Hi! Im also working in Oncology/Med Surg. This is my fifth year. Recently ive started working per diem in outpatient infusion center. I have to tell you, even though you are still dealing with oncology patients, outpatient is very very different from inpatient. In oncology/medsurg unit, i usually wont get more than two patients that are on chemo and there are only several chemos that are commonly given in inpatient setting (Ex. 5FU, cisplain, carboplatin, etoposide, doxorubicin, rituxan. etc ) Also the doctors montor the patients' lab more closely..... In outpatient, i need to give a wide variety of chemo, some of them ive never even heard of, and also im the one that has to info the doctors if the certain lab values are out of the parameters.. and i also get 7-8 patients a day that are getting chemo. Its very fastpaced. So you have to have better knowledge of chemotherapy to work in the outpatient setting. Take the chemotherapy/biotherapy certification course before you switch to outpatient.
