**NEED ADVICE-NEW IN ONCOLOGY OUTPATIENT

[lanurse93, BSN, RN]

So, Im a nurse that has two years experience in critical care (NeuroICU). I had to relocate because of the Army. Im in a very small town and the only place I could get a job at (so far) was an outpatient oncology clinic. At first, I was very excited about the potential of doing lots of IVs and learning about chemo medications, but after finishing my first week, Im having some concerns about safety and trying to decide if its worth staying at this job or not.

*disclaimer: Im new to oncology so all I know is what we learned in nursing school, if Im being ignorant please tell me*

At the clinic, the nurses mix their own antineoplastic medications under a hood. The hood is only turned on when mixing the meds and they use household cleaning gloves (like the kind you buy at any convenience store) to mix medications. (NO PPE). While mixing these meds there are other nurses in the room too. The patients ports are accessed with clean (not sterile) gloves and attached to the medications. Is it normal to access ports non-sterile? is it normal to prep these hazardous medications without PPE? Is this safe??

Thanks in advance to whoever decides to answer!

[ihavealltheice]

I'm not in outpt oncology anymore, but I was for 10 years prior to switching to school nursing. Neither scenario is safe nor best practice for either you or the patient. I'm sorry that you're experiencing this. It really is a great field of nursing if you're in the right place.