasons: Another RN in the office routinely mixes IV medication for the infusion nurses to administer. The IV medication…
I came across this interesting article on a study that shows chemo costs less in doctor’s offices. Chemotherapy Treatment in Hospitals Costs 24% more than Treatment in Physician’s Offices The study found that care for patients treated in a physician’s office is less expensive regardless of the length of the chemotherapy duration. The average chemotherapy…
When was the last time you have counted the drops on your patient’s IV? Thanks to the marvels of infusion pump technology, for many of us, it may have been a while and to some of our new colleagues, perhaps none of them have actually counted drops. Why bother with such unimportant matter? Is it…
As with most drugs or medications, many nurses know them by their trade names only. Occasionally, we had to learn the generic names especially after the patent expires. I have been infusing biologic agents, monoclonal antibodies in particular for over 10 years now and learned that monoclonal antibodies have a standard nomenclature scheme developed by…
A common question I get asked by nurses is…..do I need to obtained an informed consent from a patient who is receiving infusions of biologic agents such as Remicade (Infliximab)? An informed consent, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), is the communication process between a patient and his or her physician that results in…
In the past 12 years, we have seen an increase in new monoclonal antibodies approved by the FDA for numerous indications as treatment options for cancer, neurologic disorders, immunologic, and autoimmune diseases, to name a few. These monoclonal antibodies are administered either subcutaneously, usually self administered by patients or administered intravenously by a registered nurse…
As an infusion nurse, I have given infusions to pregnant patients only for the treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum. The infusions were primarily liters of IV fluids with multivitamins or a modified version of total parenteral nutrition just enough to tide them over until most patients are able to eat and sustain adequate nutrition orally. Otherwise,…
Infusion Nurse Blog 