Question from Student

memphispanda, RN · Jun 28, 2004

I work on a med/surg oncology floor. We don't only have oncology patients, we get others also. When I tell people from other floors where I work they often say "Cancer...I couldn't work there...too many deaths". So maybe that's what the fear is? I don't really know. We don't have a huge number of deaths, but when they happen it's usually a patient we have dealt with for a long period of time and have gotten to know fairly well, so those deaths can hit hard.

As far as precautions go, there are protocols for how to handle chemo drugs and such. They will vary from facility to facility. We actually don't give a lot of chemo on the floor...seems most of our patients come in following chemo (that was given at the physician's clinic) to have management of post-chemo symptoms or infections.

Purlple · Jun 28, 2004

I work on a med/surg oncology floor. We don't only have oncology patients, we get others also. When I tell people from other floors where I work they often say "Cancer...I couldn't work there...too many deaths". So maybe that's what the fear is? I don't really know. We don't have a huge number of deaths, but when they happen it's usually a patient we have dealt with for a long period of time and have gotten to know fairly well, so those deaths can hit hard.
As far as precautions go, there are protocols for how to handle chemo drugs and such. They will vary from facility to facility. We actually don't give a lot of chemo on the floor...seems most of our patients come in following chemo (that was given at the physician's clinic) to have management of post-chemo symptoms or infections.

Thank you!