Chemo Certification

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Mar 18, 2012

Courses are offered by ONS and APHON. I recommend that you look into those courses though it is not possible to be fully chemo competent until you are working in oncology and actually administering chemo.

nycNurse2b · Mar 19, 2012

thank you for the info. Would you recommend I not do it until I am actually employed in the field?

mzjennx, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2012

I started working on a oncology floor that trained me to be chemo competent. I took the ONS class for chemotherapy and was trained to give chemo with a chemo/cancer educator and educator. For my hospital I was chemo certified but not nationally certified. You would have to take a big test call the OCN OCN® Certification. You need at least some experience. Check out the website for more info. Hope that helps :)

nycNurse2b · Mar 30, 2012

Thanks - that does help.

I've always wanted oncology, but am having a hard tie due to the "no oncology" experience thing. Ideally, I'd love to get hired somehwhere and then have the hosp train me/certify me as they see fit. But unfortunately I'm not getting thru due to my lack of oncology exp.

I thought getting the certificatiion would help.

Any other tips on breaking into the field?

OR a book rec?

Anything really, would be helpful. TIA!

OCNRN63, RN · Apr 7, 2012

A correction, you do not need to take the OCN test. You need to take the ONS Chemotherapy/Biotherapy course (2 days), then take a test at the end of the course. If you're successful, you will get a Chemo Provider card that is good for two years.

The OCN test is a test to be certified as an oncology nurse. There are some specific requirements for taking the test such as a minimum of 1,000 hours of oncology exp. over a certain time frame.

You can get information about where a chemo provider course is near you here:

Oncology Nursing Society

Sarah RN,OCN · Apr 9, 2012

Hello,

I was hired into Oncology through an internship at a local cancer center...do you have a location close to you offering something similar? It was a lower pay to start out with (compared to hospital new grad pay), but I've learned a lot, they help you get your chemo certification, and I'm scheduled to take my OCN this summer. The books I've thought helped me are : Cancer Basics, Oncology Nursing, Nurse's Chemotherapy Quick Pocket Reference. If you have any questions, please send me a message. Good Luck!!