Okay, this is really bugging me. My friend (and coworker) had to give Etoposide the other night. And like a good little doo-bee, she looked up the med on the hospital's computerized drug reference (actually she hadn't given it in a long time, and wanted to refresh her knowledge- nothing wrong with that). And she noticed that it said that it should be administered with a .22 micron filter. It seems that in our institution, we NEVER put filters on chemo lines. Why?? Because we don't. This attitude makes me very angry :angryfire . This is one of my pet peeves, when you are told to do something, with no rationale. So when she started asking the other staff members, they all emphatically stated "Oh no!! We NEVER put a filter on any chemo". Meanwhile, the Lexicomp (which we have been told is the exact information from the manufacturer's packeage insert) says you should (at least for this drug). I have also worked in two other places that give chemo- One place does use it (I distinctly remember reading it in the protocol). At the other place, I honestly cannot remember what we did.
I'd like to hear what other people do, or if anyone knows of any documented ratioale that states why you should? And no, I can't refer to the hospital policy, as we do not have ones for specific chemo meds. Also, we prime or own lines (I know some place do not, so they hang their lines as they receive them from pharmacy) so we need to prepare them properly.
My friend and I are not cool with the response of 'this is how we've always done it'.
