HCT/BMT Friends

Specialties Oncology

Published

Hey everyone!! So I'm a new grad (Graduated back in May and got my license in August) who finally got a job (OK not just a job but my DREAM job!!!) on a HCT floor at a very well known Oncology hospital!

I was just wondering if any of you experienced nursies (or newbies like me, or even anyone who recently got off orientation... basically if you are a HCT/BMT nurse!) know of any good resources to get a better base knowledge or understanding on the different types of transplants and common diseases we see? We go over this information in my orientation but it is just in a powerpoint lecture we click through online and take a short test at the end... and I think we'll go through everything in class but in case we don't I feel like I need a stronger understanding than what is given to me. Any suggestions or hints that helped you when you were first starting out??

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Personally, I was so dazed by the sheer numbers of different diseases treated on hem/onc floors that I didn't even touch the books.

My method was to study the disease that my patient(s) had on any given day. So if I had a patient with ALL, a patient with a glioblastoma and a patient with AML, I'd study those diseases, if possible while reviewing the chart. This cemented in my head the signs, symptoms and treatments better than any class ever could have.

Needless to say, even if you weren't to study a lot, you will get very familiar with these diseases/s&s/treatments due to repeated patients dealing with the same things.

Good luck!

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Specializes in BMT.

You will hopefully find your peers a great resource. One of the best resources that I have found related to BMT even though I work at the Myeloma Institute in Little Rock, I have took the courses offered by ONS, they have a paid course that covers BMT top to bottom, even though I work with so many MM patients every day, and transplants are second nature to us, I learned so much from their course. The link is:

www.ons.org, I wish you the best of luck.

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Specializes in Hem/Onc/BMT.

I totally agree with two posters above. If I may add one more suggestion...

Are you by any chance interested in getting OCN certification down the road? If you are, Core Curriculum for Oncology Nursing, a study book by ONS is a great reference to invest in. Now, it covers the entire oncology nursing topics, not just hem/onc. But we'll have to study those anyway in order to get OCN. And I find it sufficiently thorough in discussing diseases, chemo agents, SCT, etc. If I get curious on something beyond the book, there's always the hospital's medical library. I've been learning a great deal through my preceptor and the educator, and of course my patients, but I feel that this book is helping me connect the dots and gain deeper insight into what I see on the floor.

Congratulations and I wish you luck!

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Specializes in Hem/Onc/BMT.

LOL I just realized the OP was from March!

I hope you're enjoying your job (if you started already). :)

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